MTU men’s basketball stays perfect at home
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HOUGHTON -- For the second time in less than a week, the Michigan Tech men's basketball team won again. This time they downed the Golden Eagles of Minnesota-Crookston, 76-72, Friday night at the SDC Gym. With the win, the Huskies are 2-2 in non-conference play to start their 2022 season.
Michigan Tech coach Josh Buettner chalked the victory up as a learning experience for a young Huskies' squad.
"Any win right now with a young and inexperienced team is huge," he said. "To learn while winning is the best-case scenario right now. The second half, we got tougher and were able to get the win. I thought we got a little comfortable because of our good start, and it slipped away."
In the opening minutes of the contest, Tech found themselves up 13-7. That was expanded to a 20-10 lead at the 11-minute of the first. However, they then fell into a lull. Shots were not falling for them, but they were for the Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles posted 10 unanswered points and tied this one at 20 and again at 24 with less than five minutes to go in the first. However, an Eric Carl triple made it 27-24 and Tech was able to hold onto a 31-30 lead headed into the locker room at the half.
The second half was a different story. In short there were no lulls, and the Golden Eagles were unable to catch up.
"Coach told us that we could not be lazy on defense," said sophomore guard Pete Calcaterra, who had a personal best of 16 points on the night. "We also needed to limit their rebounding which we did better in the second."
Calcaterra took the game in his own hands with back-to-back drives to the hoop at around the 14-minute mark in the second half which sparked a six-point lead and a momentum on the court towards victory. Tech's biggest lead came at the 6:01 mark in the second as they were up by 11 at 61-50. That morphed into a 76-72 win as the clock wound down to zero.
There were times in this game where there were five Michigan Tech underclassmen on the court, and they were able to hold their own against a visibly bigger and more experienced Crookston team. Among those getting some significant playing time for the Huskies was 6-foot-10, freshman Dawson Nordgaard.
"Dawson was great," said Buettner. "He still needs about 25 pounds, but his assignment was to take on their big guy, and he did a good job. He is going to be a really good player for us."
Norgaard had four points. Adam Hobson led the Huskies with 19. Dan Gherezgher had 15. The Huskies shot 43.1% from the field and sunk just 7-26 (26.9%) from beyond the three-point line.
"I need to note the hustle plays of Pete (Calcaterra) and Josh Terrian," added Buettner. "Josh had 10 rebounds and a lay-up, a three and a full-court pass there all in one motion. We are going to need that every game not just from him but all our guys."
The Golden Eagles shot 42.4% from the field. They had four players in double figures. Matthew Allen led their scoring with 16.
Up next
The Huskies are on the road until Dec. 9, playing six games over a three-week span, beginning with the UMSL Tournament Nov. 22-23.