Warriors, Lights meet for Frontier crown

By The Standard Staff - 03/08/2008

Lewis-Clark State held off a hard-charging Rocky Mountain College squad 76-75 Friday evening to earn a shot at the title in the Men’s Frontier Conference Baskebtall tourney at the Maroon Activities Center.

In the other semifinal game, MSU-Northern bumped off Carroll College 73-66 for a chance at the league championship.

Tipoff for the finale between the Warriors and the Lights is set for 7 p.m.

Lewis-Clark State 76,

Rocky Mountain 75

The Warriors led for more than 39 of the 40 minutes of the semifinal game with the Bears, but were in danger of falling behind when it mattered most.

Elijah Swan tossed up a 3-point attempt at the buzzer that was just slightly off the mark, and the Warriors escaped with a one-point win.

It was a narrow finish in a game where L-C State led by as many as 17 points.

“They’re a heck of a team,” said Lewis-Clark State coach Tim Walker. “We could go up 10, 15, 25 points and I knew they wouldn’t go away. They’re big and strong and they pounded us on the offensive glass. We got tired too, but we made enough plays and got

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enough stops in the last five minutes.”

Mike Gordy was the power behind the Warriors’ offense early in the game, as he scored six straight points in 35 seconds in a variety of ways. Down 3-2, Gordy connected on a long 2-point jumper with his feet on the 3-point line. Secnds later he scored on a drive to the hoop, and then the 6-foot-5 senior swiped the ball and scored on an uncontested layup. Gordy finished with a game-high 24 points.

Ryan Irigoin came off the bench and scored five straight points following a resounding slam from Rocky teammate Alvis Dowiels, and the Bears had chipped a 15-point Warrior lead down to eight, but L-C State had answers for even the toughest problems posed by Rocky.

Rob Comer hit on back-to-back hoops for five points, and one minute late4r Brian Duckworth drained one of his three 3-pointers to give the Warriors a commanding 39-22 edge.

It took the Bears most of the second half, but they whittled the Warrior lead bit by bit, led largely by a 17-point performance from Devin Uskoski, who added 13 rebounds to his totals.

With less than a minute left to play, Gordy made both ends of a one-and-one to put L-C State up 76-72, but Dowiels converted a 3-point play with 11.6 seconds left on the clock, forcing the Warriors on the defensive. Comer missed a free throw one second later, giving the Bears one last try at the win. Swan tried in vain to penetrate the Warrior defense, and was forced to take a 3-point shot at the end, missing just before the final buzzer sounded.

The Warriors will have their hands full with an MSU-Northern team that’s playing its best basketball of the season.

“Northern is playing unbelievably well,” Walker said. “They’re impressive.”

— Pat Ryan, The Montana Standard

ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE (22-9) — Devin Uskoski 7-12 2-5 17, Alvis Dowiels 5-7 4-5 14, Elijah Swan 4-10 0-0 11, Chase Sukut 5-14 3-4 14, Nate Miller 0-4 0-0 0, Cooper Warren 1-6 0-0 2, Tony Eatinger 1-1 0-0 2, Chawn Johnson 3-3 0-0 6, Ryan Irigoin 2-3 4-4 9. Totals 28-60 13-18 75.

LEWIS-CLARK STATE (21-9) — Jon Daly 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Gordy 9-14 6-8 24, Brian Duckworth 5-10 1-1 14, Rob Comer 8-14 0-1 18, J.R. Gordon 2-5 0-2 4, Karl Stedman 1-1 1-1 3, Max Papendieck 0-2 0-1 0, Justin Fraser 3-4 0-0 7, Kasey Riley 0-0 0-0 0, Andrew Packwood 3-3 0-0 6. Totals 31-54 8-14 76.

Halftime score — LCS 45, RMC 36. 3-point goals — RMC 6-24 (Uskowski 1-3, Swan 3-7, Sukut 1-4, Miller 0-4, Warren 0-4, Irigoin 1-2), LCS 6-15 (Duckworth 3-5, Comer 2-6, Gordon 0-2, Papendieck 0-1, Fraser 1-1). Rebounds — RMC 36 (Uskoski 13, Dowiels 9), LCS 25 (Duckworth 4, Packwood 4). Fouls — RMC 20, LCS 19. Fouled out — Daly. Assists — RMC 8 (Dowiels 3), LCS 9 (Comer 3). Turnovers — RMC 15, LCS 10. Blocks — RMC 0, LCS 1. Steals — RMC 4, LCS 4.

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 Shelton worked hard at nullifying the efforts of Carroll inside players Chris Kaschmitter, Zach Parks and Gage Brumwell. The three bigger Saints combined for 12 points.

“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 (Shelton 5, Trembley 5). Blocks — Carroll 0, Northern 2 (Shelton 1, Pettersen 1). Assists — Carroll 9 (Henkel 3), Northern 9 (Tinned 4). Steals — Carroll 5 (Johnson 2), Northern 3 (Tinned 2). Turnovers — Carroll 11, Northern 14.

Frontier Conference Men’s Tournament

at Maroon Activities Center

Friday’s Games

Semifinals

Montana State-Northern 73, Carroll 66

Lewis-Clark State 76, Rocky Mountain College 75

Saturday’s Game

Championship

7 p.m. — Montana State-Northern (22-8) vs. Lewis-Clark State (21-9)