UTTC men hold off BSC
United Tribes escapes with 100-99 victory
With the game on the line, United Tribes knew Melvin Collins was going to be Bismarck State's shooter. The plan was to make the attempt as difficult as possible.
Collins' 12-footer in traffic at the buzzer hit the glass, bounced off the iron and allowed United Tribes to escape the BSC Armory with a 100-99 men's basketball victory on Monday night.
Defending the attempted game-winner was United Tribes' Antwan Antonio, a 6-3 freshman. Collins is a 6-5 sophomore.
Antonio said the the plan formulated during a timeout with 12 seconds to play was "play good defense and don't foul. We knew (Collins) was going to get it so we had to stop him, and we did."
"It was a tough shot," Antonio added. "If it went in, it went in."
The final shot closed out a game of cat-and-mouse that lasted much of the second half.
United Tribes, ahead 46-44 at halftime, built comfortable leads of up to 11 points until the final seven minutes.
A pair of free throws by Brody Nieuwsma pulled the host Mystics to within three at 93-90 with 5:55 on the clock. From that point on it was a dogfight, with the Thunderbird lead going from one point to five points.
Down 100-95, BSC cut the deficit to one with 1:10 to play on two free throws apiece by Collins and Nieuwsma.
Antonio came up empty on a drive and Collins missed from inside in the next two possessions. A charging foul called on Thunderbird guard Amaury Matthews with :18 remaining allowed BSC its final chance.
Antonio said he'd heard about the rivalry with BSC, but this is the first time the teams have met this season.
"Coming in, coach said this is one of the best rivalries," he said. "... It's one of the fun games on our schedule, just because of the cross-town rivalry. We came in knowing it would be uptempo, back and forth. We just played how we play."
The high score notwithstanding, neither team exactly lit it up in the first half. United Tribes shot 33 percent over the first 20 minutes and BSC came in at 37 percent. The visitors shot 40 percent for the game to BSC's 38.
Seven-foot Usman Haruna grabbed 29 rebounds to lead the Mystics to a 61-53 advantage on the boards.
Free throws kept the Mystics in the game. BSC was 29-for-35 from the stripe to United Tribes' 10-for-16.
The conference rematch is scheduled for Feb 15 at United Tribes.
United Tribes 100, Bismarck State 99
UNITED TRIBES (100): Tommy Williams 1-7 0-0 2, Antwan Antonio 12-30 2-2 32, Adrian Farmer 4-7 0-1 8, Amaury Matthews 7-14 6-6 22, Xavier Norris 8-17 1-2 21, Ernest Grant 4-12 0-0 10, Bre Joseph 1-3 0-0 2, Jordan Hipp 1-3 0-0 2, Bearpaw Mosley 0-1 1-5 1. Totals: 38-94 10-16 100.
BISMARCK STATE (99): Melvin Collins 14-34 6-8 36, Jesse Roberts 3-6 3-4 11, Usman Haruna 3-7 3-6 9, Brody Nieuwsma 7-18 14-14 30, Grant Kohlus 3-9 1-1 9, Michael Olson 1-5 0-0 2, Jared Walter 0-0 0-0 0, Kiton Ademeso 0-2 0-0 0, Peyton Gabrielson 0-0 2-2 2. Totals: 31-81 29-35 99.
Halftime: UT 46, BSC 44.
3-pointers: UT 14-38 (Antonio 5, Norris 4, Matthews 2, Grant 2), BSC 8-25 (Nieuwsma 2, Kohlus 2, Collins 2, Roberts 2). Fouls: UT 28, BSC 17. Fouled out: Farmer, Williams, Roberts, Matthews. Technical fouls: Farmer. Rebounds: UT 53 (Norris 9, Williams 9), BSC 61 (Haruna 29, Collins 10). Turnovers: UT 16, BSC 23. Assists: UT 27 (Matthews 7), BSC 20 (Nieuwsma 8). Steals: UT 12 (Matthews 7), BSC 7 (Haruna 4). Blocked shots: UT 3 (Antonio 2), BSC 6 (Haruna 4).
Records: United Tribes 2-2 Mon-Dak, 14-6 overall; Bismarck State College 0-4, 7-10.
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