DULUTH, Minn. — With a 74-70 win over No. 4 Minnesota State-Moorhead, the Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team earned a split in the St. Louis County Basketball Classic over the weekend.

Junior guard Marcus Tomashek had a tremendous tournament, scoring 29 points in an 80-70 loss on Friday to No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth, and then 40 in the win over the Dragons.

The Huskies are now 3-3 on the season.

HUSKIES GET PAST DRAGONS

ON SATURDAY

Tomashek scored a career-high 40 points (15-for-29) to slay the No. 3 nationally-ranked undefeated Dragons, 74-70, to conclude the St. Louis County Basketball Classic in Duluth, Minnesota, on Saturday.

Michigan Tech handed No. 3 MSU Moorhead its first loss of the season (5-1). MSU-Moorhead had won the last three meetings against Michigan Tech, with the win being the first over the Dragons since Nov. 20, 2009 (62-56).

Tomashek, tabbed the GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, scored 30 of the team’s total 42 points in the second half, shooting over 50% from the field, hitting four 3-pointers and 6-for-8 from the charity stripe. Dawson Nordgaard was the lone Husky to join Tomashek with double-digit points, scoring 10 points to go with 10 rebounds for his first career double-double in 23 minutes.

“That was a huge win for us. The guys brought it again today. It was good to get a win instead of a morale victory boost,” Huskies coach Josh Buettner said. “A lot of guys stepped up and made winning plays. The last ten minutes we were terrific defensively and we have one of the best players in the country to take over offensively and he was special and fun to watch.”

Tomashek accounted for seven points at the halfway mark of the first half as the Huskies maintained a seven-point lead (23-16), earning their largest lead of the period.

The Dragon duo of Jacob Beeninga and Jacob Jennissen combined for 13 points, with nine-straight points from Beeninga giving the Dragons its first lead since the opening minute as Levi Berkholz and Shawn Wysocki added scores to claim a 35-32 advantage heading into halftime.

MSU-Moorhead controlled the first 10 minutes of the second frame, leading by double-figures five times, with its largest lead coming off a Beeninga jumper at the 10:25 mark, making it a 54-42 game.

From that point, the Huskies outscored the Dragons 32-16 propelled by an astonishing 26 points from Tomashek. Josh Terrian kindled the outburst, scoring a fastbreak layup before getting a steal, which translated into a layup from Gabe Smith to cut the lead to six points at the 8:49 mark.

Tomashek scored on the Huskies next three possessions before Nordgaard converted on a fastbreak opportunity as Terrian earned his second assist in two minutes to cut the deficit to one point (56-55) with 6:34 to play.

The Green Bay, Wisconsin, native tied the game three times before ultimately reclaiming the lead with 38 seconds remaining following a jumper. The Dragons had two shots to tie or retake the lead before being forced to foul down the stretch, seeing the Tomashek takeover snap their five-game win streak following two free-throws with six seconds remaining, deciding the game at 74-70.

Kinsey scored a team-high 27 points and nine rebounds for the Dragons, while Beeninga (21 points) and Jennissen (12 points) also reached double-digit scoring.

HUSKIES FALL SHORT

ON FRIDAY

The Huskies cut a 20-point deficit down to seven points in the second half, but ultimately could not overcome the pesky Minnesota-Duluth defense, falling to the No. 6 nationally-ranked team, 80-70, to start the St. Louis County Basketball Classic on Friday night.

Tomashek led the Huskies in scoring for the third time this season, pouring on 29 points (9-for-22), including a perfect nine-for-nine from the charity stripe. Pete Calcaterra joined Tomashek in double-figure scoring with 13 points in a contest that saw five Huskies finish with four fouls in a physical defensive battle with the Bulldogs.

“I thought our guys really fought hard tonight in a very physical game against a veteran physical team,” said Buettner. “We struggled with foul trouble and execution but kept fighting. It’s a short turnaround against another very good team tomorrow.”

Michigan Tech entered halftime trailing by 11 (34-23) after the first half as the two teams had multiple scoring droughts. Minnesota-Duluth (4-0) jumped out to a 17-9 advantage eight minutes into the contest, backed by six points from Austin Andrews and four points from Joshua Brown, who would finish the night with a team-high 20 points. The Bulldogs got their first double-digit lead with 1:05 to play in the period with two free throws from Charlie Katona.

The Huskies doubled their three-point makes from the first half to the second, cashing in on four shots from downtown, helping cut into the deficit as both teams shot over 50 percent from the field and compiled 42 total free throws. The Black and Gold shot perfectly from the charity stripe (15-for-15), while UMD went 20-for-27.

Michigan Tech did not back down in the final 10 minutes despite being down by as much as 20 points with under eight minutes to play. Tomashek, the GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, struggled in the first half with just two points before accounting for 27 of the Huskies’ 47 second-half points, including 14 of Michigan Tech’s last 16 points.

Calcaterra and Tomashek down the stretch cut the Bulldogs’ lead to seven points with under two minutes to play. However, free throws from Minnesota-Duluth were able to hold off Michigan Tech from pulling off a second-half comeback.

Nordgaard scored eight points to go, with three offensive rebounds, although foul trouble held him to just 13 minutes of game time. Terrian led the Huskies with five rebounds, while freshman forward Grant Warren produced five points for the Black and Gold in 12 minutes of action.

Following Brown, Minnesota-Duluth had Katona (15 points), Andrews (12 points) and Matt Thompson (10 points) reach double-digit scoring. Andrews also recorded a team-high eight rebounds and three assists.

UP NEXT

The Huskies face another NSIC foe in St. Cloud State on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in its home opener at the SDC Gymnasium to conclude the opening slate of non-conference play.