BOX SCORE

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Austin Armga scored a career-high 38 points on 15 of 18 shooting, while teammate Ben Stelzer added 20 points – all in the first half – lead Michigan Tech to an 86-64 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in non-conference men's basketball on Friday night.

MTU (2-0) shot 57 percent (30 of 53) from the field in the game, including 65 percent (15 of 23) in the second half. The Huskies finished the game connecting on 10 3-pointers, were a perfect 16 of 16 from the free throw line and committed just 10 turnovers.

SMSU (2-3) was led by Shaun Condon, who scored a career-high 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting with three 3-pointers. William Giddings added 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Mustangs. SMSU shot 52 percent (23 of 44) from the field and held a 26-21 rebound advantage, but committed a season-high 21 turnovers, leading into 33 MTU points off of turnovers.

MTU, which defeated Minnesota Duluth in its season opener last Saturday, jumped to an 8-0 lead in the game's first three minutes and never trailed for the remainder of the game. MTU held a 20-8 lead with eight minutes and 49 seconds left in the half, before field goals by Matt Zager and Mitch Weg, along with two Weg free throws cut the deficit to 20-14 with 6:49 remaining.

The Huskies, which are now 12-0 all-time versus the Mustangs in games played in Houghton, countered with a run of its own to a 33-20 lead with two minutes remaining on a 3-pointer by Stelzer. The lead would extend to 14 points, at 38-24, with 1:13 left, before SMSU closed the half on back-to-back 3-pointers by Giddings and Condon to trim the deficit to 38-30 at halftime.

SMSU's Vinard Birch scored the first field goal in the second half to cut the lead to 38-32 with 19 minutes left in the game, but an 18-5 over the next five minutes and 15 seconds put the game away as the Huskies built a 56-37 advantage at the 13:44 mark. MTU would build the lead to as many as 32 points in the final four minutes.

Southwest Minnesota State, which defeated Northern Michigan last night, will now turn its focus to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play next Saturday, Nov. 30, taking on the University of Sioux Falls to open league play in Sioux Falls starting at 6 p.m.