HOUGHTON, Mich. -- A late comeback attempt fell short as
the Wayne State University men's basketball team (16-10) dropped its GLIAC Tournament opener, 92-84, at Michigan Tech (16-13) on Tuesday night. The Huskies took the season's rubber match as the road team won both matchups during the regular season. WSU trailed by as many as 19 in the second half of this GLIAC Quarterfinal contest, but a late rally made it interesting as the Warriors cut the Huskies' lead to five (86-81) with 31 seconds remaining.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Huskies led 6-2 early in the opening half after back-to-back treys from Kyle Monroe.
Ronald Booth (Detroit, Mich. / Consortium) tied the game at 8-8 after a three from the left elbow at the 15:38 mark. A triple by
Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) put WSU on top 13-11 with 13:18 left to play. A three-point play from Monroe extended MTU's lead to 17-13 with 12:13 to play.
George Spencer (Detroit, Mich. / Belleville) and
Michael Lewis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) combined to score five points which cut the deficit to four (24-20), with just under seven minutes to play before intermission.
Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech) kept the Warriors close with a jumper and later in the stanza,
Clark Bishop (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) connected from behind the arc to pull WSU within three, 36-33, with 1:13 remaining. At halftime, the Huskies led 38-33.
- Lewis cut the home lead to three, 44-41, at the 17:46 mark of the second half. The Huskies began to heat up and stretched the advantage to 13, 56-43, at the 13-minute mark. Three straight triples pushed MTU's lead to 70-53. At the seven-minute mark, WSU trailed 77-58 (MTU's largest lead of the game). The Warriors slowly chipped away at the home lead. Moore scored five quick points to trim the deficit to 85-79 with one minute remaining. Another layup from Moore made it a five-point game, 86-81, with 30 seconds left to play. However, it would be too little too late and Michigan Tech would win by eight.
WSU LEADERS
- Booth finished with 22 points, including five three-pointers. Moore tallied 21 points and a team-best six rebounds, while Lewis contributed 19 points in his final game in the Green & Gold.
MTU LEADERS
- Monroe paced all scorers with 27 points, while Jordan Chartier scored 20 points.
