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White-hot NMU shooters cool off, lose at MTU

HOUGHTON – In the hallway behind the SDC gym on Thursday night, the Michigan Tech men’s coaches were congratulated by other members of the school’s athletic department following Tech’s 85-75 win over Northern Michigan University.

Huskies women’s assistant coach Maria Kasza gave men’s assistant Josh Buettner a hug and offered praise.

Buettner responded, “It’s not too often you get to win the last game of the season.”

For the first time since 2010, Tech (11-15, 10-12)?did not qualify for a postseason tournament.

It took a 21-point second half by freshman Kyle Monroe – who led all scorers with 25 points – and a renewed defensive focus to limit the white-hot shooting of NMU (7-19, 5-17) and prevail in front of a crowd of 1,131.

Senior Terry Nash and sophomore Jordan Perez led NMU with 20 points apiece as they combined to convert on 7 of 9 3-point attempts in the first half before finishing 9 of 13.

With the Wildcats trailing 30-21 with about five minutes left in the first half, NMU made six of its next seven 3-point tries – including a half-court shot by freshman Naba Echols at the buzzer – to take a 41-39 lead into the break.

“The simple fact of the first half is that we just made shots,” NMU head coach Bill Sall said. “Been playing Tech for a lot of years and they’re going to give you a 3 and that’s how they play. I thought they did come out on us more (in the second half), but we had some looks we didn’t make.”

After NMU went 10 of 17 from beyond the arc in the first half, the Huskies limited NMU to just 3 of 8 in the second half.

“It was nerve-wracking because they did it for the whole game last year,” Tech head coach Kevin Luke said of NMU’s hot touch from outside. “This rivalry game, you don’t know who’s going to be making shots and who is going to be the factor to put each team over the hump. Nash did a really nice job for them in the first half and cooled down at halftime.”

Those weren’t the only adjustments Tech made at halftime; after Monroe was limited by the defensive efforts of Nash – four points on 2 of 7 shooting – senior Luke Heller, while watching from the bench, noticed various ways they could free up Monroe using backside slips to give him cleaner looks at the basket.

“He noticed that I had my guy at the elbow and he (Nash) was fronting,” Monroe said of Heller’s advice. “He just kind of said, ‘Hey, look in there. We can get that pass in.’ So we tried it and it worked.”

With the adjustment, Monroe was able to catch and go to work on the block or beat his man off the dribble in the midrange; he shot 7 of 8 in the second half on his way to recording 21 points. The freshman forward delivered the game’s dagger when he swished a 3 from the right wing with 25 seconds left as the shot clock expired to put Tech ahead 81-73.

“In the second half Monroe just went crazy,” Sall said. “He’s a really good player. He’s going to be a handful for years to come.”

Tech led the final 11:49 after sophomore Tanner Uren, a Negaunee High School product, converted a free throw to put Tech up 54-53. Uren’s free throw was part of a 10-2 run that gave the Huskies a 57-53 lead.

Besides Nash and Perez, Echols was the only other Wildcat in double figures with 17 points.

NOTES

Luke on Nash’s career at NMU: “My heart goes out to Terry Nash. He’s been a class-act all four years; he’s played his tail off. As excited as I am about our seniors to win, I’m sorry to see good people leave the league.”

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