David Archambeau/For the Gazette Michigan Tech forward Peyton LaCombe drives up the floor during a game against Grand Valley State Saturday, Feb. 1, at the SDC Gym in Houghton.

HOUGHTON — After splitting with the Wayne State Warriors and the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals last weekend, the Michigan Tech Huskies men’s basketball team returned home still tied for first in the GLIAC standings with an 11-3 record in conference play. The Huskies improved to 16-6 overall, and are looking this weekend to keep their perfect 9-0 streak alive in the friendly confines of the SDC Gym.

After the Huskies dropped their game Thursday to the Warriors, coach Josh Buettner was pleased with how his group responded Saturday against the Cardinals to earn a win.

“Honestly, I’m really happy with Saturday,” he said. “I thought Saginaw played a pretty good game. I don’t think we shot well in either game. The lesson to be learned after, that we talked about with our guys, is you can’t count on making shots on the road. It’s the long bus ride, cold, I mean, all the excuses in the world on how tough it’s going to be, then you’ve got to go down there with the mentality, with how hard you’re going to play, that you need to grind it out and do all those things.

“Wayne State played good. They beat us. But on Saturday, I thought Toodles (Seale) and Freddy (McIntosh) played really, really well. Our 3-point percentage was actually worse than it was on Thursday. But, we found a way to grind it out.”

Buettner turned to another sport, hockey, to best describe how the Huskies found a way to win.

“For your hockey reference, on some of those possessions, it was kind of dump and chase, throw it up on one side, and just have three guys crash as hard as you can,” he said. “Our second chance points, we really got to the boards. We had very few mental mistakes and we made them earn everything and found a way to win.

“On Thursday, we didn’t have that. We had mental mistakes. There were a few possessions where I don’t know that we were competing as hard as we needed to. To go with the missed shots, and some missed free throws, and some of that stuff, obviously, we came up short. We had an, I think it was an, eight-point lead pretty deep into the second half, and I know we scored only two points the last six minutes of the game.”

Buettner wants his team to learn how to attack, no matter the situation. As a player in the past, when teams he was on were finding ways to win, they were doing just that.

“The best teams we’ve had here have gone on those trips with just an attacking mentality of we’re tough enough to handle this and do this,” he said. “We just didn’t have it Thursday and Saturday.”

While not everything that Buettner wants his team to do worked out, one player had a huge game Saturday. Freshman guard Gabe Smith put up a career-high 18 points in the win.

“Gabe works as hard as anybody,” Buettner said. “He’s in the gym every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and doesn’t care about anything statistics-wise. He doesn’t care if he’s getting shots. Obviously, it’s an interesting game, and his offensive game is interesting, but all the numbers show how good he is offensively.

“Obviously, he gave us a huge spark, 18 points, making free throws, crashing the glass. The number of possessions he saved us this year on the offensive rebounding, his offensive rebounding percentage is phenomenal. So, that was a great spark. Obviously, his defense has shown all year, but he’s continuing to get confidence offensively, and the sky’s the limit for him.”

At the same time, Buettner knows that the Huskies cannot rely on junior guard Marcus Tomashek to drive all of the offense down the stretch. He put up a career-high 45 points at Ferris State earlier this year, but the Huskies need to have players like Smith help lighten his load.

“We’re managing him as the best we can in practice, and it’s February,” said Buettner. “I probably worried a little bit more about the load he was bearing a couple weeks ago. Now it’s starting to get close to the part of the year where it’s becoming a sprint. Six more regular season (games), and I know we haven’t clinched the tournament yet, but it’s close to that. You’re only guaranteed seven more games. That’s starting to get to sprint-through territory, where you can’t worry about guys being tired of loads. You have to go now.”

At the same time, with three games left at the SDC Gym, Buettner admits that things should be more smooth at home.

“I think, at home, it makes it a little easier when you’re more confident in everybody making their shots,” he said. “On the road, it felt like the Wayne game maybe went a little too quick, and trying to take over, and do something, but I also know we were down, and it didn’t feel. I think he ran out of gas a little bit, towards the end of that game. He’s bailed us out in the last five minutes of a lot of games, he didn’t, and hopefully, at home, we can have a little bit more balance, where we don’t have to put that load on him. Obviously, every game’s so important right now. If things aren’t going well, we’re going to go to him often.”

SCOUTING

THE BULLDOGS

The No. 20 Ferris State Bulldogs come into this weekend having split last weekend, defeating Davenport on Thursday before losing Saturday to Grand Valley State. The Bulldogs are 20-5 overall and 10-4 in conference play.

Senior Ethan Anderson leads the Bulldogs offensively, averaging 16.8 points per game. Junior Tyler Hamilton has also been good, averaging 11.2 points per game. Junior Nathan Claerbaut is on the cusp of double figures at 9.6 points per game.

SCOUTING

THE LAKERS

The Lake Superior State Lakers are tied with the Huskies atop the GLIAC standings with a 20-4 overall record and an 11-3 record in conference play. They defeated the Huskies on Jan. 23, 82-72. They are coming off a split last week with a loss to Grand Valley State and a win over Davenport.

Senior guard Tyson Edmonson leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.1 points per game. Senior forward Kingsley Perkins (12.5), senior forward Hunter Soper (11.5), sophomore guard Adam Harakow (11.0), and senior guard Devin Womack (10.4) all also average in double figures.

GAME TIMES

The Huskies and Bulldogs will battle Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Huskies and Lakers are set to tip at 2 p.m.