FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men's basketball team defeated the University of Michigan-Dearborn, 65-39, in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action Wednesday evening inside the Schaefer Center. The win, coupled with a loss by league-leading and No. 13-ranked Lourdes University, has the Warriors win first place in the conference standings at the halfway point of conference play.
 
Cory McKinney had 15 points and five rebounds while Josh Kline had 12 points, six rebounds and three assists. Max Huber added 10 points and four rebounds while Mitch Morken had eight points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. Lucas Lehrman had seven points, three rebounds and two blocks. The 39 points allowed by the Warriors is the second fewest since November 13, 2010, when they allowed just 28 points to St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
 
The Wolverines scored the first points of the game on their opening possession, but a triple from Morken on Tech's first possession set them on a 12-0 run and they never looked back. Another three pointer from Morken at the 13:13 mark sparked a 13-2 run for the Warriors that put them ahead 25-5 with 8:51 to play in the first half. UM-Dearborn had three different scoring droughts of at least three minutes or longer in the half and shot just 26.9% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of the contest. Tech held the Wolverines in single digits until the 5:30 mark and ended the half on a 10-5 run to take a 37-19 lead into the locker room.
 
Tech kept the defensive pressure up in the second half as they limited the visitors to just 7-26 shooting, matching their performance from the first half as they wore down the Wolverines with tremendous intensity. The Warriors began the period on an 11-0 run and held UM-Dearborn off the scoreboard until the 11:05 mark, effectively sealing the win for the Orange and Black. Tech never let the lead dip under 30 minutes until the final three minutes of the game while they led by as many as 37 points en route to their fourth straight win.
 
Tech (12-8, 8-2 WHAC) returns to action Saturday as they travel to Lourdes for a contest between the top two teams in the WHAC to kick off the second half of conference action. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. from the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.