Story, photo courtesy of Michigan Tech University
NORTH CANTON, Ohio – The No. 16 nationally-ranked Michigan Tech men's basketball squad earned a game-high 34 points from Marcus Tomashek and a career-high 20 points from Jesse Napgezek off the bench in an 83-73 victory over Lake Erie to advance to the Regional Semifinal game at the Alumni Arena on the campus of Walsh University on Saturday afternoon.
Tomashek shot 11-of-18 from the field, 5-of-10 from trey and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe to move to No. 2 all-time in program history with 2,392 points as a Husky. Napgezek was a difference-maker for the Black & Gold, going 14-of-18 from the free-throw line, drawing nine fouls on the day while adding a team-best eight rebounds and two blocks.
The duo of Dawson Nordgaard and Grant Warren added eight points apiece as Nate Abel led the team with four assists.
Lake Erie's season comes to an end with an overall record of 23-9, while playing to a 15-5 record in the G-MAC.
"First off, credit to Lake Erie, those kids played really hard—they played as well as they could have played in the first half," said Tech head coach Josh Buettner. "We were a little too loose and gave up the ball too many times. In the second half, we started looking like us in the half-court on defense and made everything hard for them. Obviously, Marcus gave us one of those All-American performances, which was huge and Jesse, as a freshman, just played poised and was terrific for us."
Michigan Tech (27-6) shot 60 percent from the field in the first half despite struggling with the Storm's full-court pressure, leading to 12 turnovers by the Black & Gold.
By the first media timeout (15:33), the two teams were tied 14-all, with the Storm scoring on back-to-back possessions after Tomashek knocked down his third 3-pointer of the day.
Lake Erie led by as many as eight points after Trace Bishko drew a foul on a 3-point shot, making it 23-15 in favor of the Storm.
Matt Schmainda provided a boost off the bench for the Black & Gold with a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down, then a driving layup on the next possession to tie the game at 25-25 just after the halfway point (9:41).
The two teams jostled for a deciding lead to the end of the half, with eight lead changes and two ties before Tomashek beat the buzzer with a triple to put Michigan Tech ahead 46-45 heading into halftime.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin, native went 5-of-6 from beyond the arc to go with 2-of-2 from the free throw line to lead all scorers as Napgezek added nine points and Nordgaard went 3-of-3 and 1-of-1 from the free throw line for seven first-half points.
The No. 2-seeded Huskies figured out the Storm and maintained their lead the entire second half as Lake Erie shot just 28.1 percent from the field (9-32) and 12.5 percent from deep (2-16) in the final 20 minutes, outscoring LEC 37-28, while winning the battle on the glass 19-17.
The duo of Tomashek (17) and Napgezek (11) combined for 28 second-half points, with a free throw by Gabe Smith with 26 seconds to play, giving the Black & Gold its largest lead of the day (83-72).
No. 6 seed Lake Erie saw Kai Bloom (21) and Alanas Castillo (15) reach double-figure scoring to lead the way as Jake Leibacher had a team-leading seven boards.
