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NMU pulls off upset

HOUGHTON – The Michigan Tech University men’s basketball team learned the hard way Monday just how far back Northern Michigan University’s program has come in a season and a half under coach Bill Sall.

Despite a Herculean effort from Ben Stelzer, his career-high 37 points could not overcome the hole the Huskies found themselves in and NMU came away from the SDC Gym winners for the first time since 2010, 67-62.

“For us right now, just getting those types of wins, it’s a huge, huge moment for us,” Sall said.

NMU (8-13, 6-9 GLIAC) shot 60 percent or better, both from the field and 3-point range, for the first 30 minutes of the game, and when they didn’t make clutch shots in spades, they pulled down some vital offensive rebounds to win for just the third time in the last 11 meetings.

“It can’t be a rivalry until you start to win a few games, and unfortunately Northern hasn’t done that lately,” Sall said.

In the first half, the Wildcats made 6 of 9 attempts from deep and led by as many as 16, 31-15, with 2:33 left in the half.

After struggling to find space to move early, Stelzer sparked Tech late in the half with 11 points in the last 2:23 to get the Huskies back to within 10 at halftime.

“One thing we talked about at halftime is, for some reason it seemed like they wanted it a little more. We preached, it’s a rivalry game, coming off a loss, we’ve got all the reasons in the world not to get outworked out there and (NMU) played better tonight,” Stelzer said.

NMU stopped that momentum by making its first four field-goal attempts of the second half and kept making big shots. Three more treys, two by Marcus Hall and one by Alex Sorenson, made it a 16-point game again, with 11:04 to play.

As demoralizing as the points were, Tech’s inability to get key rebounds was crippling. On one possession midway through the second half, NMU, already trying to run clock, collected three boards in a row and had a possession almost two minutes in length. The Wildcats ended with a 32-21 rebounding edge.

As Tech found itself in deep trouble, Stelzer tried desperately to put the team on his back. He scored the Huskies’ last 19 points. The first flurry, four treys in a span of 3:07, got Tech back to within four, 59-55 with 4:05 to play.

Luke was clearly unhappy with the team’s effort level and decided to go with his best player as his last resort.

“I know people are going to clutch and grab him, but he deserves better than what he got tonight and he’s going to shoot 37 times if we have to. Because I know he’s going to play hard every night. I don’t know if everybody else is, I don’t know if they want it bad enough and that’s just the way I feel right now,” he said.

After Stelzer’s 3 with 4:05 to play, Tech missed its next three shots.

The Huskies started fouling to extend the game, but even with seven more Stelzer points (including a four-point play), they never had the ball in a one-possession game as NMU went 8 for 8 from the free-throw line in the final 44 seconds.

“It was a really good win. It was a great team effort. I thought our guys played really hard on the defensive side. Stelzer was incredible as he always is,” Sall said.

Both teams have one more round remaining through the GLIAC North, starting Thursday downstate (where Tech plays at Ferris State and NMU is at Grand Valley State) and ending in their rematch Feb. 26 at the Berry Events Center.

The Huskies (13-6, 10-5 GLIAC) caught something of a break Monday, as Ashland and Hillsdale, the two teams most threatening what is currently a No. 4 seed in the GLIAC Tournament, both lost.

Tech’s Luke Heller added 17 points, but no one else had more than three and no one on the bench scored at all.

NMU, which ended up 23 for 45 (51.1 percent) from the field and 9 of 19 from three, got a team-best 17 points from Hall, plus 16 from Mattison, who also had 11 rebounds.

Mostly due to the three spots guaranteed to the weak GLIAC South, NMU’s got an uphill battle to grab a tournament spot but after several close losses earlier in the season, to finish a big one matters.

“To actually get over the hump, to have confidence and win a few of those, that’s a big deal for us,” Sall said.

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