GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Indiana Tech men's basketball team opened up the 2021-22 season over the weekend at the WHAC/CL Challenge, hosted by Cornerstone University. Tech fell to No. 9-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University, 90-82, Friday night before bouncing back with a 72-66 win over Spring Arbor University Saturday afternoon.
Josh Kline had a team-best 17 points while
Rog Stein had 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Cory McKinney recorded 14 points, five assists and two steals while
Grant Smith had 11 points, six rebounds and two steals. Indiana Wesleyan's Dan Largey had a game-best 30 points on 9-14 shooting, including 5-7 from the three-point line, in his debut for the Wildcats after transferring from Palm Beach Atlantic.
The Wildcats started the game on a three-point barrage with tree in the first 90 seconds of the game to go up 9-2 before making it a 16-10 game at the 15:45 mark. The Warriors cut the lead down to six with 12:02 to go in the opening half following a bucket from
Steve Helm, but IWU went on a 14-2 run over the next five minutes to push their advantage to 32-14. Kline stopped a three-minute scoring drought with a bucket at the 7:07 mark, but it wasn't enough to slow down the Wildcats as they grew the lead to 47-21 and led 53-34 at the half.
After letting Indiana Wesleyan shoot 68% from the field and 76.7% from the three-point line in the first half, Tech stepped up the pressure defensively by limiting the Wildcats to just 35.7% shooting from the floor and just 4-10 from behind the arc to get back into the game. IWU started off the half hot with an 11-8 spurt, but the Warriors continued to hang out and chip away at the lead, making it an 83-73 game with 2:13 on the clock. Back-to-back buckets from
Blake Davison brought Tech within seven points, but that was as close as they would get.
In Saturday's game Stein scored a game-high 19 points while Smith recorded 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Kline notched a double-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks while McKinney poured in 10 points.
Tech led from the opening tip as Kline scored four seconds into the game as the Warriors raced out to a 14-6 lead. The Orange and Black pushed the advantage up to nine points, but the Cougars prevented them from getting into a double-digit advantage until the 6:41 mark as Stein converted an and-one to make it a 28-16 game. The Warriors continued to hold the advantage through the rest of the half and entered the locker room leading 37-30.
Tech grew the lead back up to 10 points early in the second half, but Spring Arbor came charging back with a 13-2 run to go ahead 53-50 with 8:40 to play. A pair of free throws from Stein and Smith sparked an 8-2 run to put the Warriors back up 58-55 while a pair of free throws from Kline started a 7-0 spurt to make it a 65-57 game with 3:35 to go. The Cougars cut the deficit down to three points with 53 seconds to play, but the was the last time Spring Arbor would score as Tech iced the game away with 3-4 shooting at the charity stripe to pick up the win.
Tech (1-1) returns to action Wednesday as they make the short trip across Fort Wayne to take on No. 2-ranked University of Saint Francis. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from the Hutzell Athletic Center.
