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MSU-N men succumb to a big second half by Carroll in Frontier semifinals
Montana State University-Northern's David Straughter, right, is tied up by Carroll College's Ryan Imhoff during Saturday night's Frontier Conference men's semifinal game in Helena. Carroll pulled away from the Lights with a huge second half, and advanced to Tuesday's Frontier championship game, which will be played in Helena. Meanwhile, the Lights finished a strong season with a 21-11 overall record and fourth place in the Frontier.
HELENA — When it comes to the Frontier Conference, the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team experienced some highs this season. But the Lights also hit some lows.
And that was the story of their final game of the 2016-17 season, a Frontier semifinal loss to the No. 4 Carroll College Fighting Saints. After taking the lead on the Saints early in the second half, the Lights succumbed to a 25-5 Carroll run in a 72-57 loss Saturday night inside the Carroll P.E. Center in Helena.
“Kind of the story of year in the conference,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “We were up and down. And that was the difference tonight.”
Despite a big first half from Carroll star Zach Taylor, the Lights were up for much of the first 20 minutes. David Straughter opened the game with a 3-pointer, and Cameron Epps knocked in three bombs in the first 20 minutes. Three times, the Lights were tied in the first half, and they trailed just 36-33 at intermission.
Northern then stormed in front at the start of the second. Ryan Reeves sparked an 8-0 run with a blocked shot and a finish on the other end, and Charles Porter’s layup with 16:42 left gave Northern a 41-36 lead. Lorel Johnson answered with a three, but the Lights still led 43-41 after a William Walker layup with 14:22 to play.
However, Walker’s scored would be the last MSU-N field goal for a full 10 minutes. In between, Ife Kalejayie sparked a 13-0 run with a triple, and when Taylor banged one in as well, Carroll led 49-42 with 12:17 left. And the Saints kept marching from there. By the time Northern scored on a Reeves layup, Havre’s Dane Warp had added two threes for Carroll, and the Saints led 63-47, and were moving on to Tuesday night’s championship game.
“It comes down to consistency shooting the ball,” Huse said. “They had it tonight, and we didn’t. So credit to Carroll. They shot it well, they have lots of weapons, and Zach Taylor is a great leader.”
Taylor was his usual incredible self, scoring 17 points and dishing out seven assists. Ryan Imhoff added 15 points and Warp came off the bench to score 10 for the Saints, who will play Lewis-Clark State in the championship game Tuesday night. LCSC upset UM-Western in overtime in Saturday's other semifinal game, in Dillon. The winner gets the league's automatic bid to the national tournament.
Meanwhile, Northern, which ended with a 21-11 record, got a game-high 19 from Epps. Porter added nine for the Lights, who, despite their second-half struggles Saturday night, still will look back on this season with plenty of pride.
“After all the hard work, all the tough road games, and all the battle in this league this season, to be one of the last four teams standing, that’s something these guys should be very proud of. It speaks to how well we played, especially this last week,” Huse said. “We accomplished a lot of really, really good things this season, and I’m very proud of our guys.”
Carroll 72, Lights 57
MSU-N - Kevin Oberweiser 0-1 0-0 0, Dylan Tatarka 0-0 0-0 0, Seth Christiaens 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Reeves 3-6 0-0 6, William Walker 3-5 0-0 6, Tyler Chandler 1-6 0-0 2, Justin Dunsmore 0-1 0-0 0, David Straughter 1-7 4-4 6, Badhasa Margarsa 2-5 0-0 5, Charles Porter 4-7 0-0 9, Devin Bray 2-4 0-0 4, Adam Huse 0-1 0-0 0, Cameron Epps 7-14 0-0 19. Totals 23-57 4-4 57.
CC - Dane WARP 4-6 0-0 10, Lorel JOHNSON 4-5 0-0 9, Zach TAYLOR 4-7 6-6 17, Kyle NICKOL 0-1 0-0 0, Matt WYMAN 3-4 2-3 8, Ife KALEJAIYE 3-4 1-1 8, Ryan IMHOFF 7-15 0-0 15, Patrick COLBERG 0-0 0-0 0, Alejandro SANTOS PIQUERAS 1-1 0-0 2, Steven HELM 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 27-46 9-10 72.
Halftime: Carroll 36-33. 3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 7-22 (Oberweiser 0-1, Walker 0-1, Chandler 0-5, Margarsa 1-2, Porter 1-2, Bray 0-1, Huse 0-1, Epps 5-9), Carroll College 9-15 (WARP 2-2, JOHNSON 1-1, TAYLOR 3-4, NICKOL 0-1, KALEJAIYE 1-2, IMHOFF 1-2, HELM 1-3). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 23 (Reeves 5), Carroll College 30 (TEAM 8). Fouls Montana State-Northern 15, Carroll College 9. Fouled out: none.
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