Huskies tied with LSSU for first in GLIAC
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – Redshirt freshman Gabe Smith recorded a career-high 18 points in his first career start, helping the Michigan Tech men’s basketball team earn a series sweep over Saginaw Valley State, 78-73 at the O’Neill Arena on Saturday afternoon.
With the win the Huskies remain in a two-way tie with Lake Superior State atop the league as MTU is 11-3 in league play and 16-6 overall. The Cardinals drop to 9-13 overall and 5-9 in the loop.
Michigan Tech recorded a season-high 32-for-38 (82.4%) from the foul line for the game, with Smith going 11-for-12, Dawson Nordgaard shooting 7-for-7 and Marcus Tomashek shot 7-for-11. The trio led the team in scoring, with Tomashek leading the way with 25 as Smith added 18 and Nordgaard chipped in 13.
“Obviously I was frustrated on Thursday night but I’m really happy with how we played tonight and I don’t think there was a single stretch of that game that Saginaw was playing harder than us,” said head coach Josh Buettner. “Pete did a great job giving us a start off the bench, Dawson had a frustrating first half but had some huge rebounds, Gabe was awesome in his first career start and Nate and Josh had the tough assignment of Toodles and Freddy and they got 31 and 25 and I thought they did a heck of a job on them—that’s just how good talented those two are offensively—The shots Freddie was hitting down the stretch are just unbelievable and we made them work for it. I would’ve liked to be a little bit sharper with free throws to finish it off strong but all in all I’m happy with the win.”
The Huskies got to the line early and often shooting 10-for-12 from the charity stripe, adding four 3-pointers to play to a tie heading into the halftime break at 32-all. The Cardinals connected from long range three times while going 5-for-5 from the foul line. Nate Abel sparked the offense early with MTU’s first five points, with Marcus Tomashek adding a five-point run himself, helping the Black & Gold lead from the jump with its largest lead being eight points at the 15:17 mark and 13:47 mark, respectively.
Freddie McIntosh led all scorers in the opening frame with 13 points, with the first Cardinal lead of the day happening late in the period off of a 3-pointer by Nico Newsome with 4:35 to play.
The second half showcased 11 lead changes and four ties, with the Huskies opening the half with a triple from Smith with an assist to Tomashek to take the early lead. It was a one-possession game for the first 13 minutes of the second period before the Black & Gold produced an 8-2 run at the seven minute mark sparked by a 3-pointer by Tomashek. Nordgaard followed that with an old-fashioned three-point play off an offensive rebound before Smith attempted a slam dunk on Bryson Huckeby, sending Smith to the line where he hit both shots as Nordgaard capped the run with two additional free throws.
Michigan Tech’s lead would balloon to nine points after getting in the double bonus down the stretch, with Tomashek making it a nine-point game with 1:35 to play after going one-for-two from the charity stripe (71-62).
However, the talented guard play of the Cardinals would keep the home team in it, as McIntosh scored eight-straight in a hurry with a layup and two stepback 3-pointers before Toodles Seal added a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound by SVSU trailing Michigan Tech 75-73 with 16 seconds to play.
McIntosh had a chance to tie or win the game with 11 seconds to go, but the Huskies defensive efforts were enough to get by as the Cardinals were forced to foul with under two seconds to go, with Pete Calcaterra putting the game away after hitting two free-throws with a half-court heave by McIntosh as time expired deciding the game at 78-73.
McIntosh dropped a game-high 31 points, with Seal adding 25 points as Huckeby added a team-leading eight rebounds for the Cardinals.
Up Next
The Huskies will round out the regular season home slate with a three-game homestand starting next week, welcoming No. 14 nationally-ranked Ferris State Thursday (7:30 p.m.) and No. 11 ranked Lake Superior State for Senior Day Saturday (2 p.m.).
