SAULT STE. MARIE. MI -- Courtesy: MTU
The Michigan Tech men’s basketball team rallied from a first half deficit to post a 78-70 win at Lake Superior State in league play Thursday (Jan. 12). The Huskies improve to 8-6 overall, 6-1 in the GLIAC and remain in first place in the North Division.
"We played a much better second half," said head coach Kevin Luke. "We contained their shooters a lot more. We also took care of the basketball and rebounded. Tonight was a nice grind out win."
The first half was a back-and-forth affair featuring five ties and 12 lead changes. Each team lead by as many as five points but it was LSSU that clung to a three point lead, 33-30, at halftime.
Sophomore Alex Culy gave the Huskies the final lead of the game with his fifth 3-pointer of the game at 17:19 of the second half. He would finish with a season-high six treys in the contest and a season-high 20 points. The Rice Lake, Wis., native finished 7-of-9 from the field and 6-of-7 from behind the arc.
Lake State closed the Tech lead to three with five minutes remaining but the Huskies would go on a 10-0 run before posting a 78-70 win after making 10-of-13 free throws at the end.
Tech shot the ball well shooting 59-percent (26-44) from the field and 52-percent (11-21) from 3-point.
LSSU shot 39-percent (23-59) from the field and 33-percent (9-27) from behind the arc.
Junior Ali Haidar tallied his ninth straight double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Mike Hojnacki finished with 15 points and sophomore Austin Armga added 11.
The Tech defense held reigning GLIAC Player of the Week senior Kyle Hunt to just seven points.
Sophomore Derek Billing scored a game-high 25 points for the Lakers.
Tech will play at Saginaw Valley State Saturday (Jan. 14).
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