November 27, 2012
For Immediate Release
Fort Wayne, Ind. – The Indiana Tech men’s basketball team was receiving votes in the first regular season edition of the 2012-13 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball Coaches’ Top 25 Poll, announced by the national office on Tuesday.
Third year head coach Al Grushkin has the Warriors off to another impressive start this season, winning seven of their first nine games.
Tech’s most recent victory came against its crosstown rival University of Saint Francis last Saturday where the Warriors downed the Cougars 70-63 at USF. The Warriors won the game without senior Melvin Brooks (Memphis, TN/Marion Military), the team’s leading scorer and rebounder who’s been sidelined with an injury, but got key contributions from Jeff Hoskins (Kalamazoo, MI/Indiana Wesleyan) and Antonio Cannon (Indianapolis, IN/Ancilla).
Coach Grushkin has now won four out of five games against St. Francis since his arrival at Tech. He has also posted a 7-2 record against the Crossroads League.
Even with the 6-5 Brooks, who was a wing player last year and is now playing center, the Warriors have been playing with an undersized lineup all season. Against St. Francis, Tech started two 5-11 guards, a 6-1 guard, and two 6-3 forwards while the Cougars ran out a starting five consisting of a 6-7, 6-6, 6-4, 6-3, and 5-9.
The Cougars had the advantage on the glass but the quickness of the Warriors forced USF into 13 turnovers while Tech turned the ball over just three times all day. The Warriors turned those giveaways into 15 points to help lead the team to a victory.
No matter who is on the floor though, the Indiana Tech defense has always been tough since Coach Grushkin took over, and again the Warriors are ranked among the top-10 in the nation in blocks, turnover margin, scoring defense per game, blocks per game, and assist/turnover ratio.
Offensively, Cannon and Jordan Hickman (Bardstown, KY/Vincennes) are both averaging more than 11 points per game. Newcomer Kody Chandler (Schoolcraft, MI/Goshen) has provided a deep threat for the Warriors and leads the team with 14 three-pointers and is hitting almost 40 percent of his shots from behind the arc.
The Warriors begin the first of three straight home games on Wednesday, Nov. 28 against conference opponent University of Michigan-Dearborn at 7:30 p.m.
To see the complete NAIA Top 25 rankings click here
For more information on Indiana Tech athletics please call the Athletic Office at 260-422-5561 ext. 2492 or visit our website at http://www.indianatech.edu/athletics
