By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
It's a pretty simple philosophy: Good things happen when you get a shot on every possession. The Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team followed that philosophy to a pair of wins at this weekend's Rocky Mountain College Alumni Food for the Holidays tournament.
Northern snapped a four-game losing streak Friday night with an easy 83-48 win over Trinity Bible College to open the tournament.
The Lights jumped out to a 39-20 halftime lead and never looked back.
"We did a much better job of taking care of the basketball," said Lights head coach Shawn Huse. "It's amazing what can happen when we you are getting a shot on every possession."
The Lights weren't just getting shots, they were making them. Northern shot a solid 55 percent from the field in the first half and 52 percent overall.
While Northern was converting on offense, Trinity Bible could do little offensively, shooting just 30 percent from the field and turning the ball over 18 times.
"We were able to force them into turning the ball over and using our speed to get some easy baskets in transition," Huse said. "Our defense was a lot better, which is good to see."
Northern had every player get into the scoring column and was led by Cory Brothers and Rodrick Carter, who each came off the bench to score 14 points. For Brothers, it was the highest point output of his brief college career. He also led the Lights with seven rebounds. Carter knocked down three three-pointers and excelled in transition.
On Saturday night, Northern continued its solid play with an 81-71 win over Mount Royal College. Again, the Lights were able to get shots on every possession, turning the ball over just 12 times while shooting 54 percent in the game.
Defensively, the Lights weren't quite as solid in the first half. Mount Royal shot a blistering 59 percent from the field and led 36-35 at halftime. In the second half, Northern picked up its defense and forced Mount Royal into several turnovers.
For the game, Mount Royal turned the ball over 22 times, which led to 29 points for Northern.
"We picked it up defensively in the second half and it led to some more easy baskets," Huse said.
Northern had four players in double figures, led by Jordan Matthew's 17 points. Marcus Wilson had 16 points and six rebounds, Reid Stovall had 14 points and five assists, while Carter was in double figures for the second straight night with 13 points off the bench.
"It was good to see the balance in the scoring," Huse said. "We played very unselfishly and were making the extra pass. Marcus had a nice overall weekend for us, and Cory and Rodrick were able to give us a lift off the bench."
With the two wins, Northern improves to 5-5 on the season and will be at home this weekend for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
"With such a new team, this weekend definitely gave our guys some confidence that they can bounce back and get a couple of wins," Huse said.
TRINITY BIBLE COLLEGE (48)
Jordan Nowell 1-5 0-0 3; John Flemmer 0-6 0-0 0; Derek Simonsen 1-3 0-0 2; Jarett Grant 5-16 3-4 15; Vaughan Jordan 4-14 0-0 9; Marcus Montoya 0-3 0-0 0; Joshua McGillivrey 2-4 0-0 4; Nick Skief 3-5 1-1 8; Joseph Donnell 3-6 1-4 7. Totals: 19-62 5-9 48.
MSU-NORTHERN (83)
Reid Stovall 3-5 1-2 7; Marcus Wilson 4-7 1-2 9; Jordan Matthews 4-8 0-0 9; Landen Grant 3-5 0-0 8; Antonio Jordan 2-5 1-1 5; Rodrick Carter 5-10 1-1 14; Leo Bullchild 2-5 1-2 6; Cody Gillespie 2-4 1-2 5; Ed Lowe 1-4 0-0 2; Pathe Yatera 1-3 1-2 4. Totals: 33-64 7-13 83.
Halftime score: MSU-N 39, TBC 20. Three-point goals: TBC 5-22 (Nowell 1-3, Flemmer 0-4, Grant 2-4, Jordan 1-6, Montoya 0-3, Skief 1-1), MSU-N 10-21 (Matthews 1-3, Grant 2-3, Carter 3-4, Bullchild 1-3, Brothers 2-3, Lowe 0-2, Yatera 1-2). Rebounds: TBC 32 (Grant 8); MSU-N 47 (Brothers 7, ) Assists: TBC 7 (Skief 4); MSU-N 20 (four with 3). Turnovers: TBC 18, MSU-N 10. Total fouls: TBC 14, MSU-N 13. Fouled out: Nowell; Technicals: none.
MOUNT ROYAL COLLEGE (71)
Sean Newman 2-4 0-0 4; Jordan Sulkers 3-5 0-0 6; Jeremy Odlund 4-7 1-1 9; Chuck Sterling 4-6 3-3 11; Jon Walker 1-5 0-0 2; Peter James 3-6 0-0 8; Kalem Edlund 2-4 0-0 5; Josh Forster 4-6 0-0 9; Andrew Mirauta 1-2 0-0 2; Mark Lynch 4-5 2-3 10; David Morris 0-1 0-0 0; Parker Evans 2-4 0-0 5. Totals: 30-55 6-7 71.
MSU-NORTHERN (81)
Reid Stovall 7-13 0-0 14; Marcus Wilson 7-12 2-3 16; Jordan Matthews 8-13 0-0 17; Landen Grant 1-3 0-0 3; Antonio Jordan 2-3 0-0 4; Rodrick Carter 6-9 0-0 13; Leo Bullchild 0-2 0-0 0; Cory Brothers 1-5 0-0 2; Cody Gillespie 4-7 0-0 9; Pathe Yatera 1-1 1-1 3. Totals: 37-68 3-4 81.
Halftime score: MRC 36, MSU-N 35. Three-point goals: MRC 5-12 (Sterling 0-1, Walker 0-2, James 2-4, Edlund 1-1, Forster 1-2, Evans 1-2), MSU-N 4-13 (Matthews 1-3, Grant 1-2, Jordan 0-1, Carter 1-2, Bullchild 0-1, Brothers 0-2, Gillespie 1-2). Rebounds: MRC 30 (Sulkers 5); MSU-N 27 (Wilson 6) Assists: MRC 10 (Edlund 3); MSU-N 18 (Stovall 5). Turnovers: MRC 22, MSU-N 12. Total fouls: MRC 9, MSU-N 13. Fouled out: none; Technicals: none.
