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Huskies drop third straight game Saturday

David Archambeau/Daily Mining Gazette Michigan Tech’s Dawson Bilski controls the ball while looking for an open teammate during a game Saturday agaisnt Saginaw Valley State at the Wood Gym.

HOUGHTON – It was a tough weekend for the Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team as they lost their third consecutive game to the Saginaw Valley State (SVSU) Cardinals, 75-54.

It was a contest that they were never really in. However, head coach Kevin Luke isn’t giving up on his young squad.

“We’ve hit a wall,” he said. “Our kids are giving everything they got, and the shots just aren’t falling. Our effort is there; it’s just we’re running on fumes.”

Michigan Tech (10-12 overall, 5-10 GLIAC) broke the ice after the opening tip-off. Junior Ryan Schuller was fouled under the basket and sunk both free throws to put the Huskies up 2-0. However, the Cardinals ( 8-15 overall, 4-11 GLIAC) countered in a big way.

Darnell Hoskins Jr. put in two three-point shots and teammate Myles Belyeu sunk one as well and suddenly SVSU led 9-2.

The Huskies were able to stay close to the Cardinals until James Toohey sunk a three-pointer at 13:13 and pushed the lead to 19-9.

“They were red hot to start the game,” said Luke. “That seems to be the case a lot now with our opponents, and we just can’t score.”

The Huskies came within seven points after a 5-0 run at around the 10-minute mark as they made the score 23-16. However, it did not last long as the Cardinals’ Sebastian Lamanto sunk a three to put the lead back to 10. A few minutes later, Belyeu went on a seven-point scoring spree of his own and pushed the lead to 35-20.

At halftime, the Cardinals led 43-29.

In the second half, the best the Huskies could do was get within 13 points. In short, for every Huskies basket made, the Cardinals seemed to come back and make one or two of their own. The Cardinals shot 50 percent from the field. The Huskies shot 36.4 percent.

Owen White led the scoring for Tech with 14 points. Trent Bell followed him with 11.

With these three losses in a row, and it being late in the season, Luke noted that it is hard not to get personally frustrated and take it out on the team.

“I’m trying to keep my emotion in check,” he said. “I have to try to keep my composure and we have to keep going.”

He added that the effort is there among his team to score, but the shots are just not falling.

“Our effort was good (against SVSU),” he said. “I liked our offense as we were getting the ball inside, but we just can’t score in there, and we are not hitting from the perimeter.”

The Huskies have a hard four-game road stretch coming up before they close their season at home against Northern Michigan University on Feb. 28. The stretch includes Ferris State, Lake Superior State and Davenport.

“It is a bad stretch,” said Luke. “It is a tough stretch. It’s the league, and we’ve got to go play.”

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