DETROIT - Michigan Tech dug itself a big hole it never climbed out of in a 67-58 loss at Wayne State today in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball. The Huskies cut a 21-point deficit to as little as seven with 3:46 to play before falling to 2-8 on the season and 1-4 in league play.

"We played pretty well for 28 minutes, but that's not enough," said head coach Kevin Luke. "I'm happy that we didn't give up, but you can't turn it over 25 times and expect to win."

Today's game started much like Tech's game Thursday (Dec. 17) at Northwood. The Huskies fell behind big early before making a late run to close the margin at half. Today, it was 14 Tech turnovers that allowed Wayne build up as many as a 19-point margin before the visitors cut the gap to 34-24 at half.

WSU's lead grew to 21 in the second half before the Huskies came back again. Mike Hojnacki's 3-pointer misfired that would have cut the gap to nine. Instead, Matt Esters pulled up for a two on the break to make the score 54-44. After a steal, Don Fowler could have cut it to seven with a triple that went long.

Tech kept fighting and did close the margin to 56-49 with less than four minutes showing on the clock. Wayne State then pushed its lead back up to 11 with two free throws and its only field goal in the final seven minutes. The Warriors made 15-of-22 foul shots in the second half to come away with the win.

Fowler paced the Black and Gold in scoring with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Ali Haidar added 11 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Hojnacki also reached double figures with 10 points to go with five rebounds.

Tech shot 44 percent from the floor and held a 36-22 rebounding advantage. The Huskies hurt itself with 25 turnovers, which WSU turned into 31 points. Wayne won the game at the free throw line, going 26-of-36 compared to Tech's 6-of-9.

Michigan Tech will be off until Jan. 2, when they host arch rival Northern Michigan at the SDC Gym at 3 p.m.