Saints shoot out the lights on MSU-N's season
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
The Saints bombarded the Lights with 17 3-pointers and 48 first-half points in
one of the worst losses in MSU-N history.
“When something like this happens you just have to tip your hat to Carroll and
say congratulations,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “In my opinion that was
the best they have played all year. And I'm not sure that this wasn't our worst
game of the year. That is a bad combination.”
The game started out innocently enough with
Kurt Paulson scoring first for Carroll and the Lights' Yanif Ducreay answering.
But, what ensued after the 2-2 tie was an awesome display of one-sided
basketball as the Saints rained in trey after trey to build a 29-11 lead with
7:16 remaining in the first half.
While Carroll made everything look easy, MSU-N struggled mightily for
everything it got. Northern shot the ball poorly, shot free-throws poorly and
had trouble defending all night, despite being a very good defensive team most
of the season.
With Carroll leading 48-20 at halftime, the game and the Lights' season was all
but over.
“They were certainly clicking on all cylinders,” Huse said. “They really came
in on a mission and we were really flat. But even if we had been playing our
best basketball, I'm not sure it would have mattered. That's how good they
were.”
Indeed, even though the Saints scored 92 points, the most they got from one
player was 19 by Travis Williams. As a team though, the Saints shot a sizzling
58 percent from the floor and made an eye-popping 17-of-24 3-pointers. Williams
and Sinan Guler each made three trey's.
Northern didn't have a single player reach double figures. In the final game of
his career, MSU-N senior Jordan Matthews was held to seven points which led the
Lights in the scoring column. Marcus Wilson and Reid Stovall were next with six
points apiece.
“It was a really tough way to finish the season,” Huse said. “But one thing I
am really proud of these kids for is their effort. Even when the game was well
out of reach, they never quit. No matter who we put in the game, they played
like they could come back.”
The loss overshadowed Northern's dramatic last-second win over UM-Western on
Thursday night. But Huse was quick not to let it overshadow or define the
season the Lights (19-13) have had.
“You can look at things two different ways,” he said. “On one hand you can
always find things that we could have done better.
“But we also had one of the best finishes of any Northern team since 1998,” he
added. “And we beat the two best team's in the conference and we won a
tournament game. I think we took a big step in the right direction this season
and we did a lot of good things that the guys we have coming back can reflect
upon and build on for next season.”
The Saints went on to defeat Westminster College on Saturday night in the
championship game. Both Carroll and Westminster will move on to the NAIA
national tournament in Kansas City.
Saints 92, Lights 49
MSU-N - Marcus Wilson 3-5 0-1 6, Yanif Ducreay 1-3 0-0 2, Jordan Matthews 3-7
0-0 7, Cory Brothers 2-6 0-1 5, Brian Erickson 0-4 4-4 4, Nick Hittner 1-1 0-0
2, Leo Bullchild 1-1 2-2 5, Reid Stovall 3-7 0-1 6, Cody Gillespie 1-4 0-1 2,
Ronnie Simpson 1-1 2-2 5, Adrian Nelson 1-1 0-0 2, Pathe Yatera 1-3 1-1 3.
Totals: 18-44 9-13 49.
CC - Travis Williams 8-10 0-0 19, Ross Gustafason 4-5 0-0 8, Kurt Paulson 5-8
0-2 12, Jeff Hays 2-3 0-0 6, Sinan Guler 3-6 3-3 12, Zachary Pitts 3-5 0-0 9,
Chad Vaculin 1-4 0-0 2, Dallas Leslie 3-6 0-0 9, Gage Brumwell 5-6 0-0 11,
Chris Kaschmitter 1-2 2-4 4. Totals: 35-55 5-9 92.
Halftime - CC 48-20. 3-pointers - MSUN 4-14 (Matthews 1-3, Brothers 1-6,
Bullchild 1-1, Simpson 1-1), CC 17-24 (Williams 3-4, Paulson 2-4, Hays 2-2,
Guler 3-4, Pitts 3-4, Leslie 3-4, Brumwell 1-1). Rebounds - MSU-N 24 (Wilson 3,
Stovall 3), CC 27 (Gustafson 7, Brumwell 4). Fouls - MSU-N 11, Carr 15. Fouled
out - Kaschmitter.