Frontier semifinals prove to be unkind to Lights yet again

Monday, March 5

George Ferguson

Havre Daily News sports editor

gferguson@havredailynews.com

BUTTE — For the second year in a row, the semifinals of the Frontier Conference men’s basketball tournament proved to be the end of the line for the Montana State University-Northern Lights.

On Friday night at the MAC in Butte, the Lights ran into a buzz saw in top-seeded Lewis-Clark State as the Warriors dismantled MSU-N 83-60, effectively ending MSU-N chances of making the NAIA national tournament.

“All the credit has to go to LC State,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said following Friday’s game. “They played very well and they certainly just went out and beat us tonight.”

Although the final score was somewhat lopsided, there were moments in the game when MSU-N had a chance to make sure the Warriors weren’t going to run away from the Lights.

The Lights battled back from an early 12-4 deficit behind the outside shooting of Delvaughn Tinned. With 9:47 remaining in the first half, MSU-N trailed just 20-18.

LC State then asserted itself over the next six minutes by going on a 15-4 run sparked by the slashing moves of guard Teran Lee, who seemed to get to the rim with ease. As a result of the run, MSU-N trailed 35-22 with two minutes left in the first half. From there, the Warriors, who played tenacious defense all night, cruised into the championship game.

LC State led 46-27 at halftime, and by the 16:00 mark of the second half, that lead had ballooned to 60-33. LC State grabbed its biggest lead of the night with 6:50 remaining in the game when the Warriors were ahead by 30 points.

“I think we have a lot of guys who can score pretty consistently,” former MSU-N and current LC State head coach Tim Walker said. “So I think tonight, I’m much more proud of the effort our guys gave on defense and in rebounding.

“We knew that Northern was a very good team,” he added. “And our guys came in focused and ready to play. It just seemed like our intensity was very good, especially on defense, and fortunately, we made some shots, too.”

Indeed, LC State’s defense forced MSU-N to shoot just 35 percent from the floor and 20 percent from the 3-point-line Friday night. Conversely, the Warriors shot 55 percent from the field and although the Lights out-rebounded the Warriors 38-36, MSU-N gave that advantage back by committing a game-high 21 turnovers.

“You always preach that defense wins games,” Huse said. “But this is the one team in our league that I believe you have to shoot a good percentage against and take care of the basketball. And those are things we just didn’t do consistently tonight.”

Ronnie Simpson and Tinned were the only Lights to reach double figures. Simpson scored 14 points despite early foul trouble, and Tinned added 10 points. Seniors Durwin Williams and Leo Bullchild chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Warriors got a game-high 27 points and eight rebounds from forward Mike Gordy. Chris Pitts scored 13 points and true freshman Napolean Gordon added 12.

LC State went on to beat arch rival Westminster 63-61 in the Frontier Conference championship game on Saturday. With the win, the Warriors (27-6) earned the league’s automatic bid to the national tournament, which gets under way on March 14 in Kansas City, Mo. Westminster is expected to receive an at-large bid and join LC State as the only two Frontier teams in the tournament.

Meanwhile, MSU-N’s season ended at 20-11 overall. Huse said that he is proud of his team for both the season and the way they played in the Frontier tournament.

“That goes to show just how tough our league is,” Huse said. “We have to win on a last-second shot just to get into the semifinals and then we run into a very good team like LC State.

“But I’m really proud of our guys,” he added. “Last year, I thought they waved the white flag a little early against Carroll and I didn’t see any of that tonight. They played hard right to the end. That shows the character of this team, and we had a very good season, and these guys have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Warriors 83, Lights 60

MSU-N — Ronnie Simpson 2-6 9-10 14, Erv Sims 2-4 1-4 5, Drew Pettersen 0-4 0-0 0, Delvaughn Tinned 3-19 3-4 10, Brian Erickson 2-4 0-0 4, Colby Fetter 0-0 0-0 0, Dustin Feasel 0-0 0-0 0, Leo Bullchild 3-5 0-0 8, Durwin Williams 3-5 3-5 9, Andrew Sellars 2-5 0-0 4, Marcus Wilson 2-3 0-0 4, Cody Gillespie 1-3 0-0 2, Kyle Stone 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 20-58 16-24 60.

LCS — Keith Scarbrough 1-3 0-0 3, Mike Gordy 11-12 5-9 27, Chris Pitts 6-9 1-1 13, Napoleon Gordon 5-11 0-0 12, Teran Lee 3-5 4-5 10, Karl Stedman 1-1 3-4 5, Steve Thompson 2-4 1-2 5, Jared Tikker 2-6 2-2 6, Caleb Orr 0-1 0-0 0, Robert Comer 0-3 2-2 2, Jon Daly 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 31-57 18-25 83.

Halftime score — LCS 45, MSU-N 27. 3-point goals — MSU-N 4-20 (Simpson 1-2, Tinned 1-11, Bullchild 2-3), LCS 3-10 (Scarbrough 1-3, Gordon 2-3). Fouls — MSU-N 23, LCS 20. Fouled out — none. Technical foul — MSU-N coach. Rebounds — MSU-N 38 (Pettersen 7, Gillespie 5), LCS 36 (Gordy 8, Thompson 7). Assists — MSU-N 7 (Erickson 3), LCS 11 (Thompson 3). Turnovers — MSU-N 21, LCS 12. Blocks — MSUN 1 (Simpson), LCS 4 (Pitts 2). Steals — MSUN 4, LCS 9.