Photo courtesy of Michigan Tech University Michigan Tech guard Nate Abel drives around a Roosevelt defender during a game Saturday at the Goodman Center in Chicago, Illinois.

CHICAGO, Ill. — The No. 22 nationally-ranked Michigan Tech men’s basketball team earned their fifth-straight win and fifth series sweep of GLIAC play with an 82-56 victory over Roosevelt at the Goodman Center in Chicago on Saturday afternoon.

The Huskies elevate to 20-6 overall, reaching the 20-win mark for the first time since the 2021-22 season, and 15-3 in the GLIAC as the Lakers drop to 8-17 overall and 5-12 in the GLIAC.

“I was really proud of how we played. We controlled the things we could control–we crushed them on the boards and had 20 assists to eight turnovers which was huge,” said Michigan Tech head coach Josh Buettner. “Those were the things we wanted to do and I think that’s why we were successful. 34 bench points is huge and going back to when we started winning a little bit we were making our runs when we started going to the bench and we’re adding a lethal scorer with Ty coming back and Pete was huge today and it’s huge when he plays like that.”

Four Huskies finished in double-figure scoring led by redshirt freshman Gabe Smith with 16 points adding six rebounds. Pete Calcaterra secured a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, to go with three assists. Nate Abel (11 points) and Ty Fernholz (10 points) rounded out the double-digit scorers.

Abel impressed early with three first-half 3-pointers as the Stoughton, Wisconsin natives of Adam Hobson and Fernholz gave the Huskies a boost off the bench with a layup from Hobson and a triple by Fernholz making it a 15-9 advantage for MTU with 13:29 to go in the first half.

At the halfway point, the Huskies earned their first double-digit lead off a triple by Fernholz and a fastbreak dunk by Smith with Hobson earning the assists on both baskets, making it 25-15 with 8:49 to go in the opening half.

The two teams went scoreless over the last two minutes of the opening period seeing the Huskies head into halftime with a 41-30 advantage after knocking down seven 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

Roosevelt kept it around a 10-point deficit for the first five minutes of the second half before the Huskies opened things up with a 16-4 run capped by a 3-pointer by Marcus Tomashek at the 8:49 mark, pushing Michigan Tech ahead 67-40.

The Black and Gold maintained a 20-point advantage to the 3:25 mark when Smith hit a jumper to take the largest lead of the game at 80-50 before the final media timeout and the coaches went deeper into their respective benches. Luke Hazelton knocked down a shot from the left block to conclude the scoring for the Huskies before the game was decided at 82-56.

Robinson paced three Lakers in double-figure scoring with 15 points as Yaklich led the way with 11 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Michigan Tech concludes the regular season on the road next week traveling to Purdue Northwest on Thursday and Parkside Saturday.