Marcus Tomashek paces Tech with 29 points
DULUTH, Minn. – The Michigan Tech men’s basketball team cut a 20-point deficit down to seven points in the second half, but ultimately could not overcome the pesky Minnesota Duluth defense, falling to the No. 6 nationally-ranked team 80-70 to start the St. Louis County Basketball Classic on Friday night.
Junior guard Marcus Tomashek led the Huskies in scoring for the third time this season, pouring on 29 points (9-for-22), including a perfect nine-for-nine from the charity stripe. Pete Calcaterra joined Tomashek in double-figure scoring with 13 points in a contest that saw five Huskies finish with four fouls in a physical defensive battle with the Bulldogs.
“I thought our guys really fought hard tonight in a very physical game against a veteran physical team,” said Michigan Tech head coach Josh Buettner. “We struggled with foul trouble and execution but kept fighting. It’s a short turnaround against another very good team tomorrow.”
Michigan Tech (2-3) entered halftime trailing by 11 (34-23) after the first half as the two teams had multiple scoring droughts. Minnesota Duluth (4-0) jumped out to a 17-9 advantage eight minutes into the contest, backed by six points from Austin Andrews and four points from Joshua Brown, who would finish the night with a team-high 20 points. The Bulldogs got their first double-digit lead with 1:05 to play in the period with two free throws from Charlie Katona.
The Huskies doubled their three-point makes from the first half to the second, cashing in on four shots from downtown, helping cut into the deficit as both teams shot over 50 percent from the field and compiled 42 total free throws. The Black & Gold shot perfectly from the charity stripe (15-for-15), while UMD went 20-for-27.
Michigan Tech did not back down in the final 10 minutes despite being down by as much as 20 points with under eight minutes to play. Tomashek, the GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, struggled in the first half with just two points before accounting for 27 of the Huskies’ 47 second-half points, including 14 of Michigan Tech’s last 16 points.
Calcaterra and Tomashek down the stretch cut the Bulldogs’ lead to seven points with under two minutes to play. However, free throws from Minnesota Duluth were able to hold off Michigan Tech from pulling off a second-half comeback.
Dawson Nordgaard scored eight points to go, with three offensive rebounds, although foul trouble held him to just 13 minutes of game time. Josh Terrian led the Huskies with five rebounds, while freshman forward Grant Warren produced five points for the Black & Gold in 12 minutes of action.
Following Brown, Minnesota Duluth had Katona (15 points), Andrews (12 points) and Matt Thompson (10 points) reach double-digit scoring. Andrews also recorded a team-high eight rebounds and three assists.
Up Next
The Huskies conclude the initial non-conference slate on Saturday with another high-quality team in No. 3 nationally-ranked MSU Moorhead at 3 p.m. in the Ramona Gymnasium to wrap up the St. Louis County Basketball Classic.
