LCSC men suffer another
last-second loss, to Lights
Copyright The Trib
2-19-06
HAVRE,
Mont. -- For the second game in a
row, it came down to a last-second
shot. And again, Lewis-Clark State
ended up on the wrong side of the
score.
Reid Stovall's short jumper with
6 seconds left propelled Montana
State-Northern to a 60-59 Frontier
Conference men's basketball victory
over the Warriors on Friday night.
Last Saturday L-C lost 55-54 to
Westminster at home on Danny
Reeder's last-second 3-pointer.
"With ballgames, it comes down to
wins or losses, but there's always
things that could be worse," LCSC
coach Tim Walker said after his
squad suffered its third straight
defeat, dropping its record to 12-13
overall and 5-6 in conference play.
"We'll bounce back. We've got to
keep fighting -- we've got no time
to cry over our milk," Walker said.
"We've just got to come out Saturday
night against the (Great Falls)
Argos and play a little harder, be a
little sharper, on offense."
On a night when the temperature
at Havre hovered around 15 below
zero, the Warriors struggled with
their first-half shooting, hitting
just 9 of 31 shots (29 percent).
Still, they only trailed by five,
29-24, at the break.
They began finding their stroke
in the second half, most notably
Jonathan Burnett. The junior canned
two 3-pointers inside the final
minute to erase a five-point MSUN
lead and put L-C up 59-58 with less
than 30 seconds remaining.
Walker said the Lights then set
up a play, a cross screen, in which
Warrior defenders got tangled up and
one of them fell, allowing Stovall
to get free near the basket. He
drained what would be the winning
jumper.
Still, L-C had one final chance,
and Burnett managed to get an open
look from about 16 feet. But his
shot bounced around the rim before
falling out, Walker said.
"There are times when we're
lacking confidence, times when we
just don't shoot the ball very well,
as evidenced by our performance in
the first half," he said. "But what
it comes down to is we've got
execute better, shoot the ball with
confidence, make our free throws and
make the bunnies. If we can start
doing that, we're going to be all
right."
Burnett finished with 22 points
to lead all scorers, while Chris
Pitts added 11 points and 12
rebounds.
The Lights were paced by Ronnie
Simpson, with 12 points, and Marcus
Wilson, with 10.
MSU-Northern is 17-11 on the year
and 6-6 in FC play.
LEWIS-CLARK STATE (12-13, 5-6)
Tikker 3-8 0-0 6, Pitts 5-8 1-2
11, Scarbrough 1-6 1-2 3, Burnett
7-19 3-76 22, Bishop 1-3 0-0 3,
Durret 3-7 3-4 9, Brooks 1-3 0-2 2,
Thompson 1-3 0-0 2, Ward 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 22-57 8-16 59.
MSU-NORTHERN (17-11, 6-6)
Wilson 5-7 0-0 10, Ducreay 1-4
0-0 2, Matthews 1-7 3-4 6, Brothers
3-8 3-4 9, Erickson 1-2 0-0 2,
Hittner 0-1 0-0 0, Bullchild 1-3 0-2
3, Stovall 3-6 2-4 8, Gillespie 1-2
6-8 8, Simpson 5-9 1-1 12, Yatera
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 15-23 60.
Halftime score -- MSU-Northern
29, LCSC 24. Three-point field goals
-- LCSC 7-19 (Tikker 0-1, Scarbrough
1-3, Burnett 5-9, Bishop 1-2, Durret
0-3, Brooks 0-1); MSU-Northern 3-6
(Matthews 1-1, Bullchild 1-3,
Gillespie 0-1, Simpson 1-1).
Rebounds -- LCSC 33 (Pitts 12); MSU-Northern
38 (Gillespie 7). Assists -- LCSC 8
(Burnett 4); MSU-Northern 14
(Erickson 5). Total fouls -- LCSC
24, MSU-Northern 15. Technical fouls
-- LCSC bench. Fouled out -- none.
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