WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Melik Owens capped a 21-point fourth quarter by returning an interception 52 yards for the winning touchdown lifting Midwestern State to a 28-21 win over Michigan Tech Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

The fourth-quarter explosion wiped away a dreadful night for the Mustangs, who scored on just two of five red zone chances and turned the ball over four times including twice inside the Michigan Tech 20-yard line.

But fifth-year season Dillon Sterling-Cole struck for touchdown strikes to Terence Norman, Jr. (35) and JaMarzeyea Arvie (13) in fourth quarter to help the Mustangs comeback chances despite throwing an interception in the end -- also in the fourth quarter.

Midwestern State piled up 491 yards of offense as Sterling-Cole completed 20-of-33 passes for 263 yards, while redshirt-freshman Devin Cross ran for 91 yards on 19 carries and Arvie finished 91 yards on seven catches.

The Mustangs would need every bit of the help it could muster to overcome the start of Michigan Tech senior quarterback Will Ark.

Ark competed 16-of-28 passes for 233 yards including a pair of second quarter scoring passes including a 43-yard TD connection with Brandon Michalak with 13:42 to play in the first half and an 11-yard TD hook up with Darius Willis to stake the Huskies to a 14-0  lead.

Sterling-Cole responded by engineering a 12-play, 73 yard drive finishing it off by following Cross into the end zone on a 1-yard  touchdown run to close the MTU margin to 14-7 at halftime.

Michigan Tech pushed the advantaged to 21-7 when Will Marano polished an eight-play, 74-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown run with 5:58 to play in the third quarter.

That's when MSU came alive for the fourth quarter rally.

Junior cornerback Dylon Davis led the Mustangs with a career-high 11, while Owens continued the scoring magic for the MSU defense by delivering a pick six for the fourth straight game dating back last season for the unit.

Davis returned an interception for a score in the 2021 season finale for the Mustangs to start the run. Justin Guillory had one in the season opener against Colorado State-Pueblo before Davis repeated the feat last week at Eastern New Mexico to set up Owens' heroics against Michigan Tech.

Michigan Tech sophomore linebacker Marc Sippel had 15 tackles to lead the Huskies, while senior Braxton Blackwell added 12.

Midwestern State (2-1) welcomes Simon Fraser to Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Michigan Tech dropped to 1-2.
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