Huskie Pride

News
Schedule/Results
Roster
Statistics
Standings
Photo Gallery
Newsletter
Records
History
Facilities
Recruiting
Contact

Camps & Clinics
Junior Huskies
     Basketball Club

Havre, Mont. - The University of Saskatchewan Huskies and Montana State-Northern Lights staged a classic battle Saturday afternoon at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse. It took three overtime periods to decide a winner, with MSU-N coming out on top 97-94 after two and a half hours of play.

Saskatchewan (11-13, 6-4 Canada West) dropped it's second game by three points in as many days in their final non-conference game of the season. MSU-Northern (10-5), an NAIA Division I school, was also playing it's final non-conference game before Frontier Conference play gets underway next week.

This is the first time in their 91-year history that the Huskies have played in a triple-overtime game. Earlier this season they played a double-overtime game in Montreal against Laurentian.

Saskatchewan found itself in a huge hole early in the game, as MSU-N used a 20-0 run to take a 24-6 lead seven minutes into the game. But they used some strong defense to come back and cut the lead to 38-30 at the half.

The Huskies trailed 63-52 with just under seven minutes to go when Andrew Spagrud slammed down an alley-oop lob from Jordan Harbidge which helped ignite a spark in the visitors. Two free throws by Rejean Chabot, who was 12-14 at the line for the game, with 45.7 seconds left in regulation made the score 73-71 for the Lights. After a getting a stop on defense, the Huskies had a chance to tie or take the lead. The Huskies missed their initial shot, but Kyle Grant was able to get the offensive rebound and put it in with 2.9 seconds left on the clock, tying the game at 73 and sending it into overtime.

Grant scored the first seven points for the Huskies in the first overtime, opening the scoring with a three-point play. His layup made the score 80-76 in favour of the Huskies with 1:14 to go. Harbidge hit two free throws with 19.4 seconds to play, making the score 82-78. After Leo Bullchild missed his second attempt at the line with 11.7 seconds to go, a jumpball gave possesion to the Lights with 9.2 seconds on the clock. With time running out and no where to pass, and with a Huskie hand in his face, Cory Brothers was forced to put up a three-pointer from 23 feet, and hit the miracle shot with 1.2 seconds on the clock. Tied at 82 the game went to a second overtime.

A three-point play by Spagrud made the score 85-84 for the Huskies with 3:21 to play. Brothers put the Lights up 89-87 with two free throws with 34.0 seconds to play. A driving layup by Spagrud with 13.8 seconds on the clock tied the game at 89. The Lights' last second shot attempt fell short, and the teams headed to a third overtime.

MSU-N would take an early four-point lead before a 5-0 run, capped by a Harbidge pull-up jumper with 2:27 to go, put Saskatchewan up 94-93. With 1:49 to play, Durwin Williams hit a long two with the shot clock running down to put MSU-N up for good. Williams added a layup with 1:04 on the clock, giving MSU-N a three-point lead. the Huskies got one more good look, with Harbidge's three-point attempt from the left corner bouncing off the rim as time expired.

Spagrud finished with a game-high 31 points, and added 14 rebounds for Saskatchewan. He also eclipsed the Huskies record for minutes played in a game with 51. Chabot scored a career-high 28 points on 8-16 shooting from the field. He also had three assists in 35 minutes. Grant had 24 points on 10-19 shooting. Harbidge added nine points and three assists.

Williams led five MSU-N players in double-figures with 24 points and a game-high 16 boards. He was 9-11 from the floor, and 5-7 from the line. Delvaughn Tinned had 18 points, while Erv Sims added 17. Brothers finished with 13 points and six assists.

After shooting only 36.4% from the floor in the first half, the Huskies shot 53.5% in the second half and overtime periods. They finished the game shooting 46.1%. The Lights shot 50.0% from the field for the game. The Huskies were 17-22 from the charity stripe, while the Lights were 18-27. The Lights shot 7-17 from downtown, while the Huskies struggled shooting only 2-13 from long distance.

Saskatchewan's next games are Friday and Saturday night when they host Central Division rival Lethbridge (8-16, 3-7 CW). Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00 pm both nights at the Physical Activity Complex.