FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The No. 13-ranked Indiana Tech men's basketball team returned to Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action Wednesday evening inside the Schaefer Center as they defeated Aquinas College, 74-64, overcoming a 13-point second-half deficit to start off the New Year with a win.
 
Josh Kline scored a career-high 18 points off the bench while adding five rebounds and two blocks in 18 minutes of action. Max Huber chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds while Dylan Phair and Logan Primerano each added in 11 points with the latter collecting seven rebounds.
 
The Saints would get out to a 7-2 lead to begin the game, with DeShawn Lewis, who finished with a game-high 37 points, scoring all seven points for the visitors. A triple from Phair and a jumper from Darren Groves would knot the game up at 7-7 with 12:13 to play in the first, with the basket from Groves breaking a 4:04 scoring drought for Tech. Aquinas would answer with a triple from Lewis on their next possession to break a 5:15 scoring drought to retake the lead, which they would not relinquish for the rest of the half. The Warriors would get within a point of the lead at 16-15 with 8:46 to play in the first, but the visitors would go on a 9-0 spurt to go ahead 34-22 before heading into halftime leading 34-25.
 
After shooting just 34.4% (11-32) in the first half, Tech would find its offensive rhythm in the second half by going 15-22 (68.2%) from the floor and knocking down four triples as they started their comeback. With the Saints holding a 48-36 lead at the 12:10 mark, the Warriors would grab the momentum thanks to back-to-back baskets from David Froedge and a pair of triples from Huber. The two shots from downtown by Huber started a 16-0 run for the Orange and Black, with Kline sinking a pair of free throws to give Tech the lead at 53-52 with 8:31 to play. Coupled with a 4:28 scoring drought by the visitors, the Warriors would extend the advantage to 57-52 with 6:46 left on the clock.
 
The Saints would cut the deficit down to three points twice in the final six minutes of play, and trailed by four with 2:26 as Lewis hit the sixth of his seven triples to make it a 65-61 game, but Primerano and Phair would combine to score seven of Tech's final nine points to grow the lead back to double digits while the hosts came away with the 74-64 victory.
 
Tech (11-7, 7-1 WHAC) returns to action on Saturday as they travel to the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. from the UM-Dearborn Fieldhouse.