HOUGHTON, Mich. – The No. 16 nationally-ranked and No. 3 seed Michigan Tech men's basketball team will open the NCAA Tournament with a matchup against No. 6 seed Lake Erie at the Cecchini Center on the campus of host Walsh University, slated for a noon tipoff on Saturday.
This marks the 13th trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history and the third under two-time GLIAC Coach of the Year, Josh Buettner.
Complete action of Saturday's game can be found at Michigantechhuskies.com/live.
The Tournament
Walsh secured the No. 1 seed and hosting rights following a G-MAC tournament title and an overall record of 27-3. Grand Valley State earned the No. 2 seed following a GLIAC Tournament title, with a standing of 25-6. Michigan Tech (26-6) and Rockhurst (23-6) entered last week's regional rankings first and second, respectively, but losses in their conference tournament dropped the two to the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the regional tournament. Northern Michigan (27-6) and Lake Erie (23-8) fell in their conference tournament championship games to earn No. 5 and No. 6 seeds. Ashland (20-10) and GLVC Tournament champions William Jewell (22-9) earned the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in the region.
About the Storm
Lake Erie enters the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 23-8 with a G-MAC standing of 15-5, most recently falling in the G-MAC Tournament Championship game to No. 1 seed and host Walsh (86-73). LEC won 11-straight games before the loss in the Tournament Championship game.
The Storm rank first in the G-MAC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.49), assists per game (18.5), bench points per game (40.03), fastbreak points (17.10), offensive rebounds per game (14.23), scoring offense (88.2), steals per game (10.8), three-point attempts per game (32.8), three-pointers per game (10.7), turnover margin (5.7) and turnovers forced per game (18.16).
Five players average 9.9 or more points for Lake Erie, led by 14.7 points per game from Amari Williams, with Kai Bloom (11.5), Gavin Welch (11.2), and Gio Moore (11.0) also reaching double-figure scoring.
Bloom and Williams both average over three assists and 1.4 steals per game to lead the team. Williams also leads the team in 3-point attempts (197) and is second-best on the team with 2.16 3-pointers per outing, while his 456 points this season pace the Storm. Welch leads the team in 3-pointers made with 77 on the year and 2.48 per game.
Amari has recorded a season-high of 29 points as Trace Bishko and Welch have game-highs of eight 3-pointers made in 25-26.
Kyle Conley is in his 10th season as the head coach of the Storm.
About the Huskies
Michigan Tech earned the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region after bowing out of the GLIAC Tournament Semifinal, losing to eventual GLIAC Tournament Champion Grand Valley State. For the season, the Huskies are 26-6 overall with a 16-4 ledger in the GLIAC, earning a share of the conference regular season title.
The Huskies hold the best field goal percentage defense (40.2) in the GLIAC, which also ranks 14th nationally, while holding a top-20 scoring defense (66.1), ranking 19th in the country.
Marcus Tomashek has scored in double-figures 30 times this season with a team-leading 20.8 points per game to go with four rebounds and 2.8 assists. Dawson Nordgaard, a GLIAC All-Tournament team member, adds 9.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game as the second-best scorer for the Black & Gold. Ty Fernholz is close behind, chipping in 9.4 points off the bench, averaging 2.63 3-pointers per game, which is second on the squad behind Tomashek's 3.13.
The Huskies GLIAC All-Defensive team members, Nate Abel and Gabe Smith, lead the Black & Gold in rebounds and steals. Abel produces a team-best 7.1 rebounds per game, with Smith adding 6.4 per outing. Smith has 57 steals on the season, averaging 1.78 per game, while Abel has 42 steals in his senior season.
One Last Thing
The Huskies have won the first round of the NCAA Tournament in their last two appearances, earning a win over Northern Michigan in last year's opening round while making it to the Regional Championship game in the 2020-21 season in the final season with Michigan Tech Hall of Famer, Kevin Luke, at the helm of the Huskies.
