Tomashek, Smith each score 14 points for Huskies
CHICAGO, Ill. – The No. 14 nationally-ranked Michigan Tech men’s basketball team opened GLIAC play with seven players scoring seven or more points in a 73-55 handling of Roosevelt at the Goodman Center on Thursday night.
Marcus Tomashek and Gabe Smith posted game-highs of 14 points for the Huskies as Smith recorded a team-leading two steals and three blocks. Dawson Nordgaard also reached double-digit scoring, for the fourth game this season, with 11 points, to go with six rebounds and two pickpockets.
Michigan Tech is on a five-game winning streak, with a 7-1 overall ledger and a 1-0 GLIAC record. Roosevelt drops to 0-5 on the season and 0-1 in the loop.
“We talked about effort being the key to winning this game, I thought we made everything hard for them. Windham is a heck of a player but as a team we did a nice job on them,” said Tech head coach Josh Buettner. “I still don’t think this was the prettiest win but we controlled the things we could control and I thought we were solid today. Today I felt our bench gave us a boost for the first time this season–our second group really helped us and that’s good to see. We have some guys that can play and we just need to give them confidence.”
The two teams had five lead changes in the opening five minutes with two 3-pointers from each squad as Josh Terrian knocked down his first two treys to start the day. Roosevelt got ahead by three points (11-8) before coach Buettner got a spark from the bench from a 3-pointer by Ty Fernholz and two free throws by Jesse Napgezek and a triple from Matt Schmainda to pull ahead 16-12 near the halfway point.
The Huskies had a 7-0 run midway through the half, with four points coming from Smith off a layup and two free-throws to make it 25-17 with under six minutes to play. After both teams sputtered offensively for a stretch, the Black & Gold closed the half strong with two 3-pointers, one by Fernholz and the second by Nate Abel, to head into halftime with a 35-25 advantage.
Michigan Tech won the rebounding battle with an 18-13 edge, including seven offensive rebounds without allowing an offensive board to the opposition.
Coming out of halftime, the Black & Gold orchestrated a defensive clinic, holding Roosevelt scoreless for the first four minutes of the half, while expanding their lead to 43-25 with a layup by Smith, a triple by Tomashek and an old-fashioned 3-point play by Nordgaard, capping an 8-0 run and forcing a timeout by the Lakers.
Roosevelt got the deficit down to 11 points four times in the second half, but would get no closer as the battle-tested Huskies began to get out of reach with 6:46 to play, with Smith getting a steal at half court that translated into a fastbreak dunk, making it 55-42.
The Black & Gold’s lead would continue to grow down the stretch, with Napgezek and Peyton LaCombe knocking down 3-pointers with under two minutes to play, deciding the contest at 73-55.
Michigan Tech hit 10 3-pointers on the day and controlled the glass 41-29, finishing the contest with 15 offensive rebounds–translating into 20 second-chance points, compared to just four for the home squad. Additionally, the Huskies’ depth was on display with the bench accounting for 25 points.
Kaliem Taylor had a game-high 21 points on 7-for-13 from the field as Mikey West and Davon Smith-Johnson added 13 and 11 points, respectively. Griffin Yaklich recorded a team-high seven boards.
Up Next
The Huskies conclude the opening weekend of league play on the road, traveling to Parkside on Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. tipoff.
