In Saturday’s men’s basketball game against Northern Michigan University, Michigan Tech found their footing in the early minutes, only to have it slowly slip away in the second half.
Tech didn’t lead right away. Northern got the jump, but the Huskies quickly took control of the court and began playing more confidently and aggressively, holding a consistent lead for the remainder of the first half. However, as the halftime ended and the second half began, Tech started playing similar to how they did at the beginning of the game, and their lead slowly slipped away. They tried to regain the lead they held, but ultimately lost by eight points.
Not long into the first half, something changed in how the Huskies played. All of a sudden, they started playing with more confidence and taking more risks. They began breaking through Northern’s defense more often, and began showing more concentration and determination in their plays. So, despite Northern’s early lead, Tech quickly jumped ahead, trading blows with Northern but always remaining slightly ahead, carrying this lead into the second half of the game.
After a full fifteen minutes of halftime, the game resumed for the second half, and the Huskies didn’t quite have what they did at the end of the first half. As one spectator commented, “A really long halftime sort of resets the players, so that mindset we got into going into halftime went away for the second half.” Suggesting that the break took the Huskies out of “the zone”. However, there was hope that Tech would find that little bit extra that propelled them through the first half a second time, or that the lead would be enough of a buffer to hold Northern off. Neither of these happened, and Tech lost the lead with less than seven minutes left. Despite a valiant effort in the final minute of play, as well as an NMU shot clock violation with just 30 seconds to go, the Huskies lost by eight points, ending with a score of 65-57.
