David Archambeau/For the Gazette Michigan Tech guard Marcus Tomashek drives around a Saginaw Valley State defender to attempt the game-winning shot during a game Thursday at the SDC Gym in Houghton.

By DAVER KARNOSKY

dkarnosky@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — With 15 seconds left in a 66-66 tie game, the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals had the ball in the hands of Freddie McIntosh, their second-best shooter. He missed a look from beyond the 3-point line and senior guard Adam Hobson came down with the rebound for the Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team.

Hobson quickly moved the ball over to junior guard Marcus Tomashek, who led all scorers at that point in the game with 27 points. Tomashek drove up the floor, backed his defender into the free throw line, and hit a jump shot from there to put the Huskies up two, 68-66, with two seconds left.

“They missed a pretty wide-open three, which we got lucky a little bit,” Tomashek said. “Then, we had our play drawn up. We knew we were going to get the last shot, so we knew that I was gonna get an ‘iso’ (isolation), get in a good spot, and have a good shot to win that game there.

“We’ve been together so long, I think our teammates know that I’m obviously capable of making a big shot, and I don’t think that they’d want the ball in any other person’s hands there. Obviously, they trust me, and I trust them throughout the whole entire game, too. So, if I would have needed to make a pass there, I would have trusted all my guys to hit a shot there, too.”

Huskies coach Josh Buettner admitted that he thought about calling a timeout once Tomashek crossed mid-court, but chose not to.

“You got a player like Marcus, you let him go,” Buettner said. “You call a timeout, then they can come out and trap it, and get out of his hands or something. Every coach is different on that, in terms of wanting to set up a play. But, when you got a guy like him, sometimes it’s best just to let him make something happen.”

With the win, the Huskies won their ninth game in their last 10 to improve to 11-4 overall and 6-1 in GLIAC play.

“The rewarding part of it is, and I hate going back to it, but a lot of these guys have lived through it the last couple years,” said Buettner. “You know what? They kept working. They kept getting better, every season. We’ve gotten better within the season, season to season, and these guys have kept trusting it.

“We’ve been through some battles. We’ve tried to build it the right way at Michigan Tech. We’re not trying to bring in a bunch of portal kids. We’re trying to bring them in, develop them, and have a team that way. It’s good to see that rewarded.”

The Huskies struggled through the first half, mainly because they could not find the time and space they normally like for 3-point shots. Michigan Tech went 3-for-13 from beyond the 3-point line in the half, and found themselves down, 35-27, when they hit half time.

Part of the problem was 16 points from Toodles Seal, who went 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. However, Buettner credited the play of junior guard Josh Terrian in the second half, as he held Seal to just one basket in the game’s final 20 minutes.

“All I can say there is Josh Terrian,” said Buettner. “I don’t know that anybody was really stopping him the way he was feeling in the first half. But, Josh wanted to step up and take him, and Josh did a job on him. He got nothing easy. He was everywhere on him. It was another great performance. Josh has eight rebounds there, and guarded Tootles the whole second half. So, as much as (I can praise) Marcus for making the shot, a guy like Terrian is just huge.”

The game turned originally during a stretch with 10:38 left, Hobson came off the bench with the Huskies trailing 54-42. He hit a three from near the Michigan Tech bench, then stole the ball on the next possession and ran it back to excite the crowd with a dunk. Suddenly, the Huskies trailed by just seven, 54-47, and the gym started to buzz with excitement.

“Obviously we needed that,” said Tomashek. “We were kind of in a little rough patch, and ‘Hobbs’ came right off the bench and gave us a really good spark. He had that big three, and then (a) pretty good dunk. So it got us going a little bit.”

A minute later, the Cardinals led by 12 again, but from there, the Huskies cut away at that advantage until Tomashek made back-to-back sets of free throws to even the game. The four straight points were a key moment for the Huskies’ top scorer, as the team has been struggling with consistency from the free throw line of late.

“Our free throws are all on me,” Tomashek said. “I haven’t been shooting them well this year, but, obviously, I’m a good shooter. I know it’s just a mental game. I knew I was going to hit all of my free throws tonight.”

UP NEXT

The Huskies return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. as they host the Wayne State Warriors at the SDC Gym.