Huskies made 71-percent of their shots in the first half
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men’s basketball team used a 51-point first half, shooting 71.6 percent from the field, to hand Northern Michigan its first GLIAC loss of the season and snap a seven-game win streak for the Wildcats, 88-65 inside the Vandament Arena on Thursday evening.
The Huskies rise to 9-4 overall and 4-1 in league play while the Wildcats drop to 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the loop.
“It’s nice that the first Tech Northern game in this gym will always be a Tech victory in the Vandament Arena,” said Tech head coach Josh Buettner. “The second half got a little bit uglier than I wanted it to but I thought we came out focused on the glass and defensively in the second half we got a little laxed. Marcus and Ty were on fire and playing with pace is big but you can’t play with pace unless you get stops and rebounds.
“The second group has been pretty good with some runs and that first half they got some separation for us. We hit a lot of 3-pointers before the defense could get set which was something we wanted to do.”
The GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, junior guard Marcus Tomashek, scored eight of the Huskies’ first 10 points to quickly give the visitors a 10-5 lead by the 15:57 mark. Two minutes later, first-year guard Ty Fernholz went on an 8-0 run by himself to make it 23-9 less than eight minutes into the contest forcing the Wildcats to talk it over.
Ten seconds later, Tomashek checked back into the contest and the dynamic duo of guards Tomashek and Fernholz scored the next 15 points for the Huskies to make it 38-15 with eight minutes to play, stunning the home crowd.
Senior guard Adam Hobson and junior forward Dawson Nordgaard scored 12 points in the opening half as the Huskies headed into halftime leading 51-25 over the Wildcats—in a first half that saw Michigan Tech go 20-for-28 from the field including nine first-half 3-pointers while leading the rebounding battle 19-8.
The Huskies floated back down to earth in the second half, cooling off to a respectable 46.2 percent from the field while adding four 3-point makes. Tomashek, who had 18 first-half points, scored 15 points in the second half to finish with 33 points, his 10th career 30-point outing, while being the team’s top facilitator with five assists.
Michigan Tech’s largest lead of the game came with 9:27 to play when Pete Calcaterra connected on a layup (77-44).
Fernholz neared his career-high, finishing with 22 points while shooting eight-for-12 hitting five 3-pointers while adding three assists, two rebounds and a steal.
Hobson joined Tomashek and Fernholz in double-digit scoring with 11 points as Calcaterra recorded a team-high nine rebounds.
Veteran forward Dylan Kuehl finished with a team-leading 20 points and six rebounds for the Wildcats as Jackson Dudek added 14 points off the bench.
Up Next
The Huskies wrap up the weekend playing host to first-year GLIAC member Roosevelt at the SDC Gymnasium at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
