SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – On a historic night for the Wolverines, the University of Michigan-Dearborn men's basketball team was pushed by Lawrence Technological University in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference matchup Wednesday in Southfield, Mich.
LTU rallied to cut an early UM-Dearborn advantage to two points at the half and took a 40-38 lead with 15 minutes to go. The Wolverines scored the next 10 points and stayed in front the rest of the way to pick up a 70-61 win to move to 15-10 overall and 10-5 in the WHAC.
It was a special night for UM-Dearborn as two Wolverines reached career milestones. At the 16:43 mark of the first half, senior Jason Penn (SR/Detroit, MI) added to his legacy. Penn pulled down an offensive rebound and laid it back in for two to reach 1,500-career points.
Now with 1,512 points and counting, Penn sits fourth on the UM-Dearborn men's basketball all-time scoring list behind Pat Hughes (1,962 from 1993-97), Abrahim Baydoun (1,821 from 1983-87) and Charles Johnson (1,764 from 1994-98).
"I didn't know I was fourth on the all-time scoring list," Penn said. "That is truly special. To be able to share this experience with my teammates is something that I won't forget."
The milestones were not done for the Wolverines on Wednesday. Entering the night 20 points shy of 1,000 for his career, junior Xavier Crofford (JR/Detroit, MI) looked like he may need to wait for at least one more game to reach the benchmark, as he closed the first half with three points on the stat sheet.
Crofford spurred the Wolverine surge in the second half, scoring 17 points in the final 15 minutes to finish the night at 1,000-career points, with his final bucket coming on a layup with 3:14 to go. Crofford is the 10thUM-Dearborn men's basketball player on record to reach 1,000 points.
"It's truly an honor to now be a part of this group," Crofford said. "Jason and I came here together and to be able to share this night with a teammate like him makes it even more special."
Crofford's 20 points led the Wolverines, while he added five rebounds. Penn finished with 14 points and six rebounds, while senior Gage Throgmorton (SR/White Lake, MI) added 18 points, all coming on shots from behind the 3-point line.
The Wolverines shot 27-of-61 from the field, 10-of-25 from deep and 6-of-9 from the line.
Devonte Myles led the Blue Devils with 20 points, while Ty'rese Searles added 17 points.
The Wolverines return home for a crucial WHAC matchup against No. 5 Indiana Tech at 7:30 pm Wednesday at the UM-Dearborn Fieldhouse.
NOTE: Freshman Anthony Seidl made his varsity debut, sharing the court with his brother Derek Seidl, a member of the LTU men's basketball team.
