Michigan Tech forward Dawson Nordgaard dunks during a GLIAC quarterfinal game against Davenport Wednesday, March 4, at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

PITTSBURGH, Penn. — Despite 12 points from redshirt senior forward Dawson Nordgaard, and 11 second-half points from senior guard Nate Abel, the No. 16 Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team’s season came to an end Wednesday in a 75-49 loss to the No. 9 Gannon Golden Knights at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“A lot of credit to Gannon,” said Huskies coach Josh Buettner. “They’re really good. Obviously, you don’t have the season they have, the record they have, the statistics they have, without being a terrific basketball team.

“This whole setup to the NCAA, to everybody, this has been a great experience for our guys. I do think our guys came not happy to be here, but trying to fight. In a lot of ways, I was happy with some of the things our guys did.”

The Huskies fell behind early 18-2 in the first 8:27 of play and could not close that gap to less than 10 from there in the first matchup between the former GLIAC rivals since Nov. 24, 2018.

“We did a lot of the things that we needed to do to try to compete in this game,” Buettner said. “Holding them to the low 70s was as good as anybody’s done in the country this year. Problem is, if you’re going to be in the Elite Eight, and you can’t score 70 points, you’re going to have a hard time being successful.”

Michigan Tech’s All-American senior guard Marcus Tomashek was held without a point in the first half and finished with just five in the game, going 1-of-10 from beyond the arc. He finished his career with 2,452 points, which ranks 45th all-time in NCAA Division II men’s basketball.

“He put it out there for his team today, and struggled to move and went 2-of-14,” said Buettner. “I don’t want it to be a situation where he wasn’t up for the challenge. His body let him down a little bit. A lot of guys wouldn’t have played, and he was willing to put himself out there against a really good team. The statistics look that way. He’s had a heck of a career.”

To make matters worse, the Huskies as a team went 9-of-35 from 3-point land and 8-of-22 from the free-throw line.

MacKenzie Morgan got the Golden Knights on the board early with seven straight points before anyone else found the basket, a layup by Precious Idariu 2:39 in. Freshman guard Jesse Napgezek broke the seal for the Huskies 30 seconds later with a layup of his own and the Huskies trailed 9-2 at that point.

The Golden Knights pushed their lead to advantage to 18-2 before the Huskies found the basket again, this time a pair of free throws from Nordgaard. Thirty-one seconds later, Nordgaard found himself at the line again and made both attempts again and the Huskies trailed with 10:28 left in the first half, 20-6.

Nordgaard backed his defender in and made a hook shot for his first basket of the day at 10:38. He did it again just under four minutes later, and the Huskies were down by 17 at that point, 27-10.

With 4:50 left in the first half, sophomore guard Ty Fernholz hit the Huskies’ first 3-pointer of the day from the high right side, which followed a pair of free throws made by senior guard Josh Terrian, and the Huskies trailed 27-15.

Coming out of a media break just under a minute later, Terrian was whistled for a technical foul, and the Golden Knights’ Pace Prosser made both free throws. Prosser finished his date with a game-high 19 points, going 12-of-12 from the free-throw line.

Fernholz hit two more 3-pointers 31 seconds apart from both sides of the key and the Huskies trailed at that point by 16, 37-21, with 1:22 left before half time.

Mason Kemp made one of two free throw attempts to put Gannon up 38-21 at the break.

Tomashek tried to spark Michigan Tech coming out of half time as he put up a layup 22 seconds in. Prosser answered with a jumper just 13 seconds later. After another jumper from Idiaru, Nordgaard took advantage of a steal by Abel and finished off a quick transition with a dunk, and the Huskies trailed 42-25 with 17:33 left.

Abel continued to find ways to get involved as he hit a 3-pointer from the left corner 5:54 in. He then hit another two and a half minutes later after grabbing an offensive rebound, and the Huskies were within 10, 47-37, for the first time since 5:24 into the game. Tomashek also hit a long 3-pointer in between Abel’s pair of threes.

A minute and a half after Abel’s second three, he came up with a layup. The Huskies then could not add to their total again until Nordgaard came up with a layup off a fast break. Michigan Tech trailed by 16, 57-41.

The Huskies again found themselves in a scoring drought until Abel hit his third 3-pointer of the day from right next to the Michigan Tech bench with 4:31 remaining. Sophomore guard Gabe Smith hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:44 left to pull the Huskies back within 17, 64-47.

Napgezek made two of his final four free throw attempts to get the Huskies to 49 points, but they did not score again over the game’s final 2:49. Battling illness, he finished his day with just four points, going 2-of-9 from the free-throw line.

The Huskies held a 26-24 lead in rebounds at half time, but the Golden Knights managed to even things at 43-43 by the end of the game. Michigan Tech turned the ball over 16 times in the game, leading to 18 points for the Golden Knights, who came into the game averaging 28.1 points off turnovers per game.

The loss was the first by the Huskies against Gannon since Dec. 1, 2007.

Buettner praised his four departing seniors, Tomashek, Nordgaard, Abel, and Terrian for the program turnaround they helped orchestrate over their careers.

“I’m really happy for these seniors,” he said. “This is my fifth year as a head coach, and they went all the way through it for me. (When) they started out, we went through some struggles. We were eighth place, and went to the middle of the pack, to winning the league to the Elite Eight. They kept believing the whole time. It’s a really special group.”