ASHLAND, Ohio — The Michigan Tech men's basketball team completed the series sweep of Ashland with a 72-70 victory today at Kates Gymnasium. The Huskies overcame a 10-point second half deficit and led by as many as six in the final minute before the game was decided on the final play.

The host Eagles made five straight 3-pointers to start the second half and led 52-42 with 13 minutes to play. Tech answered with a 17-6 run that spanned more than eight minutes. AU regained a two-point lead before another Black and Gold run. Robby Springborn and Fedrick Bowe made layups before Mike Hojnacki's well-timed 3-pointer pushed the gap to 66-61 with 2:21 to play.

Brandon Ball's free throws with nine seconds left seemingly iced the win, but a quick 3-pointer cut the six-point margin to 72-69 with :03.1 showing. Tech, out of timeouts, could not get the ball thrown in.

With the three-point lead and only three seconds remaining, Tech fouled on AU's inbound pass. That put Kale Richardson at the foul line, where he made the first free throw and missed the second on purpose. The rebound was tapped out with :01.9 left. Again, the Huskies turned the ball over on the inbound play.

With a two-point margin, Ashland tried to throw an alley-oop pass for a game-tying basket. The play was broken up by Springborn, and Tech escaped with the 72-70 win.

"We made things a lot more interesting than we needed to at the end, but I'm really proud of the way we played in the second half," said head coach Kevin Luke. "We only turned it over four times and our defense was outstanding."

Both teams shot 51 percent from the floor, but AU excelled from the 3-point line. The hosts knocked down 10-of-16 treys (63 percent) compared to 5-of-21 (24 percent) by Michigan Tech. The Huskies won the game with rebounding, posting a 37-20 advantage on the glass.

Springborn tallied 17 points — all in the second half — to tie Fedrick Bowe for team-high scoring honors. Bowe added a game-high 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year.

Hojnacki turned in 11 points and five rebounds as the Huskies' bench outscored Ashland's 30-8.

Michigan Tech improved to 11-10 overall and 8-8 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with the win. The Huskies will play two more on the road next week beginning with a Thursday (Feb. 12) matchup at Ferris State.