The Michigan Tech Men’s Basketball team started their season off with a win against rival Minnesota Duluth this past Saturday, Nov. 22. The game marked the beginning of the standard season for the Huskies, who now have a promising record of 3-0 after picking up two wins at the Southwest Minnesota State University Classic on Nov. 28 and 29.
Assistant Coach Josh Buettner commented on the Huskies’ record after the Duluth game: “Very early in the season it is good to be 1-0. It’s always good to learn while getting a win instead of a loss. We still have a long ways to go to get our offense where it needs to be, but we have high hopes for the season.”
The first half of the game was led by Minnesota with a five point lead against the Huskies. MTU retaliated in the second half of the competition, however, leading the point scoring with a total of 29 points as opposed to Duluth’s 22 points.
Some statistics of the match include the Huskies obtaining 55.6 percent of free throws made while Minnesota made 61.5 percent. Tech led the number of rebounds at the net with 33 where Duluth acquired only 28 of theirs. The Huskies also beat their opponents in number of three-points made with a 47.8 percent success rate. Duluth only succeeded in 30 percent of their three-point shots attempted.
In the aftermath of the game, MTU narrowly overtook Duluth with a nail-biting ending and a final score of 60 to 58. Players Ben Stelzer and Luke Heller led their team in point scoring with a point tally of 28 and 10, respectively.
“Ben Stelzer played like the preseason player of the year. He really kept us in the game in the first half when the offense was struggling and led us with 28 points in the game. Troy Hecht did a great job defensively on their leading scorer, and Jordan Chartier did a great job running the team from the point guard position,” stated Coach Buettner when asked about the best players of the night.
The Michigan Tech Basketball Men’s Basketball team will be playing the University of Malone in Ohio on Dec. 4 at 8:00 p.m.