HAVRE, Mont. - The finish couldn't have been any closer - or crazier for that matter.
Nevertheless, the No. 23-ranked Lewis-Clark State men's basketball team earned its first Frontier Conference victory with a wild 80-76 win over Montana State-Northern on Saturday night.
The final 10 seconds of play packed enough drama to fill a 40-minute game on its own.
Up 74-69 with 30 seconds left, the Warriors, now 15-3 overall and 1-1 in league play, looked to have the game in hand. This was far from the truth though as Northern (11-7, 0-2) was fouled behind the 3-point line and aced all three foul shots to make it 74-72.
Cammie Lewis of the Warriors was then fouled on the ensuing possession. He went to the line and nailed both shots to make it 76-72, but just when the Warriors began to breathe a sigh of relief, Northern's Trevail Lee, who finished with a game-high 32 points, hit a step-back 3 from straightaway to make it 76-75 with 14.5 to go.
Again Northern fouled and this time Trea Thomas stepped to the line and calmly knocked down both shots to make it 78-75. Then with 8.2 seconds to go, the game seemed all but won when the long arms of Jacob Wiley came up with a steal on Northern's inbounds pass and he was fouled with five ticks remaining.
But Wiley, who was 6-for-7 at this point from the foul line, missed both free throws and the Lights quickly got the ball to midcourt where Lee hoisted a 45-footer that went in at the buzzer and sent the already raucous crowd into a frenzy.
The frenzy quickly turned into a boo-filled frown, however, as the referees called a foul on the ground before the shot. They put 1.2 seconds back onto the clock and Lee stepped to the line for two shots with his team still down three, 78-75.
The 5-foot-9 guard made the first and then readied himself to intentionally miss the second. His shot went up, missed left of the rim and was tipped in by a teammate. Again the buzzer sounded and again the crowd went wild.
The wildness of the crowd soon included booing again though as the referees stated that the tip-in did not count as the ball had not touched the rim and therefore was dead.
Lewis-Clark State (14-3, 1-1)
Diouf 3-6 3-5 9, Wiley 6-12 6-9 18, T. Thomas 0-1 4-4 4, Bagby 4-8 10-12 20, Emerson 3-6 0-0 6, Tesmer 3-6 0-0 6, Humphrie 0-2 0-2 0, Kauffman 2-4 2-2 7, Lewis 1-3 4-4 6, Van Diest 0-0 0-0 0, J. Thomas 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 23-51 31-40 80.
Montana State (11-7, 0-2)
Pearson 1-3 3-4 6, Rech 1-4 2-2 4, Lee 11-16 6-8 32, Blount 4-5 0-1 10, Edmondson 1-6 2-2 5, Graves 2-3 1-2 6, Tatarka 4-6 2-3 10, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Robinson 0-1 0-2 0, Vaughan 1-4 0-2 3, Jensen 0-1 0-2 0, Ivanovic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-49 16-28 76.
Halftime - Montana State 33, LCSC 32. 3-Point Goals - Lewis-Clark State 3-11 (Bagby 2-4, Emerson 0-1, Tesmer 0-1, Humphrie 0-1, Kauffman 1-3, Lewis 0-1), Montana State 10-19 (Pearson 1-2, Lee 4-6, Blount 2-2, Edmondson 1-5, Graves 1-1, Tatarka 0-1, Vaughan 1-2). Fouled Out - Pearson. Rebounds - Lewis-Clark State 40 (Wiley 9), Montana State 25 (Rech 4, Blount 4, Vaughan 4). Assists - Lewis-Clark State 9 (Thomas 2), Montana State 10 (Lee 3, Vaughan 3). Total Fouls - Lewis-Clark State 21, Montana State 26. Technicals - none.
WOMEN
Northern 63, LCSC 61
HAVRE, Mont. - Picked as the NAIA Women's Basketball Game of the Week by the national office, the matchup between No. 12 Lewis-Clark State College and No. 15 MSU-Northern certainly played out that way as it took the full 40 minutes to decide a winner. In the end, the Skylights held off a late surge by the Warriors to win in Frontier Conference action.
Helped by a hot hand from the outside in the second half and clutch scoring by Caelyn Orlandi down the stretch, L-C erased a 12-point deficit to tie the game 57-57 with two minutes to go.
The Skylights, led by 19 points and 19 rebounds from 6-foot-5 Ajha Edwards, never stopped scoring in the final two minutes yet couldn't shake the Warriors and it was anyone's game in the final seconds.
"We had a chance to tie or win it and I'm disappointed that we didn't get it done, but I'm not disappointed in our effort," said LCSC head coach Brian Orr.
With eight seconds to go, the Warriors inbounded the ball to Natahnee Spencer. The Lapwai product dribbled the length of the floor and hoisted a shot near the top of the key - creating what appeared to be quite a bit of contact - but the shot was off and no foul was called.
The win lifts Northern to 17-1 overall and 2-0 in league play, while the Warriors dip to 15-3 and 1-1.
Lewis-Clark State (15-3, 1-1)
Risinger 1-2 1-1 3, Fuller 5-12 5-6 16, Heaslet 4-9 0-2 8, Orlandi 6-14 2-2 15, Litalien 1-5 0-0 3, Ulmer 0-0 1-2 1, Spencer 3-5 2-2 10, Barnes 0-0 0-0 0, Byerly 1-1 0-0 2, Rice 1-3 0-0 3, Plourd 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-52 11-15 61.
Montana State (17-1, 2-0)
Feldman 2-2 2-5 6, Edwards 8-14 3-9 19, Thompson 3-6 7-9 14, Faupel 6-14 6-9 20, Cummings 1-5 0-0 2, Kreycik 0-1 0-3 0, Teeters 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-43 18-32 63.
Halftime - Montana State 28-22. 3-Point Goals - Lewis-Clark State 6-11 (Fuller 1-2, Orlandi 1-2, Litalien 1-2, Spencer 2-3, Rice 1-2), Montana State 3-10 (Thompson 1-4, Faupel 2-5, Cummings 0-1). Fouled Out - none. Rebounds - Lewis-Clark State 27 (Heaslet 8), Montana State 31 (Edwards 19). Assists - Lewis-Clark State 6 (Heaslet 2, Orlandi 2), Montana State 16 (Faupel 6). Total Fouls - Lewis-Clark State 23, Montana State 14. Technical Fouls - none.
