George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
It wasn't the way the Montana State
University-Northern Lights wanted to send their seniors out. And it wasn't the
way the Lights wanted to play their last game before the Frontier Conference
tournament.
But Saturday night's regular-season finale loss to UGF was indicative of how
the Lights' season has gone.
Despite a resume filled with impressive victories, Northern hasn't been a good
shooting team this season, and the Lights haven't shot free throws well either.
On Saturday night, both of those factors
haunted the Lights in an 81-75 loss to last-place UGF.
Northern shot a dismal 33 percent from the field in the second half, after the
Lights played UGF to a 36-36 tie in the first 20 minutes. The Lights were also
abysmal from the charity stripe. For the game, the Lights made just 15-of-29
free throws, and with the game on the line, MSU-N made only 10-of-21 in the
second half.
“It is tough to win when you shoot the ball like that,” MSU-N head coach Shawn
Huse said. “We got behind and we dug ourselves a big hole in the second half.
“And we just couldn't make a big shot or a free throw when we needed it most,”
he added. “When you shoot those kinds of percentages, it is tough to come back
from the deficit we were facing.”
The Lights, who have relied heavily on defense this season, couldn't get the
big stop when they needed it most either. UGF's
Tyrone Witherspoon put on a show in front of a large
Northern tried to rally behind a pair of 3-pointers from Jordan Matthews and
Cory Brothers, but the Lights couldn't get any closer than five points.
“Give UGF all the credit,” Huse said. “They played very well and they are a
team you look at and can't believe they have only won three games in our
league.
“They came in here and played with a lot of energy,” he added. “And even when
it looked like we were going to make a run, they never wavered.”
UGF's Eric Scott piggybacked Witherspoon's
performance with 22 points and 10 rebounds of his own. Backup point guard Scott
Mount added 11 points off the bench.
The Lights got a tremendous effort from junior Marcus Wilson, who scored 19
points, and he was the one Light who couldn't be stopped. Matthews finished his
senior night with 15 points, and Ronnie Simpson added 10.
The good news for Northern (7-7, 18-12) is that the Lights finished in a
three-way tie for third place in the final Frontier Conference standings. The
Lights will be the fourth seed at the conference tournament and will face
UM-Western in the opening round.
“We didn't want to finish the regular season this way but we've got to put it
behind us immediately,” Huse said. “We have to believe that this is a whole new
season and that we are going to play well in the conference tournament.
“All things considered, finishing third in our league is pretty good,” he
added. “Now we just have to be ready to go out and play well in
The Lights' only chance to reach the NAIA national tournament will come via a
conference championship this week. The tournament gets under way Wednesday in
Argos 81, Lights 75
UGF - Tyrone Witherspoon 9-11 4-9 23, Todd Tomlinson 3-5 0-0 6, Royce Fulp 2-3 4-5 9, Erik Scott 9-13 4-6 22, Keithan Gregg 1-3
0-0 2, Carlos Escoto 0-1 0-0 0, Scott Mount 2-5 5-6
11, Rahuan Puryear 0-3 2-2
2, Hanif Pollock 1-2 0-0 2, Chris Jensen 2-4 0-1 4.
Totals: 29-50 20-28 81.
MSU-N - Reid Stovall 1-4 1-2 3, Jordan Matthews 5-15 2-5 15, Brian Erickson 2-5
1-2 5, Leo Bullchild 1-3 0-0 3, Cory Brothers 2-4 4-7
9, Marcus Wilson 8-14 3-4 19, Cody Gillespie 1-2 0-0 3, Ronnie Simpson 4-8 2-5
10, Yanif Ducreay 3-8 2-4
8. Totals: 27-63 15-29 75.
Halftime: UFG 36, MSU-N 36. 3-pointers - UGF 3-13 (Witherspoon 1-1, Fulp 1-2, Mount 1-4), MSU-N 6-18 (Matthews 3-10, Bullchild 1-3, Brothers 1-2, Gillespie 1-2). Rebounds - UGF 40 (Witherspoon 13), MSU-N 32 (