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Tech men lose in OT to Minnesota State Moorhead

MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Michigan Tech men’s basketball team suffered an 89-82 loss in overtime at Minnesota State Moorhead Saturday afternoon on Day 2 at the Microtel Classic. The Huskies rallied in the final minute of regulation to tie the game at 69-69, but the Dragons hit some key shots in overtime to take the win on their home floor.

“They are a good club and playing on their home floor they had some guys step and make some big plays,” Tech coach Kevin Luke said. “I thought we played a much better game than we did yesterday. We passed the ball effectively, had good spacing, and set some nice screens. Even though we lost, we were much better offensively and we have something to build on. I feel like playing teams like we did this weekend will prepare us for the GLIAC schedule.”

Tech junior Kyle Monroe powered the Huskies with a career-high 40 points and led the team on the glass with 13 rebounds. His previous career high in points was 39, set on Dec. 3, 2016, at home against Walsh. His double-double was the first since recording one on Feb. 4, 2017, at Lake Superior State.

MSU-Moorhead stayed in front until the final minute of regulation when Monroe hit a couple of key shots to send the game into overtime. Trailing 68-65 with 41 seconds left, Monroe connected on a jump hook in the lane and then tied the contest at 69-69 with another similar look with 14 seconds to go.

Tech had a promising start to overtime when Monroe dialed in a triple to push the Huskies back in front 72-69 in the first 22 seconds. Unfortunately, Moorhead matched Monroe with a trey of his own, which started a 7-0 Dragons run. The Huskies tied the game again at 80–80 on another successful attempt from behind the arc by Monroe with 1:57 on the clock, but the Dragons connected on a triple from the corner and drove to the basket for a layup to make it an 85-80 score with 44 seconds left.

A.J. Grazulis followed with 12 points. Bryan Heath rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points and came close to a double-double of his own on the strength of eight rebounds. As a team, the Huskies were 34 of 76 from the field (44 percent), 6 for 20 from behind the three-point arc (30 percent).

The Huskies return home on Wednesday to host the University of Minnesota Duluth at 6 p.m.

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