By Rob Everingham
It's a great ending.
The MSU-Northern Lights finished out regular season play and moved into fourth place as they downed the Westminster Griffins 99-84 at the MSU-Northern gymnasium on Saturday.
Northern opened up a 12-7 lead, but the Griffins came back and took a 25-22 lead after a 9-2 run.
The Lights responded with an 18-2 run to open their biggest lead of the first half at 43-29.
Northern went on to lead 46-38 at the half.
The two teams battled in the second half, but the Griffins were never able to recover. The Lights kept the pressure on both ends of the floor and were 12-for-12 from the free throw line during the final three minutes of the game.
Northern was led by senior Powell Becker who finished his final game at Northern with 27 points.
Also in double figures for the Lights were Mel Stubblefield who had 16. Bruce Stacy and Chad Meyer each finished with 14 points apiece.
Brandon Fries led Westminster with 21 points.
Lights head coach Tim Walker said the game was a "pride thing."
Walker said they could have finished anywhere from fourth place to sixth place after this weekend and they did what had to be done to take the No. 4 spot.
Walker said his team worked very hard and came out ready to play.
"They had a lot of intensity," Walker said.
Walker said all four seniors, Becker, Michael Claxton, Russell Keller, and Krste Serafimoski, had great games. He said those four have been a big part of the entire season.
"I would take these four any season," Walker said.
Now, it is on to Lewiston, Idaho, and the Frontier Conference Tournament.
"All those 12 games don't mean squat now," Walker said.
Every team comes into the tournament with a 0-0 record and whoever can put two or three good games together will come out on top, Walker said.
The Lights will play either Western or Westminster to open the tournament.
Walker said either team will be tough. They will come out even stronger after losing this past weekend to the Lights.
"It'll be a dog fight," Walker said.
Westminster (84)
Mike Peirce 4-7 0-0 8, Levi Gines 2-4 2-4 8, Mitch Montgomery 6-13 0-1 13, Brandon Fries 7-14 6-7 21, Josh Davis 7-9 1-3 15, Chris McGill 0-0 0-0 0, Dan Ishihera 0-1 0-0 0, Micah Peterson 1-3 0-0 2, Charlie Iorg 2-4 0-0 4, Brad Bentley 6-9 0-0 13, Jared Sanford 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-65 9-15.
MSU-Northern (99)
Russell Keller 1-2 2-3 5, Michael Claxton 1-5 0-0 2, Mel Stubblefield 5-8 5-6 16, Powell Becker 8-10 8-10 27, Krste Serafimoski 3-4 0-0 6, Bruce Stacy 4-6 3-3 14, Dustin Endsley 2-5 4-5 8, Kelly Valverley 0-0 0-1 0, Keith Carothers 2-4 2-2 7, Chad Meyer 5-9 0-0 14. Totals: 31-53 24-30.
Halftime: MSU-N 46, Westminster 35. Total fouls: Westminster 25, MSU-N 16. Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: Westminster 5-19 (Gines 2-4, Montgomery 1-4, Fries 1-5, Bentley 1-4), MSU-N 13-22 (Keller 1-1, Stacy 3-4, Stubblefield 1-3, Becker 3-3 Carothers 1-2, Meyer 4-6). Rebounds: Westminster 36 (Davis 6, Montgomery 6), MSU-N 26 (Claxton 5, Serafimoski 5). Assists: Westminster 11 (Peirce 4, Montgomery 4), MSU-N 19 (Stubblefield 6, Becker 4). Steals: Westminster 7 (Montgomery 2), MSU-N 9 (Keller 3). Turnovers: Westminster 15, MSU-N 12.
