Strong
second half spurs Lights past
By Ryan Divish/Havre
Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
In terms of aesthetics, the Montana State University-Northern men's
basketball team's 72-51 win over the
But this year's Lights team isn't trying to win beauty contests; it's trying
to win basketball games. And for Northern to be successful, games are going to
be a little on the ugly side.
"It wasn't a very crisp game, that's for sure," said Lights
forward Reid Stovall. "We definitely weren't hitting on every cylinder,
but we played hard."
Indeed, Northern played extremely hard, particularly on the defensive end,
forcing UGF into 25 turnovers and 38 percent shooting in the game.
"Our team knows that we have to play well defensively to win
games," said Lights head coach Shawn Huse.
"It's our identity and our kids have accepted it and embraced it."
Neither team scored for more than three minutes into the game, but neither
team is known for offensive fireworks.
Northern didn't score until the
UGF handled the Lights' defensive pressure early and took advantage of
Northern turnovers to go up 12-8 on a basket inside from Rico Suazo.
The Lights rallied. Jordan Matthews snapped home a long 3-pointer and and Dan Brigham scored on a tough move inside as Northern
took a 13-12 lead. Cody Gillespie kept the run going with a score inside, Cory Brothers
sank a 3-pointer from the corner and Leo Bullchild
followed it up with a three of his own and Northern went up 21-12.
The Lights would never trail again, but UGF did cut it down to a 30-26
deficit at halftime thanks to some more Northern turnovers.
"I thought we played pretty good in the first half, except that we had
10 turnovers," Huse said. "It's tough to score on a possession if you
don't get a shot up."
In the second half, the Lights reversed the trend, instead forcing UGF into
miscues to put the game out of reach early.
"We did a much better job of taking care of the ball in the second
half," Huse said. "We were just a little more solid and under control
offensively."
Matthews opened the second half with a 3-pointer, Landen Grant added one of his
own, and the Northern lead was suddenly pushed to double figures at 38-26. Rodrick Carter added a tough driving basket to push the
lead to 40-26.
UGF finally broke its offensive drought on a J.P. Geniessee
putback off a missed shot. The field goal came almost
six minutes into the half and the damage had already been done. From there,
Northern kept a solid cushion for most of the second half and turned the game
into a rout in the last five minutes.
The
"I thought we played pretty good in the first half," said UGF
Antonio Veloso. "The second half absolutely
killed us. You're not going to win many games shooting seven for 24 and turning
it over 15 times."
"I think the kids saw what good defense can do in the win over
Said Veloso: "Give Northern
credit. They really played tough defensively. They didn't do anything
different from the first half. They just didn't let us get into any rhythm
offensively."
Stovall finished with 12 points, despite missing some minutes with a nasty
gash over his eye and a uniform change.
"It felt a little tight," he said about his replacement jersey.
"That's all they had. I guess I went old school."
"Reid and Marcus had nice games for us," Huse said. "And Cody
and Landen hit some big shots for us."
Both Huse and Stovall admitted that Saturday night's affair wouldn't
dominate a highlight show. But Huse did see plenty of highlights that he would
put in his collection.
"It was great to see guys out there hustling, scrapping and diving on
the floor for loose balls," he said. "It's those little things that
don't show up in stat sheets that get you big wins."
Northern will look for some big road wins this weekend when it travels to
Montana Tech and UM-Western.
MSU-NORTHERN 72,
U OF GREAT FALLS 51
U OF GREAT FALLS (4-19, 1-6)
Rico Suazo 2-5 0-2 4; Anthony
Owens 2-6 1-2 5; James Edwards 5-12 0-1 10; J.P. Geniessee
4-7 0-0 10; Todd Tomlinson 1-4 0-0 2; Aron Cline 1-4
6-6 8; Keon Polee 3-4 3-4 9; Hanif Pollock 1-7 1-2 3.
Totals: 19-49 11-17 51.
MSU-NORTHERN (12-9, 3-4)
Reid Stovall 5-7 2-2 12; Marcus Wilson 6-7 0-0 12; Jordan Matthews 4-8 1-1
11; Landen Grant 1-3 1-2 4; Leo Bullchild 1-3 0-0 3; Rodrick Carter 3-5 0-0 7; Cory Brothers 1-2 0-0 3; Antonio
Jordan 0-3 4-4 4; Cody Gillespie 3-4 0-0 6; Tim Hutchins 2-4 0-0 4; Dan Brigham
2-5 0-1 4; Pathe Yatera 1-1
0-2 2. Totals: 29-52 8-12 72.
Halftime score: MSU-N 30, UGF 26. 3-point goals: UGF 2-13 (Owens 0-1,
Edwards 0-2, Geniessee 2-4, Tomlinson 0-2, Cline 0-2,
Polee 0-1), MSU-N 6-15 (Matthews 2-4, Grant 1-3, Bullchild 1-3, Carter 1-1, Brothers 1-1, Jordan 0-2,
Hutchins 0-1). Rebounds: UGF 30 (Owens 5, Geniessee
5); MSU-N 27 (