Monday, Nov. 12

Griz maul Lights

George Ferguson

Havre Daily News sports editor

gferguson@havredailynews.com

MISSOULA — They may not have looked like it during the exhibition season, but when the Montana State University-Northern Lights came to Missoula for the University of Montana’s season-opener, the Grizzlies looked every bit like the two-time defending Big Sky Conference champions.

Montana used its strength inside and a pair of huge second half runs to blow out the visiting MSU-N Lights, 83-42 on Friday night at Dahlberg Arena on the UM campus.

“They certainly looked like the team that has won the last two Big Sky titles, and the team that won a game last year in the NCAA tournament,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “They came out and really played well. They were aggressive and they were physical, and in the second half, the game really got away from us.”

Actually, the Griz did not run away from the Lights in the first 20 minutes. Northern did well to only trail by 11 points at halftime. The Grizzlies got off to a torrid start, which, according to UM sophomore Jordan Hasquet, was the plan, because Montana looked sluggish in its two exhibition games leading up to Friday night’s matchup with the Lights.

“It was very important for us to come out and play well early,” Hasquet said. “We were very inconsistent in our exhibition games, especially on defense. But tonight we were prepared and we were pretty intense at the start of the game.”

And as good as the Grizzlies played in the first half, their start to the second half laid to rest any chance of an MSU-N upset.

The Grizzlies started a 12-0 run on a reverse dunk by Matt Dloughy as well as back-to-back 3-pointers from Matt Martin and Ryan Staudacher. By the time the spurt was over, Montana led 51-24 and the rout was truly on. UM put together another 12-0 run later in the half which upped the lead to a whopping 50 points at 72-32.

“I’m disappointed because I don’t think we showed how good of a team we are tonight,” Huse said. “I thought our effort defensively was good. We did a great job to hold them to 33 points in the first half. But we didn’t put our best foot forward tonight and that is disappointing.”

Northern’s troubles included 22 turnovers to UM’s 11. The Lights also struggled in the shooting department, and they had trouble defending the Grizzlies’ top three athletes.

Andrew Strait and Hasquet overwhelmed MSU-N in the paint, scoring 20 and 14 points, respectively. And Dloughy, known as one of the top dunkers in the Big Sky, managed to put on an aerial assault.

The win put the Griz at 1-0 on the season and was the first official victory for first-year head coach Wayne Tinkle.

“It’s exciting, but to tell you the truth, I didn’t think about it,” Tinkle said. “It was certainly nice, but I was more impressed with the way our guys played. They stayed disciplined and stayed to the game plan.”

Meanwhile, the Lights won’t actually suffer a loss on their season record. Friday’s game was an exhibition game for MSU-N. Still, Huse said, there was plenty to gain by playing Montana, even with the lopsided final score.

“There will be positives we can take away from this,” Huse said. “I don’t think anything will prepare us better for our conference season than playing the team that is picked to win the Big Sky Conference again this year.”

Bright spots for the Lights included another solid performance from junior transfers Delvaughn Tinned and Erv Simms. Tinned led the Lights with 10 points, including a pair of important 3-pointers late in the first half that cut a 16-point UM lead down to a manageable 11 points. Simms added seven points and four rebounds. Simms, Drew Pettersen and Kyle Stone also did their best to contain Strait in the paint.

“One thing I’m really proud of is that our guys never quit,” Huse said. “Things got pretty rough for us in the second half and our guys kept playing. As a coach, you really appreciate that when your kids play that hard under any circumstance.

“Again, we’ll learn a lot from this game,” he added. “And we are thankful for the opportunity to come in here and play in a great atmosphere and have a chance to play a great in-state program like Montana.”

For more coverage of the Lights’ current three-game road trip, see page B2.

Game Notes: The 4,047 fans in attendance were treated to an Honor Song prior to tip-off from a quartet called the Rawhide Orchestra with Blackfeet Chief Old Person. The song was to recognize three players from the Blackfeet Reservation who played in the game — Mike Chavez for Montana, and Leo Bullchild and Andrew Sellars from MSU-Northern. Friday’s game was a reunion of sorts for several players, including Bullchild and Chavez who won a Class C state title together at Heart Butte. And several Montana and MSU-N players know each other from their high school days. “It’s fun to play against a lot of these guys,” Hasquet said. “I’ve known Cory (Brothers) and Cody (Gillespie) for a long time, so it was fun to be out there on the court with them again.” Northern’s loss to UM was the second loss to a Division I school in as many years. Northern lost at Boise State last season. The Lights have two more DI teams on their schedule this season. MSU-N plays at Big Sky frontrunner Northern Arizona later this month, and the Lights visit Colorado State on Nov. 18 in Fort Collin, Colo.

Griz 83, Lights 42

MSU-N — Erv Simms 3-4 1-2 7, Drew Pettersen 0-6 0-0 0, Delvaughn Tinned 4-9, 0-2 10, Cory Brothers 1-3 1-2 5, Brian Erickson 0-2 2-2 2, Leo Bullchild 1-4 0-0 3, Durwin Williams 1-1 4-6 6, Andrew Sellars 1-1 1-2 3, Ronnie Simpson 2-6 1-2 6, Kyle Stone 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 14-38 10-19 42.

UM — Matt Dloughy 4-8 0-0 9, Jordan Hasquet 6-10 2-2 14, Andrew Strait 7-13 6-8 20, Matt Martin 3-7 0-0 8, Cameron Rundles 2-3 0-0 5, Austin Swift 1-2 2-2 4, Gus Chase 2-3 0-0 4, Greg Spurgetis 1-2 4-5 6, Ryan Staudacher 2-4 0-0 5, Mike Chavez 1-1 0-0 2, Kyle Sharp 2-4 2-6 6. Totals: 31-58 16-23 83.

Halftime: UM 33, MSU-N 21. 3-point goals: MSU-N 4-10 (Tinned 2-4, Simpson 1-2, Bullchild 1-3, Gillespie 0-1), UM 5-18 (Martin 2-5, Rundles 1-1, Staudacher 1-3, Dlouhy 1-5, Ellis 0-1, Hasquet 0-2, Sharp 0-1). Turnovers: MSU-N 22 (Brothers 5), UM 11 (Hasquet 5). Attendance: 4,047