Saints stall ’Diggers at stripe; Rocky edges Western

By The Standard Staff - 01/11/2008

HELENA — With most other numbers equal, the Carroll Saints drained 20-of-25 free throws to surge past Montana Tech in a Frontier Conference men’s basketball game Thursday at the Carroll P.E. Center.

The Orediggers were 9-of 12 from the line.

Tech guard Jeramie Hopson led all scorers with 21 points, followed by Dusan Veselinovic with 19 and Casey Briggs with 15. Briggs added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals as well.

Derek Johnson paced the Saints with 19 points.

Down 34-21 at half, the Orediggers mounted a comeback attempt and closed the gap at the end, but couldn’t surpass the Saints.

The game was played in front of 1,543 fans.

Tech travels to Billings to take on Rocky Mountain College on Saturday.

MONTANA TECH (5-11 1-1) — Jake Williams 0-6 2-2 4; Casey Briggs 7-11 0-0 15; Dusan Veselinovic 7-14 1-2 19; Jeramie Hopson 8-14 3-3 21; Shea Bradshaw 1-2 0-0 3; Tony Trudnowski 2-7 2-2 6; Collin Fehr 1-1 0-0 2; Dirk Anderson 0-1 0-0 0. Total 26-55 9-12 68.

CARROLL — Chad Vaculin 3-6 6-6 12; Derek Johnson 6-11 5-6 19; Eder Zuniga 4-10 1-2 11; Eric Henkel 2-6 0-2 5; Chris Kaschmitter 5-6 2-3 12; Scott Stockwell 1-2 2-2 4; Josh Saunders 1-2 2-2 4; Kellen Hasquet 1-1 0-0 2; Gage Brumwell 1-4 0-0 2; Zach Parks 0-3 2-2 2. Totals 24-51 20-25 73.

3-point shots — Montana Tech 7 (Velesinovic 4; Hopson 2; Bradshaw). Carroll 5 (Johnson 2, Zuniga 2, Henkel). Rebounds — Montana Tech 25 (Briggs 7). Carroll College 27 (Vaculin 5, Hasquet 5). Total fouls — Montana Tech 19, Carroll 15. Fouled out — None.

Rocky 93, UM-Western 84

BILLINGS — Despite a 26-point effort from Whitehall sophomore Layne Glaus, Rocky Mountain claimed a 93-84 Frontier Conference men’s basketball win over UM Western Thursday at the Fortin Center in Billings.

The Battlin’ Bears had too much firepower coming in the form of Alvis Dowiels (19 points), Devin Uskoski (18), Elijah Swan (18), Chase Sukut (14), Cooper Warren (11) and Nate Miller (10).

The Bulldogs fell to 0-2 in Frontier play with the loss.

Western next hosts Carroll College Saturday at Straugh

See ’DIGGERS, Page B6

Gymnasium in Dillon.

UM WESTERN (7-9, 0-2) — Garrett Fink 2-7 0-0 6, Aaron Sims 1-4 5-12 7, Daniel Creech 4-7 2-2 10, Layne Glaus 7-14 8-12 26, Chad Myers 3-11 0-0 9, Zach Pitts 3-6 0-0 9, Gus McDonald 3-13 4-4 10, Ryan Hansen 0-2 0-0 0, Bob Neiman 1-1 0-0 3, John Ori 0-0 0-0 0, Dovydas Retkus 2-4 0-1 4. Totals: 26-69 19-31 84. 3-point FG: 13-35 (Glaus 4-6, Pitts 3-6, Myers 3-10, Fink 2-4, Neiman 1-1, Hansen 0-1, Retkus 0-1). Rebounds: 35 (Sims 13). Assists: 11 (Glaus 6). Blocks: 0. Steals: 6 (Myers 2). Personal Fouls: 33. Turnovers: 15.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE (14-4, 2-1) — Devin Uskoski 6-8 5-8 18, Elijah Swan 6-10 3-6 18, Chase Sukut 4-12 6-8 14, Nate Miller 3-8 2-2 10, Cooper Warren 2-5 7-10 11, Tim Scheffler 0-1 0-0 0, Tony Eatinger 0-0 0-0 0, Alvis Dowiels 7-9 5-13 19, Chawn Johnson 1-1 1-4 3. Totals: 29-54 29-51 93. 3-point FG: 6-19 (Swan 3-7, Miller 2-6, Uskoski 1-1, Scheffler 0-1, Sukut 0-4). Rebounds: 41 (Dowiels 11). Assists: 15 (Swan 4, Sukut 4, Warren 4). Blocks: 2 (Dowiels 2). Steals: 6 (Swan 2, Warren 2). Personal Fouls: 24. Turnovers: 14.

Halftime — Rocky 46, UM-Western 33.

Frontier women

Carroll College 82, Montana Tech 62

HELENA — Jolene Fuzesy drained four 3-pointers and tallied a game-high 22 points as the Saints claimed a 20-point Frontier Confeence women’s basketball win over the Orediggers Thursday in the Carroll P.E. Center.

Danielle Maloney and Elly Bruursema combined for 30 more to pace the Saints, while Tiffany Rochelle had 11 boards for the home team.

Montana Tech had four players tied for the team lead with 11 points each — Jessie DePell, Rebecca Gimeno, Adrea Thomas and Jenessa Todd. The Orediggers had trouble finding the hoop, shooting only 38 percent from the field, including a 2-for-5 showing from long distance.

Montana Tech’s next opponent is Rocky Mountain College on Saturday in Billings.

MONTANA TECH (7-8, 1-1) — Jessie DePell 2-6 6-8 11, Rebecca Gimeno 3-9 4-4 11, Angela Gimeno 1-4 3-4 5, Adres Thomas 4-9 3-3 11, Natalie Shaw 2-3 0-0 4, Jenessa Todd 3-9 5-6 11, Kelsey Devries 0-2 0-0 0, Kimber Peters 2-3 0-0 4, Becky Roll 0-2 0-0 0, Stephanie Langford 0-0 0-0 0, Teresa Merrill 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 19-50 22-27 62.

CARROLL COLLEGE (14-2, 2-1) — Hannah Heidenreich 1-3 2-2 4, Tiffany Rochelle 2-5 0-0 4, Laci High 2-5 0-1 5, Caitlin Courchaine 5-9 1-2 11, Jolene Fuzesy 8-13 2-2 22, Elly Bruursema 4-9 3-4 14, Nikki Mills 0-1 1-2 1, Danielle Maloney 5-9 4-4 16, Nicole Leibach 1-1 0-0 2, Shannon Flynn 0-0 0-0 0, Shannon Bosley 0-0 0-0 0, Sara Meyer 2-2 0-2 4. Totals: 30-57 13-19 83.

Halftime - CC 41, Tech 22. Three point field goals - Tech, 2-5 (DePell 1-1, R. Gimeno 1-1, A. Gimeno 0-2, Devries 0-1), CC 10-16 (Fuzesy 4-6, Bruursema 3-4, Maloney 2-3, High 1-2). Rebounds - Tech 22 (A. Gimeno 4, Thomas 4, Peters 4), CC 31 (Rochelle 11, Heidenriech 6, Maloney 4). Assists - Tech 5 (R. Gimeno 2), CC 14 (Heidenreich, Courchaine 3). Fouls - Tech 14, CC 18. Fouled out - A. Gimeno.

UM Western 73, Rocky Mountain College 61

BILLINGS — The UM Western women evened their Frontier Conference ledger at 1-1 Thursday with a 73-61 win over Rocky Mountain at Fortin Center in Billings.

“In the first half we really played well, especially offensively,” noted Western head coach Kevin Engellant, pointing to his team’s 9-of-13 showing from the 3-point line over the first 20 minutes. “We moved the ball well and we were very efficient. We played well.”

Western built a comfortable 51-27 lead at half, but Rocky wasn’t finished.

“We got tentative in second half,” Engellant said. “They made a couple runs at us, but Chloe Mosey made some clutch offensive rebounds and putbacks. This was definitely a big road win for us.”

Mosey finished with a dozen points, while Jill Dana — who shot 6-of-10 from behind the arc — led all scorers with 21 points. Laura Shea added 18 for the Bulldogs.

UM WESTERN (12-4, 1-1) — Laura Shea 5-8 8-9 18, Heather Brooks 1-3 0-0 3, Jill Dana 6-13 3-4 21, Chloe Mosey 6-11 0-1 12, Jamie Lake 1-5 6-6 9, Genna Rucker 1-5 2-2 4, Amanda Lidstrom 2-7 0-0 6. Totals: 22-52 19-22 73. 3-point FG: 10-19 (Shea 0-1, Brooks 1-1, Dana 6-10, Lake 1-1, Rucker 0-2, Lidstrom 2-4). Fouls: 12. Rebounds: 33 (Mosey 10). Assists: 14 (Dana 4). Blocks: 0. Steals: 7 (Dana, Shea 2). Turnovers: 13.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN (8-11, 1-2) — Gretchen Wall 1-5 0-0 2, Jenna Sawyer 5-13 0-0 10, Sarah Madinger 0-5 0-0 0, Keri Siewert 5-8 2-2 17, Liz Lewis 5-13 0-0 15, Jennifer Orchard 0-2 0-0 0, Lisa Schoer 0-0 0-0 0, Josie Evans 1-3 1-2 3, Emmelie Lundgren 6-12 2-5 14. Totals: 23-61 5-9 61. 3-point FG: 10-28 (Wall 0-3, Madinger 0-5, Siewert 5-8, Liz Lewis 5-10, Orchard 0-2). Fouls: 20. Rebounds: 32 (Sawyer 7). Assists: 19 (Madinger 7). Blocks: 2 (Sawyer, Madinger). Steals: 5 (Lewis 3). Turnovers: 14.

Halftime: Western 51, RMC 27