Argonauts slide past Hardrockers

By Jim Holland, Journal staff

Monday, December 17, 2007

RAPID CITY — Cory Brothers and Rayshaun Ames combined for 32 points and 14 rebounds to lead the University of Great Falls to a 65-58 non-conference men’s basketball win over the South Dakota School of Mines Saturday night.

Great Falls was coming off its first win in six games, 63-51 over Lakeland College on Dec. 8.
Mines was hoping to avoid a second straight loss to a Montana school after dropping a 69-66 decision to Rocky Mountain College of Billings, also Dec. 8.
The Argonauts were sharp en route to their first road win of the season, while Mines struggled in front of a sparse crowd at Goodell Gymnasium.
The Argos out-shot and out-rebounded Mines in the opening 20 minutes and led by five at the break.
The Argos shut down the paint with three of their total five blocks in the first half. Mines couldn’t respond effectively from mid-range or the perimeter.
The Hardrockers were out-rebounded 25-15 and were just 10 of 32 from the field before the break, that total including a chilly 1 of 9 from 3-point range.
 

A.J. Trennepohl finally found his touch with the first of three from beyond the arc to give the Miners a 38-37 lead with 12:38 left.
From there the Argos went on a 15-5 run to build a 53-43 lead with 7:09 remaining.
Trennepohl’s third trey, narrowing
the deficit to 60-54 with little more than a minute left, proved to be the last gasp for the Hardrockers.
The Argos preserved the win with six of 10 from the free throw line. Turnovers in two of Mines’ last three possessions helped prevent a late comeback 
“We looked like a bunch of individuals out there. It‘s been a pretty tight-knit group and they have played pretty dang hard for each other,” said Mines coach Jason Henry.
“We had guys out there doing things they had never done before, even in practice and it was pretty frustrating, for us and everybody in attendance,” he said.
“You battle so hard to get back in it, then you don’t get a couple stops and you make a few mental errors,” Henry said.
“We just weren’t ready to go tonight. There are excuses galore, with school and this time of year. I was hoping to finally get a group together and battle through,” Henry said.
Brothers and Ames split the scoring and rebounding right down the middle. Each tallied 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
“They did a nice job in the first half on Ray (Ames), getting him into a little bit of foul trouble.  We changed it up in the second half, putting him in the paint instead of running him on the wing like we usually do. We tried to get him isolated on the block because he’s strong and he’s skilled. That was big for us,” said Great Falls coach Steve Silsby. 
Donny DeGooyer led four Mines players in double figures with 13 points. Brandon Smith stayed close to his average of 12 points and led Mines on the boards with nine rebounds.
“We watched the tape on Smith. I think he’s a pretty skilled player. We worked a lot this morning and in our shoot-around today on defending him,” said Silsby.
Trennepohl finished with 11 and Michael Ross added 10, all in the second half.
Great Falls, 3-6, hosts Montana State on Dec. 21. Mines, 4-8, will participate in the Perkins Classic on Dec. 28-29 at Black Hills State University in Spearfish.