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GREEN BAY -- Courtesy:  MTU

The Michigan Tech men’s basketball team trailed by as few as three points with five minutes remaining before falling at Green Bay 69-61. Senior Mike Hojnacki scored a team-high 18 points, and junior Ali Haidar finished with a double-double for the fourth straight game with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

"I was proud that we played hard and didn’t give up," said head coach Kevin Luke. "Green Bay went up double digits in the second half and we came back. I like how we defended a good team."

The first half was a back and fourth affair featuring three lead changes and five ties. The Phoenix closed the half on an 11-2 run to hold a 33-22 lead at halftime.

UWGB opened the half with a 3-pointer by Steve Baker to extend its lead to 14, but the Huskies got a pair of 3-point buckets from Hojnacki and another by sophomore Alex Culy. Culy finished with a dozen points shooting 4-for-5 from behind the arc.

Hojnacki made a jumper with 4:56 left in the game to shrink the Green Bay lead to three. Tech would get outscored 16-11 over the remaining five minutes in the loss.

Sophomore Austin Armga added 10 points, including 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

Tech finished with 16 turnovers to just seven by the Phoenix. Green Bay scored 22 points off of turnovers to just seven by Tech.

Sophomore Alec Brown scored a game-high 21 points for the Phoenix. Fellow freshman Keifer Sykes finished with 18 and junior Brennan Cougill added 11.

"This was a good game to get us prepared for our games at Ferris and Grand Valley."

Tech will play at Ferris State Sunday (Dec. 18).