Lights seek redemption tonight against DSU
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
It's time for a little payback. Or
at least a little team growth.
The latter is what Montana State University-Northern men's basketball head
coach Shawn Huse will be hoping for tonight when his team hosts the Dickinson
State Blue Hawks at 7 at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse.
It was just five days ago that the Lights were defeated by the Blue Hawks,
79-70, in
“It is a unique opportunity for us to get to
turn around and play the team that we just lost to,” Huse said. “We have a
chance to learn from what happened in
“I think you'll see our guys come out and play with a lot of fire and passion,”
he added. “Because they feel like we are coming off of a tough road trip where
we did not have our best performance, so they are going to give everything they
have in this game.”
What happened to the Lights at DSU was a case of too many turnovers and not
enough sound defense. The Lights started the season
playing extremely strong defense, but that hasn't been the case lately. Combine
that with 20 turnovers, and that was enough to translate into a win for the
Blue Hawks last Sunday.
“I think both teams are very evenly matched and neither of us do anything
really razzle-dazzle,” Huse said. “We both rely on being really fundamentally
sound.
“For us to be successful, we need to get back to being very sound,” he added.
“We have to take care of the basketball, and we have to do a better job of
disrupting their offense. Which means we have to play much
better defense.”
Disrupting DSU's offense means
containing a host of outstanding talent. In last Sunday's win, the Blue
Hawks got 24 points and 10 rebounds from 6-3 forward Donny English. Point guard
Chad Glasser and power forward Ryan Rosvold chipped in with 17 points apiece. Those
performances offset a scintillating night from the Lights' Jordan Matthews, who
lit the Blue Hawks up for 34 points.
“We really have to be mindful of a couple of their guys,” Huse said. “Rosvold comes off the bench and gives them great scoring.
He is a very good shooter with a really nice touch. They also have a point
guard who can really shoot the ball well.
“
Of course, the Lights also have a very athletic team, which only adds to the
fact that the two teams match up so evenly.
While Matthews has been the Lights' top scorer all season, junior college
transfer Ronnie Simpson has also emerged as a serious scoring threat off the
bench. Simpson has reached double digits in each of Northern's
last four games.
“Ronnie is playing very good basketball right now,” Huse said. “He can just do
so many things well.”
The Lights are also getting good production from the likes of senior Reid
Stovall and sophomore Cody Gillespie.