FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 25-ranked Indiana Tech men's basketball team defeated Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) foe Siena Heights University, 78-72, on Wednesday evening inside the Schaefer Center.
 
Dylan Phair scored a career-high 32 points to lead all scorers and added six rebounds and four assists. He is the first Tech player to score 30 points in a game since Max Huber had 31 points against Olivet Nazarene on November 10, 2017. Logan Primerano recorded his second double-double of the season with 14 points and a season-high 11 rebounds. Huber added four points, seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal while Josh Kline had eight points, five rebounds and three blocks.
 
Tech came out of the gates firing as they took an 8-0 lead just 2:45 into the game and forcing the Saints to burn an early timeout. Keith Jordan, Jr., who finished the night with 31 points, would get the Saints on the scoreboard right out of the timeout with a three-pointer and added a jumper to cut the deficit to three points. The Warriors would not be rattled though, as they went on a 10-3 run to extend their lead to 20-9 with 13:17 to go in the first half. Siena Heights continued to cut away at the lead for the rest of the half and had it down to a five-point game several times, but the Orange and Black would respond each time with runs of their own and took a 41-31 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
The visitors opened up the second half on a 10-5 spurt to make it a 51-43 game with 15:20 to play, but just as they had done in the first, Tech would answer the challenge every time and would not let the lead shrink to a one-possession game. The Warriors took advantage of a 7-0 spurt to increase the lead to 63-50 with 9:55 to go in the game, but Jordan, Jr. would do everything he could to keep his team in the game as he dueled with Phair down the stretch.
 
The Saints eventually made it a single-possession game with 16 seconds left following a triple from Jordan, Jr. to make it a 75-72 game, but Tech would go 3-4 from the free throw line in crunch time to ice the game away and give the Warriors the win.
 
Tech (12-8, 8-2 WHAC) returns to action Saturday as they travel to No. 6-ranked Cornerstone University to begin the second half of conference play. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. from Mol Arena.