GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The second best shooting night of the season, and one of the team's best defensive performances of the year came at the just the right time as the University of Providence men's basketball team ended a 6-game losing streak with a confident 75-64 win over (RV) Montana State University-Northern.
 
UP made 56 percent of its shots from the floor, second only to a 140-67 win over Salish Kootenai College, and held the Lights to 39 percent and 13 turnovers. UP also had 13 turnovers, which tied for its third lowest total of the year.
 
It was Northern that got out to a hot start, going ahead by 8 points after five minutes of play, but UP rallied off 7 straight points to even things back up. The rest of the half was a battle, but a bit three from senior guard Matthew Brooks-McGregor started a run of 5 straight made field goals that had it looking like UP would be up by multiple scores when the half ended.
 
That changed with Northern hit 2 threes in the final 6 seconds, including a running buzzer-beater to bring the Argo's lead down to 2 points as the teams went into the locker room.
 
UP quickly got the lead back to 6 points, but then the team's defensive intensity, particularly on the full-court press the Argos had been running for most of the game, dropped off. The Lights not only climbed back but at the 16:39 mark, MSUN took the lead for the first time since 6:22 left in the first half.
 
That's when UP Head Coach Anthony Owens called a timeout and gave a fire-and-brimstone speech that seemed to have an effect.
 
The Argo's full-court press wore down MSUN, particularly after a fiery timeout speech from Head Coach Anthony Owens after UP let the Lights take a 49-38 lead with 15:55 left on the clock.
 
"We pressured them and it seemed to bother them a little bit. We did that up in Havre, but then we started to relax. In the beginning of the second half, they started to get anything they wanted and I told our guys, that it was Déjà vu all over again," Head Coach Anthony Owens said. "They stuck with it and stuck together and that was huge."
 
Over the next 6 minutes after the timeout, UP's full court press was in an organized frenzy. Northern turned it over 4 times in that span, and the Argos went on a 19-5 run that put them ahead by double-digits.
 
After growing the lead to 13 points, UP started to lose its grip, following a pattern that cost the team in two losses in the last two games. After the Lights pulled within 6 points, UP countered with an 8-0 run that brought the lead back to 14 points with under seven minutes to go. This time the lead would stick.
 
"We've been talking about it all week. We were on the road last week and blew some leads and so we talked about the importance of chipping away and not thinking it's over just because you have a 6 or an 8 or a 10 point lead," Owens said. "They did a good job of executing that and following through. Our guys did a heck of a job tonight."
 
Senior guards Sergio Berkley and DuShaun Rice were big down the stretch and were a major reason UP shot 65 percent in the second half. Berkley combined freight train drives down the court with a jumper that fell with regularity, while DuShaun was adept at getting to the free-throw line.
 
UP's scoring was about as balanced as it could be, with eight players scoring 5 or more points, and no one scoring more than 13. Berkley and Rice led UP with those 13 points, while Brooks-McGregor wasn't far behind with 12. Brooks-McGregor scored those points with stellar efficiency, hitting a before 5-5 from the field including 2-2 from three.
 
Senior forward Trayvon Bashir did all the little things right, scoring 6 points with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block.
 
The win was a crucial one for the Argos, ending a losing skip and putting them back into the middle of the pack in the Frontier Conference standings with a record of 8-8 (2-5). UP has a golden opportunity to almost get back to .500 in the conference play with a game a half against bottom dweller Montana Tech over the next two days.
 
UP will play just the second half of a game against Tech that was postponed two weeks ago due to equipment issues on Thursday, January 18 at 7 p.m. Then they play Tech in a full game on the 19th.