Michigan Tech guard Nate Abel drives around a Minnesota-Duluth defender during a game Saturday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)
HOUGHTON — The Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team suffered its second loss of the week, faltering to No. 16 Minnesota-Duluth, 85-70, at the SDC Gym on Saturday afternoon.
“That’s a really good team that I think has a chance to do some damage on the national stage-it was a good test for us,” said coach Jost Buettner. “In the big picture of things, there will be a lot to learn from it and we’ll be a better team because of this but it shows us that there’s just too many mistakes.”
Michigan Tech (1-4, 0-0 GLIAC) competed with Minnesota-Duluth (4-1, 0-0 NSIC) to a one-possession score heading into the media timeout at 11:35 seeing the Bulldogs with a 19-16 edge before pulling away.
The Bulldogs saw its lead swell to 10 as the Huskies got into foul trouble, forcing Charlie Katona to the free-throw line, where he hit both shots with 7:39 remaining.
Pete Calcaterra would connect on an and-one layup with 5:28 remaining to cut the lead to seven before UMD’s lead would once again swell to 15 at the 1:45 mark. Marcus Tomashek would hit four free throws down the stretch to keep it a 10 point game entering halftime down 47-37.
The Huskies didn’t back down in the second half, clawing back from down 21 at the 15:14 mark to bring it back to 72-61 off a Calcaterra layup with 7:54 remaining.
Brad Simonsen hit two 3-pointers early in the second half to help the Huskies close the deficit. Additionally, Tomashek scored nine of his team-high 23 points out of halftime.
The veteran group for the Bulldogs proved to be too much for the Huskies, sustaining a double-digit advantage down the stretch before free-throws settled the score at 85-70 in favor of Minnesota-Duluth.
As a team, UMD shot 56.9 percent from the field despite only going 2-for-10 from deep. Michigan Tech shot 43.6 percent from the field and 9-for-22 from 3-point range with 28 total rebounds.
Tomashek continues his impressive start to the season to lead the Huskies with 23 points. Calcaterra had a season-high 15 points and a team-leading eight rebounds. Adam Hobson joined the duo in double-digit scoring with 11 points of 5-for-8.
The Bulldogs were led by Drew Blair with 21 points and Josh Brown with a team-high eight rebounds.
