LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 13 nationally-ranked Michigan Tech men's basketball squad needed overtime to take down No. 3 Dallas Baptist 75-70, in the season-opener at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic hosted at Florida Southern on Saturday afternoon.
"Obviously the first 10 minutes were ugly offensively–it's hard to simulate the pressure Dallas Baptist can bring. I was really proud of our guys being aggressive and were competing defensively and made them earn everything," said Tech head coach Josh Buettner. "I think we calmed down a little bit and in the second half I thought we were more comfortable and down the stretch Marcus, Gabe and some other guys hit some big shots—and we competed hard on the glass the entire game. We weren't rattled heading into overtime and that's a big win for us."
It took nearly four minutes for either team to score the first points of the new season, with DBU's Jaden Shelvin breaking the scoring drought off a layup. Dallas Baptist controlled the early part of the game with a 13-3 advantage before pulling ahead 24-11, their largest lead of the game with six minutes remaining following a triple by Drew Calderon.
Marcus Tomashek and Gabe Smith accounted for seven points apiece in the first half, with a triple by Tomashek cutting the lead down to five (32-27) with under a minute to play before the Patriots knocked down two free throws to take a 34-27 lead into halftime after pacing the Huskies for most of the opening frame.
Out of the break, Michigan Tech went on an 11-0 run to erase the first-half deficit and take the lead for a moment with seven-straight points from Tomashek before layups by Dawson Nordgaard and Nate Abel made it 38-34 at the 14:43 mark.
The Huskies maintained the lead until the halfway point with Shelvin hitting a jumper to put the Patriots back ahead by three with an old-fashioned three-point play with 9:24 to go, making it 46-43.
The two teams were jostling for a sizable lead the rest of the game, showing six ties and seven lead changes down the stretch. The Huskies looked poised to steal the game with a timely shot by Josh Terrian with four seconds remaining, a 3-pointer, though the Patriots executed the final seconds perfectly, with Daniel Figueira knocking down a triple as time expired to send the first game of the season for the teams into overtime.
Despite both teams seeing key players with multiple fouls, the Huskies navigated the extra time with poise and saw Tomashek finished an and-one to start OT before making a defensive stop and finding Ty Fernholz from long range on the next offensive possession to put the Patriots in a six-point deficit with 3:26 to go.
Following three free throws by Drew Calderon, the Huskies got a transition dunk from Smith and followed that with Tomashek making one-of-two from the charity stripe to regain a six-point advantage (72-66) at the 2:44 mark.
Calderon hit four additional free-throws down the stretch, but an elbow fadeaway by Tomashek and a free-throw by Terrian with under 16 seconds would decide the game at 75-70.
Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field and DBU struggled from 3-point range (26.9%) and the free throw line (17-for-34).
On the flip side, Michigan Tech went 17-for-21 from the charity stripe and saw Tomashek lead the way with 26 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double, also being the game-high on the day. Smith also reached double-figure scoring with 17 points and nine rebounds, adding three steals. Dawson Nordgaard and Terrian also secured nine boards in the contest.
Calderon paced the Patriots with 19 points, with TJ Thomas and Jaden Shelvin finishing with 10 points, respectively.
Up Next
The Huskies will close out the Small College Basketball HOF Classic Sunday, facing No. 19 nationally-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne, slated for a 3:30 p.m. tipoff.
