MSU-Northern 73, Carroll 66
Montana State-Northern had a little more muscle on the inside and used it to
upend 23rd-ranked Carroll.
The Lights got good inside defense and rebounding from Clinton Shelton, Drew
Pettersen and Derek Trembley on the way to the win
and a championship game spot. Trembley had 19 points
and 15 rebounds off the bench.
Pettersen and
“It was a battle for paint ownership,” Northern head coach Shawn Huse said.
“Whoever was going to hang in and hold that paint the most was to come out on top.”
The outside games were fairly equal. Big shooters from the first round,
Carroll’s Eder Zuniga and Northern’s Delvaugh Tinned, canceled each other out. They matched up
on defense and Zuniga held Tinned to 13 points, all in the second half, while
being limited to five points by the Lights guard.
However, Travis Noble went off for 21 points from the backcourt for Northern.
He had six 3-point baskets in 11 attempts.
“Our guys executed well against a very good Carroll defense,” Huse said. “It
was not a big game from Delvaughn, but when he had a chance to make some free
throws, he stepped up and did. Travis had a big game for us.”
The inside was crowded and congested, and saw what seemed like might have been
a record number of charging and blocking calls within the key.
“They’re good at drawing those offensive fouls,” Huse said of the Saints. “I
thought our guys did a good job of taking charges.”
It was tight all the way through. Carroll had gone ahead 16-12 on a mini-run
sparked by Josh Saunders with a steal and layup, and a long jumper from inside
the arc. Northern tied it quickly at 18 as Shaun Tatarka
conjured up a trick shot from inside the key at the shot-clock buzzer.
And so it went.
Noble knocked down a pair of treys in the last minute and a half of the first
half around a rebound basket by Parks. The flurry made it a 34-30 Lights lead
at intermission.
Northern then outscored the Saints 14-7 in the first eight minutes of the
second half to go ahead for good. Trembley netted
seven of the points in the run, and Tinned had five points and two assists.
Carroll closed the margin to eight points, 61-53 on a Derek Johnson 3-point
basket with 2:25 showing. Noble buried a 3-pointer in response and then Carroll
got one from Chad Vaculin.
But with less than a minute and half left to play, the Saints were forced to
foul. Northern made its free throws, going 9-for-10 on the efforts of Noble,
Tinned and Trembley.
“It took all of us,” Huse said. “It typified what our team’s about. I feel I
can call on anyone, whether he’s played today or not in 10 games. We’re focused
and sticking together. The team has the chemistry and we’re all playing our
tails off.”
Huse recognized the feat of defeating Carroll was not easy.
“Hats off to Carroll,” he said. “They’ve had a great season and I feel they’re
going to the (national) tournament. They’ll make some noise there.”
The Lights will be playing for an automatic berth in the national tournament
when they go for the Frontier title Saturday night.
— Bruce Sayler,
The Montana Standard
CARROLL (23-8) — Chad Vaculin 1-4 8-8 11, Derek
Johnson 5-12 1-1 13, Eder Zuniga 2-6 0-0 5, Eric Henkel 3-6 0-1 7, Chris Kaschmitter 1-3 0-0 2, Scott Stockwell
4-4 1-1 9, Josh Saunders 3-8 0-0 7, Jason Tanascu 1-2
0-0 2, Kellen Hasquet 0-0 0-0 0, Gage Brumwell 1-3 1-2 4,
Zach Parks 3-4 0-2 6. Totals 24-52 11-15 66.
MONTANA STATE-NORTHERN (22-8) — Clinton Shelton 1-2 0-0 2, Drew Pettersen 5-7
2-3 12, Travis Noble 6-14 3-4 21, Delvaughn Tinned 4-8 4-4 13, Andrew Sellars 0-2 0-0 0, Colby Fetter 0-0 0-0
0, Shaun Tatarka 3-3 0-0 6, Cody Ball 0-0 0-0 0, Derek Trembley 5-9 7-8 19,
Keegan Hoover 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
24-45 16-21 73.
Halftime — Montana State-Northern 34, Carroll 30.
3-point goals — Carroll 7-22 (Vaculin 1-3, Johnson
2-5, Zuniga 1-5, Henkel 1-3, Saunders 1-4, Tanascu
0-1, Brumwell 0-1), Northern 9-20 (Noble 6-11, Tinned
1-4, Sellars 0-2, Trembley
2-3). Fouled out — Pettersen. Total fouls — Carroll 20, Northern 19. Technicals —
none. Rebounds — Carroll 26 (Kaschmitter 5,
Parks 5), Northern 27 (