Photo courtesy of John Shibley/LSSU

SAULT STE. MARIE - Michigan Tech won the first of at least two all-out, blood-and-guts dogfights between the Huskies and Lake Superior State and hung onto the No. 1 spot in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division men's basketball standings.

MTU (8-6 overall, 6-1 GLIAC) defeated LSSU 78-70 Thursday at Cooper Gymnasium by shooting 59.1 percent from the field and landing four scorers in double figures. The game was physical from start to finish and stopped three times due to bloodshed. Both teams, however, shot poorly at the free-throw line. Michigan Tech was 15-of-22 for 68.2 percent, while LSSU (7-7 overall, 2-5 GLIAC) was 15-of-25 for 60 percent.

Michigan Tech also won the battle between the GLIAC's top two three-point shooting teams. Alex Culy was 6-of-7 and Ben Stelzer was 3-for-5 from behind the arc as MTU shot 11-of-21 as a team for 52.4 percent. The Huskies held LSSU to 9-of-27 for 33 percent. The Lakers entered the game shooting 40.6 percent from three-point range, while Michigan Tech entered with a .411 percentage.

LSSU led 33-30 at halftime and scored the first basket of the second half. Michigan Tech responded with back-to-back three-pointers by Mike Hojnacki and Stelzer. Culy and Stelzer hit threes at 17:19 and 15:51, respectively, during an 8-0 run that gave Michigan Tech a 44-38 lead.

Lake Superior State trimmed an eight-point lead to two points, 53-51, with 8:11 remaining. The Lakers were within reach until they missed back-to-back three-point attempts and gave up a layup to MTU scoring leader Ali Haidar at 4:44 and a dunk to Hojnacki at 4:02. Hojnacki dunked again at 2:03 for a 68-57 MTU command.

Culy led the Huskies with 20 points, and Haidar followed with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Hajnacki also scored 15 points. MTU out-rebounded LSSU, 36-31.

Derek Billing led Lake Superior State with 25 points. Alex Williams followed with 12 points and five steals, and Derek Kinney added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

LSSU plays host to Northern Michigan at 3 p.m. Saturday.

LSSU vs. MTU Boxscore