Lights beat buzzer at Frontier tourney, again
Friday, March 2
George Ferguson
Havre Daily News sports editor
gferguson@havredailynews.com
Talk about
your all-time cases of Deja Vu. Exactly one year ago to the day, Montana State
University-Northern’s Marcus Wilson hit a game-winning shot as time expired to
beat UM-Western in the opening round of the 2006 Frontier Conference men’s
basketball tournament in
And on Thursday night in the first round of the 2007 Frontier tourney in Butte, with time running out and the Lights tied with Rocky Mountain College at 62-62, Wilson took a pass from Brian Erickson, just as he did last year, and sank a game-winning shot from the exact same spot on the MAC floor as the fourth-seeded Lights beat fifth-seed RMC, 64-62 in a thriller.
The
dramatic win pushed the Lights (20-10) into the Frontier semifinals for the
second straight year. Northern will face top-seeded
“It was an exciting game,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “Credit Rocky for battling back because we had the game under control at one point. But they came down and hit a huge shot to force us to have to make a clutch shot at the end.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight,” he added. “I felt like we were kind of cold. But fortunately we had guys like Marcus and Delvaughn (Tinned) step up and make big shots when we really needed them. I am just really happy for these guys because they really had to battle and gut this one out. They just played with a lot of heart.”
Actually, the end to Thursday’s game was a series of big shots. The Lights had a five-point lead with just over a minute to play after Tinned hit a long-range 3-pointer. Then, after two Leo Bullchild free throws, MSU-N again led by five points at 62-57 with 32 seconds left. Rocky’s Devin Uskoski cut the lead to three points and then Curtis Dunwoody hit a dramatic three to tie the game with eight just eight seconds remaining, setting up Wilson’s last-second heroics.
Northern, which led 32-25 at halftime and by 10 points with 10 minutes remaining in the game, did well to stay in front of the Bears. The Lights shot just 37 percent from the field for the game and went a dismal 3-of-18 from beyond the arc.
“I really felt good at halftime because I felt like we weren’t executing very well and we certainly weren’t shooting it very well,” Huse said. “But we still had a pretty comfortable lead and I think we got there because we just played with so much energy and heart tonight. The guys just stayed the course and fortunately, the shots fell when we needed them most.”
Tinned led all scorers with 21 points. Andrew Sellars also had a good night for MSU-N with nine points and Ronnie Simpson chipped in with eight. Simpson and Durwin Williams each pulled down eight rebounds as the Lights out-boarded the bigger Bears, 47-38.
Elijah Swan paced RMC (17-14) with 16 points and five assists. Rocky shot better than MSU-N from the field and made 8-of-22 3-pointers.
Now, Northern will get a third crack at LC State, and Huse is optimistic about the Lights chances. A win in the conference semifinals against a nationally-ranked team could be enough to get the Lights into the national tournament.
“I like to think we have the horses to play with LC State,” Huse said. “I think we’re every bit as good and talented. But we have to prove that on the floor and we certainly haven’t done that yet.
The Warriors swept the Lights during the regular season.
In
Thursday’s other men’s first-round game, third-seeded
MSU-N 64, RMC 62
RMC — Uskoski 6-13 0-0 13, Dowiels 0-2 0-0 0, Nickolei 3-7 0-2 6, Swan 6-14 1-4 16, Warren 3-7 2-3 8, Townley 0-0 0-0 0, Dunwoody 3-6 0-0 8, Scheffler 1-3 0-0 3, Gomendi 0-3 0-0 0, Eatinger 2-4 1-2 5, Baker 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 25-60 4-11 62.
MSU-N — Simpson 3-9 2-5 8, Sims 3-11 1-2 7, Pettersen 0-3
0-0 0, Tinned 8-21 4-5 21, Erickson 1-5 0-0 2, Bullchild 1-2 2-2 5, Williams
2-3 2-2 6, Sellars 3-3 2-3 9,
Halftime: MSU-N 32, RMC 25. 3-point goals: RMC 8-22 (Swan 3-6, Dunwoody 2-5, Baker 1-1, Scheffler 1-3, Uskoski 1-4, Warren 0-1, Gomendi 0-2), MSU-N 3-18 (Sellars 1-1, Bullchild 1-2, Tinned 1-8, Wilson 0-1, Simpson 0-2, Erickson 0-2, Gillespie 0-2). Rebounds: RMC 38 (Uskoski 10), MSU-N 47 (Simpson, Williams 8). Total fouls: RMC 18, MSU-N 11.