Lights beat the clock twice
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
The Montana State University-Northern Lights' Frontier Conference basketball
season has been one of amazing highs and deep lows.
Lately, the Lights have seen more lows than highs. That is until this weekend.
Northern swept visiting Lewis-Clark State and Westminster College this weekend
at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse, with both wins coming
on dramatic game-winning shots.
“This weekend was huge for us in a lot of
different ways,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “To beat two really good
teams the way we did should give our team a tremendous amount of confidence.
And this also puts us in pretty good shape in the conference standings.”
On Friday night against visiting LC State, the Lights saw their offensive woes
continue. Northern is second to last in the conference in field goal shooting,
and the Lights didn't fare much better against the Warriors, as they shot 40
percent from the field for the game.
But shots not falling didn't seem to matter, as the Lights held a five-point
lead with three minutes to play.
The Warriors didn't go away, however, and point guard Jonathan Burnett appeared
to snatch the game away from the Lights when he drilled two 3-pointers in the
last 30 seconds of the game. The second trey gave the Warriors a 59-58 lead
with just seven ticks left on the clock.
The Lights, who have been beaten in the final seconds of games several times
this season, didn't panic. As time expired, senior Reid Stovall caught a pass
from Leo Bullchild for a layup,
giving the Lights a 60-59 win.
“The play was originally supposed to go to Marcus (Wilson),” Stovall said. “But
they had it defended well. So Jordan (Matthews) set a great screen for me and
Leo hit me with a perfect pass. I was surprised I was so open and, really, it
was an easy shot.
“To beat a really good team like that at the end of the game is big for us,”
Stovall added. “We let our lead slip away some and that has happened to us a
couple of times this season. But tonight we proved that we could win a close
game at the end, and that is something we needed to do.”
Indeed, the Lights did let a golden opportunity to put the Warriors away get
away from them. Northern played well in the first half and led 29-24 at the
break. The Lights held that lead all the way until Burnett's last trey put LC
State in front.
Despite a still-struggling offense, Huse saw more positives than negatives.
“We still didn't shoot the ball particularly well,” Huse said. “But I thought
we played tremendous defense for 40 minutes and we held a high-scoring team in
check. That is a credit to how hard our kids work.”
Juniors Ronnie Simpson and Marcus Wilson were the only Lights in double
figures, with 10 points apiece. Burnett's game-high 22 points paced the
Warriors in the loss.
On Saturday night against No. 11 Westminster College, the Lights again
struggled to find the basket, except for when they needed to most.
In overtime, Northern got a game-winning shot from junior transfer Brian
Erickson to upset the Griffins, 65-63.
The Lights' field goal percentage improved some on Saturday night, but they
still found themselves trailing the Griffins late in the second half. Then
Simpson came off the bench and gave the Lights a lift, hitting a 3-pointer to
give Northern the lead with six minutes left in regulation.
From there the teams traded baskets and free throws.
MSU-N got off to a good start in the extra period, racing out to a 62-56 lead.
But
“The way we won both of these game was huge for our
confidence,”
“
Said Huse: “You can't feel any better for two guys like Brian
and Reid. They are both guys that aren't our big scorers, and they are
both team players. Everything for them is about the team. So for both of them
to step up and make game-winning shots at the buzzer, it is just awesome.”
Simpson again paced the Lights with 17 points, including some timely shooting
in both halves. Matthews scored 15 points and
“Ronnie Simpson really gave us a big lift in both games this weekend and we
needed it,” Huse said. “I thought both he and Yanif (Ducreay) really stepped up and were forces offensively when
we were struggling a little.”
The Griffins got 20 points from Reeder and 19 from Jared Ruiz.
“Both wins this weekend were really a credit to our kids and how hard they
play,” Huse said. “They were really gutsy wins and I think we grew up a lot
this weekend because of how we found a way to get it done against two quality
teams.”
MSU-N (7-6, 18-11) will finish its regular season at home on Saturday night
when the Lights host the
Lights 60, Warriors 59
LCS - Jared Tikker 3-8 0-0 6, Chris Pitts 5-8 1-2 11,
Keith Scarbrough 1-6 1-2 4, Jonathan Burnett 7-19 3-6
22, Spencer Bishop 1-3 0-0 3, Eric Durret 3-7 3-4 9,
Charles Brooks 1-3 0-2 2, Steven Thompson 1-3 0-0 2. Totals
22-57 8-16 59.
MSU-N - Marcus Wilson 5-7 0-0 10, Yanif Ducreay 1-4 0-0 2, Jordan Matthews 1-7 3-4 6, Cory Brothers
3-8 3-4 9, Brian Erickson 1-2 0-0 2, Leo Bullchild
1-3 0-2 3. Reid Stovall 3-6 0-2 8, Cody Gillespie 1-2 6-8 8,
Ronnie Simpson 5-9 1-1 12. Totals 21-49 15-23 60.
Halftime - MSU-N 29-24. 3-pointers - LCS 7-19 (Scarbrough 1-3, Burnett 5-9, Bishop 1-2), MSU-N 3-6
(Matthews 1-1, Bullchild 1-3, Siimpson
1-1). Rebounds - LCS 33 (Pitts 12), MSU-N 38 (Gillespie 7,
Stovall 6). Total fouls - LCS 24, MSU-N 15. Fouled out - None. Technicals - LCS coach.
Lights 65, Griffins 63
WC - Nick Booth 5-8 0-1 10, Lance Barton 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Sholly
2-6 0-0 5, Danny Reeder 6-13 6-9 20, Jared Ruiz 7-13 0-0 19, Rob Holcombe 3-5
0-1 6, Ryan Olson 1-3 0-0 3, Nick Buroker 0-2 0-0 0.
Totals: 24-51 6-11. 63.
MSU-N - Marcus Wilson 3-8 5-6 11, Yanif Ducreay 3-7 2-2 8, Jordan Matthews 5-9 3-4 15, Ronnie
Simpson 7-9 3-4 17, Cory Brothers 2-6 0-0 5, Brian Erickson 3-5 0-0 6, Leo Bullchild 1-1 0-0 3, Reid Stovall 0-1 0-0 0, Cody Gillespie
0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-47 13-16. 65.
Halftime 32-25. 3-pointers - WC 9-25 (Sholly 1-5,
Reeder 2-4, Ruiz 5-9, Olson 1-3), MSU-N 4-9 (Matthews 2-4, Brothers 1-2, Bullchild 1-1). Rebounds - WC 28 (Barton
7), MSU-N 27 (