Frontier Conference Men’s basketball : Week 1
If week 1 of the men’s Frontier Conference schedule has taught us anything, it is that each and every game is going to be incredibly important, and that is going to be awfully hard to win on the road. Between Thursday and Saturday not one men’s team won on the road. I’m sure it has happened plenty, but for the life of me, I can’t remember it happening.
So, to make this easy I am not going to type out the conference standings. Everyone is 1-1. Period.
Tech entered the week with the highest national ranking (#12), and like everyone else played fantastic at home. The Bears of Rocky rolled into the HPER on Thursday and put together a solid first 10 minutes. The biggest run of the game came in that next 10 minutes, when Tech rolled out 12 unanswered points that Rocky was never able to recover from. Four of the Five Tech starters finished in double digits, led by Caleb Bellach with 18 points and 7 rebounds. The offensive numbers were great for Tech, but the largest number on the stat sheet was only 4 turnovers.
In the loss at Western, the biggest discrepancy on the page was rebounding, Tech finished with 26, Western with 38, 14 of those were offensive for Western, translating into a good chunk of second-chance points. Otherwise, this was a well-contested, physical game that both teams had a shot at winning.
Sticking with Western, their Conference opener was at Carroll, and Carroll couldn’t miss. Brendan Temple had a monster for the Saints, finishing with 27 points, going 10-13 from the floor, and 7 of 9 from the Line. Andrew Cook dropped 20 (on 60% shooting) and Jonny Hillman finished with 19 on 50% shooting. Jok Jok (still the best name in the conference) and Stephenson both had 16 for Western. Western led by 1 with 6:38 left to play, and were outscored 18-6 over the remained of the game.
Carroll then hopped the bus to the Armory to battle the Lights. The Lights were able to scratch out a couple of 9-point leads in both the first and second halves but were never able to truly break it open. Carroll shot lights out against Western, in the Armory it was Northern who just couldn’t miss, shooting 54% from the floor. I’d like to know how many shot clock violations (or rushed shots because of no time) the Lights defense created. Northern had 4 guys in double digits, led by Keltner with 14, and Martinez knocked down a dozen. For Carroll, Temple had another strong game with 14 points, and 11 rebounds.
The game of the week was in Great Falls, where the Argos needed double overtime to hold off the Lights, 82-77. Kenny Curtis was the man through the first 20 minutes for Providence, knocking down 20 points in the first half (7-10 floor, 4-5 3 point line). Entering the second half the Lights were down by 9, that deficit swelled to 19 under 7 minutes into the second half, but yet they were able to put together a fantastic effort to send the game to overtime. Providence was led by Kenny Curtis who ended with 29 points (he also fouled out). For Northern, both Dalton and Martinez get 14, Immanuel Anderson finishes with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
After a real gut-check win in Great Falls, the Argos were on the road to Rocky for their second game of the conference season. The first half was a really balanced game, rebounds, turnovers, shooting %’s, all comparable. Providence led by 2 after 20 minutes. The second half fully belonged to the Bears. Rocky shot 60% in the second half to outscore the Argos 55-35 in the second 20 minutes and got the win 90-72. 5 Bears scored in double digits, led by Maxim Stephens with 21, Nick Hart put down 16 points and snared 11 rebounds.
We always spout about winning at home and splitting on the road, so January will be real interesting to see who can start to get those wins on the road.
