Huskies upset Parkside in GLIAC quarterfinals 73-68

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Marcus Tomashek willed Michigan Tech with 26 points as the Huskies topped No. 1 seed Wisconsin Parkside 73-68 in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals Wednesday night at De Simone Gymnasium.

"We went into halftime with a double-digit lead and we told the guys to just keep fighting through the runs," commented head coach Josh Buettner. "This team won the regular season title and we knew they were going to keep coming at us. Every time it felt like it could slip away, someone stepped up and hit big shot after big shot for us. Our execution still needs to be a lot better in the last minute and a half but we battled to the end."

The Huskies led by as many as 14 in the second half and held off a late push by the Rangers to pick up their first victory over UWP in three tries this season.

The No. 8 seed Huskies (9-19, 5-13) take on No. 5 seed Grand Valley State (18-11, 11-7) in the semifinals Saturday at 5:30 p.m. EST at Jim Wink Arena (Ferris State host).

Pete Calcaterra shot 7-for-10 for 19 points with eight rebounds. Nate Abel came off the bench for 11 points and took two charges in the second half to help the Huskies maintain the lead.

Dan Gherezgher contributed 13 points and five rebounds. 

"Marcus was huge," Buettner said. "Pete had a ton of big ones. Nate made some very timely buckets and Dan did a really good job in the first half of setting the tone of the game for us."

The Huskies took a 37-27 edge into halftime with Calcaterra, Tomashek, and Gherezgher already in double figures. The teams traded the lead early before Tech went on a 9-0 run for a 10-point spread with 1:10 remaining. MTU shot 50 percent (15-30) through 20 minutes with 18 points in the paint.

Turnovers plagued both teams out of the break but Tomashek and Gherezgher each downed a three for a 45-31 lead with 13:49 to play. Ethan Ivan started Parkside's comeback bid with a 3-pointer.

Frequent trips to the free throw line allowed the Rangers to close the margin to six at the five-minute mark. Then Calcaterra and Tomashek made jumpers and the Huskies pushed the game out of reach with under a minute remaining.

The Huskies shot 47.3 percent (26-55), including 31.8 percent 97-22) from beyond the arc. Parkside won the rebound battle 35-34 and committed 11 turnovers, compared to MTU's 13. Jamir Simpson led the Rangers with 21 points. Nick Brown spearheaded UWP's offense in the first half and finished the evening with 14 points.

Tech limited Parkside's leading scorer Rasheed Bello to 2-for-15 shooting and five points.

Michigan Tech is 0-2 against Grand Valley State this season. The GLIAC Championship is scheduled for Sunday.

"I don't remember the last time we won a game in Big Rapids," Buettner said. "It will be the same type of situation on Saturday. Not a ton of pressure. No one is expecting us to keep going but we have two days to recover and the goal is to go out there and play loose, free, confident, and aggressive."