FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men's basketball team defeated the University of Northwestern Ohio, 99-88, in the quarterfinals of the 2020 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament Wednesday evening inside the Schaefer Center.
Mitch Morken scored a team-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks while
Max Huber and
Dilyn Good had 17 points each, with the former grabbing eight rebounds and the latter corralling five boards.
Cory McKinney chipped in 16 points, four rebounds and five assists while
Jeremy Luciani had 10 points and seven rebounds. UNOH had three players, Nathan Lessing, Elijah Pughslely and Zach Montes, score 25, 24 and 22 points, respectively.
The two teams, separated by just 58 miles, battled back and forth through the first four minutes and found themselves knotted up at 11 at the 16:06 mark. A 7-0 run from Tech put them back ahead 21-15, but the Racers kept them within striking distance over the next five minutes. The Warriors used a 19-4 pushed their lead up to 17 points with 2:46 left to play in the first half after UNOH cut the deficit down to 28-26 with 8:15 on the clock. The Warriors kept the Racers at bay over the remainder of the first half and took a 52-40 lead into the locker room at the end of 20 minutes.
The Orange and Black appeared poised to cruise to a victory following a 13-5 spurt to begin the second half that pushed their advantage up to 67-49 with 15:32 left in the game. The Racers had other ideas though, and revved up their engines to make their move with a 12-2 spurt that cut the deficit to 75-68 with 10:18 to play. Tech pushed the lead back up to 11 points, but the visitors responded with a 13-5 spurt to get within three points at 85-82 with 5:16 to go. A jumper from
Jeremy Davison hit a fade-away to stop the spurt and found a streaking Huber down the lane for a jumper to put Tech up 89-82. The Racers had one more attempt to get in front, but the Warriors would not let them get closer than five points down the stretch and ended the game on a 5-0 run to grow the lead back to double digits as they advanced to the WHAC Tournament Semifinals for the third straight season.
Tech (21-10) turns its attention to fifth-seeded Cornerstone University, who defeated fourth-seeded Lourdes University, 72-69, in a Saturday showdown. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. from the Schaefer Center.
