Five players in double figures
HOUGHTON, Mich. – Five players reached double-figure scoring as the Michigan Tech men’s basketball team rolled Parkside 80-54 to secure its third-straight win at the SDC Gymnasium on Thursday evening.
The Huskies improve to 5-3 and 1-0 in GLIAC play, its best start since the 21-22 season, while the Rangers fall to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the loop.
Overall, the Black & Gold shot a scorching 60 percent from the field (30-for-50), including nine 3-pointers, with junior forward Dawson Nordgaard pacing the offense with a team-high 14 points, also tying the team lead with four rebounds. Junior Marcus Tomashek, senior Pete Calcaterra and first-year guard Ty Fernholz each added 12 points, respectively. Veteran guard Adam Hobson rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points on four-for-five from the field in 16 minutes of action.
“We’re coming out pretty focused defensively and we’re using that to fuel our offense,” said Tech men’s basketball head coach Josh Buettner. “Our inside game has been really good which we haven’t had as much of the last two years but now being able to throw it down low is opening up many other things. The balance right now is huge and there will be games where we’ll need Marcus but when we have nights when there’s five guys in double-figures then we become really hard to guard.”
The Huskies could do no wrong in the first half, holding the Rangers scoreless for nearly five minutes after the two teams hit their first shots of the day, MTU quickly used the scoring drought from the opposition to pull ahead 17-2 after having a line change following the first media break of the day with Hobson appearing for the first time knocking down a triple.
Michigan Tech’s lead would grow to as much as 25 points in the first half with 3:31 to play as Fernholz converted on a layup to make it a 40-15 affair, with the home team putting on a clinic on both ends.
Calcaterra ended the half for the Black & Gold with an emphatic dunk, pacing the Rangers 44-21 heading into the halftime break.
The scoring was more even in the second stanza as the Huskies only outscored the opposition by three points (36-33), yet the Rangers could only muster cutting the lead to 25 points at best.
12 players for the Black & Gold made the score sheet as Fernholz recorded seven points and three assists in the second 20 minutes of play. Gabe Smith also recorded three assists while adding two steals. Nordgaard, the team’s leading scorer on the day, added three assists.
“We’re playing as a team really well right now—we’re moving the ball on offense and we have a lot of energy on defense, which has been helping us out,” added Nordgaard.
Nick Brown was the lone player for Parkside to score in double-digits with a team-leading 12 points. Cameron Mallory and Keelan Allen recorded a team-high four boards for UWP.
Up Next
The Huskies are back in action at the SDC Gymnasium at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, hosting Purdue Northwest.
