Michigan Tech guard Matt Schmainda looks to drive inside during a game against Roosevelt Saturday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — With wins Thursday over Wisconsin-Parkside and Saturday over Roosevelt, the No. 16-ranked Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team closed out the season with three wins in the final week, bouncing back effectively from a loss to No. 22 Northern Michigan on Thursday, Feb. 19.

The Huskies finished 25-5 overall and 16-4 in GLIAC play, which meant they tied the Wildcats for the GLIAC regular season title.

For coach Josh Buettner, knocking down the first season-goal was important.

“Honestly, there’s some relief in that,” he said. “When you have the expectations you had all year, with the preseason stuff, the rankings, and, obviously, that stuff’s all good, but it just puts a huge target on your back. We’ve had a lot of tough games, We’ve had a lot of close games, some wild finishes, and all the above. When you get so close to that last week, where you kind of know if you win three games against teams that on paper you should beat, you want to get something substantial out of there, something that’s going to last out of it.

“The last two times we’ve done it, we’ve clinched on the road, so we’ve cut down the net, but it’s been at 1 a.m. when we get off the bus. So, to get to do it when there’s some people around, and family and friends and stuff, that was pretty awesome.”

The two games to close out the week went very differently. Against Wisconsin-Parkside, the Huskies surrendered the lead late and needed a buzzer-beater from senior guard Marcus Tomashek to close out the game. He hit a 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds left to seal things. Saturday, the Huskies made use of their bench in a big way, with sophomore guard Ty Fernholz making 12 3-pointers and junior guard Matt Schmainda finishing with 16 points.

Fernholz also made a very smart decision with the ball on Tomashek’s game-winning shot Thursday.

“Hopefully that is a huge confidence boost,” said Buettner. “I don’t know that we can get him 17 open looks again. We have a hard time getting him two or three good looks a game, and that’s part of Roosevelt’s style. They went out and pressed and played zone, and we wanted to be aggressive. We put them on the back end of the press. Obviously, Ty gets a ton of credit. Making 12 threes, a lot of people can’t do that in an empty gym unguarded. But, a lot of that credit needs to go to Josh (Terrian, who) had two passes in transition. Finding the hot hand gets some of that credit, and getting him the ball in spots where he can shoot it. Jesse (Napgezek) had a great pass. I’m almost as proud of some of that, too.

“When you have a shooter that’s hot, finding them, that’s a little bit of an IQ thing. It was great to see the bench. Matt was 3-for-3, and having a great game, and kind of gets overshadowed when somebody hits nine of them.”

Fernolz, Schmainda, and Napgezek are part of a deep Huskies bench that is ready to step in and support Tomashek, Terrian, senior guard Nate Abel, and redshirt senior forward Dawson Nordgaard when tasked to.

“Being able to go deeper into your bench is huge,” said Buettner. “Being able to wear them down (helps). I was happy that I thought they defended pretty well. I thought Grant Warren took some steps this weekend. I thought he played really well on Thursday. Having a backup 6-10 guy with some length is huge for our defense down the stretch. We’ve been fortunate that Dawson’s done a pretty good job of staying out of foul trouble, but you have to be ready for anything in tournament time, and hopefully he had a boost in his confidence.

“Hopefully Ty had a boost. Matt had a better week after a couple where he was struggling a little bit. Jesse’s still been solid. Having four guys on the bench that you can trust is a big time weapon in these tournament scenarios. Obviously, you’re going to score a lot. When I think what, Ty had 36, and Matt had 15, 16, 17, something like that, that was a huge plus out of the homestead.”

Scouting the Panthers

The Davenport Panthers finished the regular season 14-14 overall and 8-12 in GLIAC play, earning the seventh seed. They closed out the regular season with a loss to Grand Valley State and win over Ferris State.

The Huskies beat them on Saturday, Jan. 3, 68-77, at the SDC Gym, but fell to the Panthers 72-69 on Thursday, Jan. 29.

Junior guard Ken Walker leads the Panthers’ attack, averaging 21.5 points per game. He is also deadly from beyond the arc, where he shoots 43%.

Junior guard Curtis Jackson has been good, averaging 11.8 points per game. Sophomore forward Dylan Smith averages 10.6 to give the Panthers three in double figures on a regular basis.

Both Jackson and Smith are deadly from beyond the arc as well, shooting 46.8% and 56.8%, respectively.

Game time

The Huskies and Panthers will battle Wednesday in GLIAC quarterfinal action at the SDC Gym at 5:30 p.m.