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'Miller Time' leads SCSU in tourney
By Ben Birnell
With a trip out west to Central Washington University to play two very tough teams in the inaugural CWU Rotary Classic, the SCSU men's basketball team figured that if they were already traveling that far, they might as well get some extra minutes of playing time.
Both of SCSU's games would find themselves deep into overtime and the Huskies found themselves on the end of two great games that soon won't be forgotten.
Friday night, the Huskies took on the Western Oregon University Wolves and arguably two of the best players in Division II basketball in Sean Kelly and Robert Day.
The Huskies were looking for a tough test after getting two easy home wins. Fortunately for SCSU, they may have found it in the Wolves. Unfortunately, it came down to overtime and on the losing side as the Wolves bested the Huskies 84-82 in the first game of the Rotary Classic at CWU's Nicholson Pavillion.
The Huskies got off to a slow start in Friday's game, as the Wolves went on a 10-2 run to open the first half and SCSU had to burn a timeout. Fortunately for the Huskies, they got back on track and the first half ended in a 33-33 tie. SCSU would come out firing on all cylinders in the second half, even leading at one point by nine. But, the Wolves fought back and the rest of the second half was a seesaw battle back and forth between the two teams. With 35 ticks on the clock and SCSU down by two points, junior guard Nate Miller nailed a jumper to tie the game at 66.
In the overtime frame, the Wolves proved to be the better team as WOU's Kevin Tyner proved to be the difference in overtime. The Wolves guard scored 17 points and had 11 assists. He had seven points and four assists in the extra session, including a key three-point play with 1:40 to play.
Huskies junior forward Steve Trull had a strong game, scoring 10 points, pulling down seven rebounds, dishing out six assists and had two blocks while leading defensively in the Huskies' successful attempt to hold down WOU's Kelly, the Wolves' top scorer. Kelly had 14 points on 4-for-18 shooting (Kelly had 31 in his previous game). Day would sink 18 points to help his team's cause.
Nate Miller led the Huskies with a game and career-high 27 points. The Little Falls native junior guard was 10-for-19 from the field, five-of-nine from three-point range.
Matt Siegle, a six-foot-seven sophomore forward, also had a good night for the visiting Huskies. He had 15 points and grabbed nine boards. Sophomore forward Pat Wiehert would also pull out 13 points off the bench for the Huskies. Senior guard Alex Carlson finished with 11 on the night.
Little did anyone know Saturday night's game against host Central Washington would turn into the Miller highlight show as the guard pumped in a new career-high 41 points in besting the Wildcats 97-91 to round out the weekend and garnering tournament MVP honors.
In a game that may be engrained in the minds of everyone that watched or heard it on the radio, Miller led all players with 16 points followed by 13 points scored by WCU's Scott Freymond. After trailing 9-1, the Wildcats reeled off a 13-0 run to take their first lead of the game. The Huskies found themselves in foul trouble early, getting called for six violations within the first eight minutes of the game. Despite being smaller inside, CWU outscored SCSU in the paint 20-8 to help land a six-point halftime lead.
After the break, the Huskies came out firing, but the Wildcats were motivated by the crowd to defend their homecourt. Four of the Huskies' starting players were in foul trouble late in the second half, but the Huskies' resiliency kept them neck and neck with the Wildcats. Miller hit his fifth three point shot of the night with 17 ticks left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
In the extra frame, Weihert nailed a jumper with 1:10 left in the game to put the Huskies in front 93-91. Weihert and the Huskies never looked back, scoring the last four points courtesy of four Miller free throws to ice the game.
Miller finished the weekend with a total of 68 points in two games. In Saturday's game, he also had five assists and four steals, including a stellar 16-for-16 showing at the charity stripe. Fellow all-tournament team selection Carlson added 16 of his own before fouling out late in the second half. Weihert added 12 points, including seven in the extra frame. Siegle finished the night with 11 total rebounds and eight points. Junior Joe Evert chipped in with 11 for the Huskies.
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