Get out the brooms
Monday, Feb. 5
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
For the second straight year, the Montana State University-Northern Lights upset the nationally-ranked Carroll College Fighting Saints in Havre.
And just like in 2006, Friday night’s game at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse looked like the Lights were going to beat Carroll with relative ease. Northern controlled the Saints for more than 30 minutes and built a lead as big as 20 points.
But unlike last year, Carroll made a huge run, and eventually came within a 3-pointer of sending a game the Lights once controlled into overtime. But Eric Henkel’s desperation three fell way short as time expired and the Lights had their 64-61 upset victory over the No. 16 Saints.
And just
for good measure, MSU-N finished off a spectacular weekend by outlasting
“I can’t say enough about what our guys did this weekend,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “We played at a very high level. And we played both styles well.
“We were able to play with a very patient Carroll team and get a big win, and we were able to go up and down the floor with a Rocky team that can score in a hurry,” he added. “I think we led about 80 percent of the time if not more in two games, and those are the type of things you like to see as you get ready to go down the stretch of the season.”
As well as MSU-N played on Friday night, beating Carroll is never easy. And as Friday night’s game went on, the Lights found it increasingly difficult.
MSU-N, sparked by the shooting of Delvaughn Tinned and senior Ronnie Simpson, went on a 9-0 run midway through the first half to build a 19-6 lead. Northern’s defense also clamped down on the Saints, and by halftime the Lights were up 32-19.
In the second half, Northern upped the lead to 20 points at 44-24 and it appeared that the Lights were going to cruise to a shockingly easy win.
But in the blink of an eye, Henkel and the Saints trimmed the Lights’ lead away via a 26-9 run, and Northern once again found themselves in another dogfight. And to make matters worse, the Lights struggled at the free-throw line where they had multiple chances to put the Saints away for good. And when Tinned missed the back-end of a double-bonus attempt at the charity stripe, the Saints had 10 seconds to get a shot at tying the game. But Northern’s defense made one last stand and preserved the upset victory.
“I think the win was an overall great team effort,” MSU-N senior Leo Bullchild said. “For most of the game, we played extremely well.
“And we expected Carroll to make a run,” he added. “But I think the key for us actually came when the same thing happened to us at Western last weekend. They made a run and we were able to overcome it. So we had the confidence as a team to know that we could overcome what Carroll was doing.”
Although he was more than happy with the win, Huse would have liked the game not to come down to a final shot.
“If I had to pick on something, it would be our free-throw shooting late in the game,” Huse said. “We have to do a better job of seizing those opportunities to put teams away.
“But then again,” he added, “when you start complaining about things that happen in a win, you better re-evaluate what you’re doing in this game. So we’re happy about the win, and I am proud of the way our guys fought to hold Carroll off at the end.”
Tinned was
just one of several difference-makers for the Lights on Friday night. The
junior from
On the flip side, Henkel and Chad Vaculin led the Saints with 18 and 15 points, respectively. But Northern’s staunch defense held Carroll to under 50 percent shooting for the game, and a miserable 28 percent from the field in the first half. Nine of the Saints’ 12 turnovers also came during Northern’s big first-half run.
“Defensively, I couldn’t be more pleased,” Huse said. “When you hold a good offensive team like Carroll to 19 points in the first half, you have to be doing something right. So this was a pretty complete game by our team.”
Said Bullchild: “This win is key for us. We worked really hard this week and we came in really prepared. It was just a great team win.”
And MSU-N’s great team play continued on Saturday night, but in a much different way. Against RMC, the Lights got off to another great start, and played at an extremely high level for 40 minutes offensively in their 95-86 win over the Bears.
The victory gave Northern a season-sweep over Rocky, which came into the season picked too finish second in the Frontier Conference.
“I felt like we were really clicking offensively,” Huse said. “We got the shots we wanted and we got the ball to the guys we wanted to take those good shots. We went to the boards hard and guys just seemed to come up with big shots when we really needed them. When you play like we did against Rocky, you can’t ask for anything more.”
Tinned again got the Lights off to a hot start, hitting a pair of early three’s. And senior Marcus Wilson came off the bench to give the Lights a quick spark, scoring three straight baskets inside which helped MSU-N build an early 24-15 lead.
But RMC came right back and took a 31-26 lead after some hot-shooting from 5-8 point guard Elijah Swan and a 14-2 run. But in a game that would turn into a track meet, Northern came right back, as Cory Brothers, as well as Simpson and Wilson all scored key buckets which eventually led to MSU-N taking a 44-41 halftime lead. It was a lead that the Lights would never relinquish.
“I thought Cory played really well in the first half,” Huse said. “And I can’t say enough about the way our bench played again. Ronnie is playing really well right now, and Marcus Wilson and Leo Bullchild came in and made some critical shots, especially in the second half.”
The game would stay close throughout much of the second half, but when they needed it the most, MSU-N got clutch shots. Bullchild hit a pivotal three just as RMC was erasing a seven-point deficit midway through the final period. And up just five points with 1:03 left in the game, Tinned put back his own missed free throw to give the Lights a comfortable seven-point cushion in the final minute.
Simpson led five Lights in double figures with a game-high 21 points. For the second night in a row, Simpson also led MSU-N in rebounding with eight boards. Tinned went 8-of-13 from the field for 19 points, while Brothers, Erv Sims and Drew Pettersen scored 10 points each. For the second taright night, Northern shot better than 60 percent from the field and kept their turnovers under 15.
Rocky (4-5, 14-11) got 18 points form Swan and 17 from Chris Nikolei in defeat. For the second time this season, the Lights held Bears’ star Devin Uskoski under his double-double average of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
“This was certainly two good wins for us,” Huse said. “Anytime you play this well at home, you have to feel really good about it. And I am proud of these guys for just playing hard both nights and finding different ways to get it done against two very good teams.
Northern
(6-3, 17-8) will now prepare for its last road trip of the season. The Lights
will travel to
Notes: Northern’s home sweep of Carroll and Rocky leaves the
Lights a half game ahead of Montana Tech and
Lights 64, Saints 61
CC – Eric Henkel 6-17 5-8 18,
MSU-N – Erv Sims 4-6 1-2 8, Drew Pettersen 1-6 4-4 6, Delvaughn Tinned 7-14 3-5 20, Cory Brothers 1-3 0-0 2, Leo Bullchild 2-4 2-2 7, Durwin Williams 1-3 0-2 2, Marcus Wilson 2-2 0-0 4, Ronnie Simpson 4-11 6-9 15. Totals: 22-52 15-24 64.
Halftime MSU-N 32, CC 19. Three-pointers: CC 6-17 (Henkel 1, Vaculin 3, Leslie 1, Dorr 1), MSU-N 5-12 (Tinned 3, Bullchild 1, Simpson 1). Rebounds: CC 29 (Kaschmitter 8), MSU-N 36 (Simpson 6, Sims 5, Tinned 5). Fouls: CC 21, MSU-N 17. Fouled out: Brothers.
Lights 95, Bears 86
RMC - Devin Uskoski 6-9 1-1 14, Alvis Dowiels 2-4 2-3 6, Chris Nickolei 8-11 1-1 17, Elijah Swan 6-16 3-4 18, Cooper Warren 2-5 0-0 4, Chris Townley 3-7 2-3 11, Curtis Dunwoody 1-2 0-0 2, Ryan Gomendi 3-5 0-2 8, Tony Eatinger 3-3 0-0 6. Totals: 34-62 9-14.
MSU-N - Erv Sims 5-9 0-0 10, Drew Pettersen 4-7 2-2 10, Devvaughn Tinned 8-13 1-2 19, Cory Brothers 4-4 1-2 10, Brian Erickson 2-3 0-0 4, Dustin Feasel 0-1 0-0 0, Leo Bullchild 3-7 0-0 8, Durwin Williams 1-2 1-2 3, Marcus Wilson 4-7 0-0 8, Cody Gillespie 0-0 2-4 2, Ronnie Simpson 6-8 8-8 21, Kyle Stone 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 37-61 15-20.
Halftime: MSU-N 44-41. Three-pointers: RMC 9-19 (Uskoski 1-1, Swan 3-8, Cooper 0-2, Townely 3-5, Gomendi 2-3), MSU-N 6-14 (Tinned 2-4, Brothers 1-1, Feasel 0-1, Bullchild 2-5, Williams 0-1, Simpson 1-2). Rebounds: RMC 28 (Uskoski 9), MSU-N 28 (Simpson 8). Fouls: RMC 19, MSU-N 14. Fouled out: None.