’Dawgs bite Orediggers

By Bill Foley - 02/10/2008

The Montana Tech men’s basketball team a 2-0 lead over Montana Western Saturday night.

After that, it was all down hill for the Orediggers.

Western scored the game’s next 13 points, and the Bulldogs led by double digits most of the way en route to a 64-46 Frontier Conference win at the HPER Complex.

The lost was the seventh straight for the Orediggers dating back to a Jan. 5 win over the Bulldogs in Dillon.

The win gives possession of the

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’Digger-Dawg Cup back to the Bulldogs for the first time since 2006.

Western first-year coach Steve Keller said the key to the win was obvious.

“We just played great defense,” he said. “We’ve been working hard on that. That’s basically what we’ve been doing. We run offense about one day a week, and we just really work on the defense. Defense wins.”

The Bulldogs held to Tech to a 17-for-61 night shooting, including 1-for-17 from 3-point land.

“Garrett Fink, I think he’s got to get some votes for the top defensive player in the league,” Keller said of the sophomore from Helena. “He shut down (Jeramie) Hopson. He guards the best player, and he did a great job on Hopson tonight.”

Hopson, a sophomore guard who dished out six assists, scored just two points.

“And I think he’s the key to the team,” Keller said. “He had 18 on us last time.

“They had to take tough shots,” Keller added. “We were in their face all night.”

Tech coach Nate Larson had a much different outlook on the game.

“Western is a good defensive team, but we just could not make a thing — wide open looks, uncontested shots,” Larson said. “We just couldn’t throw it in the ocean.”

Western led 38-24 at the half, and the teams battled evenly for the first 14 minutes of the second half.

“We came out flat defensively. That was a huge key,” Larson said. “In the second half we played the way we’re capable defensively.

“We played fairly well overall, we just couldn’t buy a bucket. When you shoot 28 percent, you’re not going to win.”

Western led 49-36 before 6-foot-6 senior post Aaron Sims took over.

Sims scored all nine of Westerns points in a 9-2 run that but the game out of reach.

Sims ended with a game-high 19 points, while 6-6 sophomore added 12 points.

Also for Western, Chad Myers scored nine points, and Fink, who grabbed 15 rebounds, and Bob Neiman each scored six.

Whitehall sophomore Layne Glaus, who scored five points, dished out eight assists.

Dirk Anderson, a 6-7 freshman, led the Orediggers with 17 points.

“He stepped up,” Larson said of Anderson. “He’s been our leading scorer the last two games. He needs some help, though.”

Dusan Veselinovic came off the bench to scored 10 points, while Butte senior Casey Briggs scored seven points and grabbed a team-leading six rebounds.

Also, Stephen Thomas and Seha Bradshaw each scored four.

Jake Williams wasn’t on the floor. Larson said the senior from Missoula quit the team this week.

Next week, the Bulldogs and Orediggers are both at home against Rocky Mountain and Carroll College.

MONTANA WESTERN (2-6, 9-13)

Garrett Fink 3-8 0-0 6, Aaron Sims 8-10 1-2 19, Daniel Creech 4-12 2-2 12, Layne Glaus 2-4 1-2 5, Chad Myers 4-13 0-1 9, Zach Pitts 1-2 1-2 4, Ryan Hansen 0-1 0-0 0, Bob Neiman 3-4 0-0 6, Dovydas Retkus 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 26-55 5-9 64.

MONTANA TECH (1-7, 7-15)

Casey Briggs 3-12 1-2 7, Dirk Anderson 4-8 9-10 17, Jeramie Hopson 1-8 0-0 2, Stephen Thomas 2-7 0-0 4, Tony Trudnowski 1-3 0-0 2, Shea Bradshaw 2-8 0-0 4, Dusan Veselinovic 4-15 1-2 10, Collin Fehr 0-0 0-0 0, Ivan Sljivar 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-61 11-14 46.

Halftime — Western 38-24. 3-point goals — Western 7-23 (Fink 0-2, Sims 2-3, Creech 2-4, Glaus 0-1, Myers 1-8, Pitts 1-2, Hansen 0-1, Neiman 0-1, Retkus 1-1), Tech 1-17 (Anderson 0-1, Hopson 0-3, Trudnowski 0-2, Bradshaw 0-4, Veselinovic 1-7). Rebounds — Western 44 (Fink 15), Tech 33 (Briggs 6). Assists — Wester 11 (Glaus 8), Tech 8 (Hopson 6). Steals — Western 6 (Fink 3), Tech 4 (Hopson 2, Thomas 2). Blocks — Western 1 (Sims), Tech 2 (Briggs, Anderson). Turnovers — Western 15, Tech 9. Fouls — Western 21, Tech 12. Fouled out — Neiman. Techncials — none.