SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 6-ranked and No. 2-seeded Indiana Tech men's basketball team fell to No. 24-ranked and No. 6-seeded Marian University, 90-74, on Friday evening in the second round of the NAIA Division II National Championship, presented by Cypress Risk Management, at the Sanford Pentagon.
Max Huber scored a team-high 15 points in the loss and grabbed eight rebounds while
Dylan Phair added 14 points.
Joel Wincowski scored 11 points while
Nic Williams had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the double-double.
Tech held a 7-5 lead after the first two and a half minutes of the game, which tipped off at 11:09 EST, but the Knights charged ahead with a 7-0 run to take a 12-7 lead at the 15:59 mark of the first half. Marian held a slim lead for the next 13 minutes until an 8-0 run from Tech, with Huber scoring five of the points, to tie the game up at 34 with 2:30 to go until the halftime break, but a 9-2 run from the Knights made it a 43-36 game at the break.
Marian continued its offensive surge into the second half thanks to the play of Wes Stowers and Reggie Kissoonlal, who had 32 and 30 points, respectively, with the latter adding 11 rebounds and eight blocks to his stat line and the former dishing out six assists.
An 8-3 run from the Orange and Black cut the deficit to six points at 52-46 with 14:44 to play in the game, but the Knights, who had knocked off defending national champion Union on Thursday, answered right back with a 7-0 spurt to push their advantage back up to 13 points with 13:19 on the clock. The Warriors refused to go away, cutting the lead down to seven points with 5:21 remaining in the game, but Marian refused to give any more ground up and responded with runs each time to get ahead by double digits.
Back-to-back baskets from
Edmond Early, Jr. and Phair made it a 80-72 game with 3:16 to play, but the Knights went 10-12 from the free throw line down the stretch and held Tech to just a pair of free throws in the final three minutes of the game to end the Warriors season with the 90-74 win.
Tech finishes the season with a 27-7 mark and goes to 4-8 in national championship games.
