Leave it to Pete
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Purdue Northwest | 38 | 32 | 70 |
|
Michigan Tech | 40 | 31 | 71 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – With 3.3 seconds left in a tie game, Pete Calcaterra drove to the basket and converted one free throw as Michigan Tech held off Purdue Northwest 71-70 Thursday night at SDC Gymnasium. The win propelled the Huskies into tournament position, eighth place with two regular season games to play.
"Pete gave us the spark and got to the basket going to his right," said head coach Josh Buettner. "He's a great athlete and he was the hot hand so we gave him the ball. I think he would have made it to the rim had there not been a foul first. I was really happy he stepped up for our team tonight."
Calcaterra finished with a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds after shooting 9-for-16 from the field.
"Obviously, you gain energy from a made bucket, but for me, my role on the team is about getting a good rebound or making a steal and then running the floor," said Calcaterra.
Marcus Tomashek jump-started the offense and jettisoned the Huskies to a 40-38 halftime lead with 14 first-half points, including four 3-pointers.
"Marcus was making shots in the first half so we drew up a couple of plays for him when he was feeling it," Calcaterra said. "We held the lead at halftime but we also realized we could still play better."
Mikell Cooper helped flip momentum as the Pride went ahead by a game-high 11 points eight minutes into the second half. Later, Calcaterra's finger roll at the rim closed Tech back to a 66-63 margin at the four-minute mark. Soon after, Calcaterra nabbed a steal underneath the rim and laid it in for two more.
On the Huskies' next possession, Tomashek kicked a pass out to Calcaterra for a left-wing 3-pointer and MTU seized back control 68-66 with 2:11 to play. A pair of free throws tied it but Calcaterra quickly answered with a layup.
On the opposite end, Cooper pulled down an offensive rebound for the Pride following a 3-point miss and the Pride called timeout with 38 seconds remaining. Michigan Tech was still on top 70-67 at the time. Trying to force a pass into the paint, Calcaterra reached in for a steal, subsequently forcing the Pride to foul.
Calcaterra failed to convert on the one and one opportunity and Anthony Irvin swished a three in front of the PNW bench with 18.2 seconds left to tie it again.
Following a Tech timeout, the Huskies advanced the basketball with 14 seconds. Calcaterra bounded toward the rim but was fouled by Obi Ezekwesili with 3.3 seconds left. Calcaterra made his second attempt at the line to break the deadlock.
PNW hustled up the floor and pitched the basketball to Kai Steinman. Steinman's off-balance 3-pointer in the corner, dropped short of the rim as time expired with Tomashek in close coverage.
"Earlier in the year, when an opponent would go on a run, we would often kind of hide and back down but that's not us anymore," Calcaterra said. "We're taking pride in improving that part of our game, fighting back, and giving it all we've got."
In addition to Calcaterra's first double-double of the season, Dawson Nordgaard also chipped in offensively with 10 points off the bench on an efficient 5-for-5 shooting. Adam Hobson led the squad with three of MTU's nine assists and the Huskies limited their turnovers to eight.
Cooper finished with 22 points for Purdue Northwest. Alou Dillon (18 points) and Kalil Whitehead (10 points) also vaulted into double-figures.
The Huskies scored 36 points in the paint and shot 54 percent overall (27-50), including 47.1 percent (8-17) from beyond the arc.
Tech bounced back to split the season series after falling in Hammond, Indiana to PNW 73-63 on December 3.
Michigan Tech (8-17, 5-11 GLIAC) welcome the conference's top team, Wisconsin Parkside (18-7, 11-4) to SDC Gymnasium Saturday at 3 p.m. before closing out the regular season against Northern Michigan next Saturday for Senior Day. MTU is sandwiched in the standings by Wayne State (8-14, 5-10) and Purdue Northwest (11-14, 4-11) but both hold one game in hand.
The top eight teams in the standings advance to the GLIAC Tournament with quarterfinals taking place March 1. MTU improved to 7-4 at home this season.
