RENO, Nevada — In a league known for its dynamic guard play, two of the Big Sky’s best engaged in a duel for the ages on Friday night.
North Dakota junior Quinton Hooker and Weber State junior Jeremy Senglin went back and forth for all of regulation and overtime as UND and WSU fought for a spot in Saturday’s Big Sky Conference tournament championship game.
Senglin swished a step-back 3-pointer with 11.3 seconds left in the regulation to send the game to overtime, then hit two 3-pointers and scored eight total points in the extra period to land the final knockdown punch in a back and forth backcourt battle. Senglin’s 31 points were enough for the top-seeded Wildcats to escape with an 83-78 victory on Saturday night.
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“That’s two really good guards,” said Weber State head coach Randy Rahe, the Big Sky’s all-time leader in conference victories as his 10th season reaches its completion. “Jeremy has been doing that for us for a long time. Hooker has been doing that for them for a long time. He’s really good. But I like our guy pretty good too. I didn’t see it as a battle. As a coach, you don’t look at that because they are just playing but when you look at it, what both guys did is pretty amazing.”
Hooker scored four points in the last minute of regulation to ensure extra time, then scored eight more in overtime, including two layups to keep the game a one-possession contest. All told, the stocky junior scored 38 points on 19 shots in 41 minutes of action, but his stellar effort was not enough as UND’s season ended one night before the Fighting Hawks hoped.
“After a loss like that, especially in the semis with the team playing as hard as we did and as well as we did is tough,” said Hooker, a first-team All-Big Sky guard who scored at least 25 points on nine occasions, including twice in this week’s tournament. “It was a whole team effort and we have to be thankful for this opportunity. We wanted to get this one for our seniors but we didn’t come up with what we wanted to.”
Senglin hit 7-of-12 3-pointers on the evening but continued to struggle from the free throw line. The Big Sky’s best 3-point shooter (46.7 percent) only converts 62.2 percent from the stripe, a percentage he failed to reach. Senglin missed 4-of-8 free throws, including two in the final 95 seconds to allow North Dakota to hang around.
But Senglin’s ability to hit shots off of screens and off the dribble carried Weber all game. His seven 3-pointers were part of a barrage as Weber drilled 14 from beyond the arc. On the game-tying triple, Senglin used a slick crossover to put Geno Crandall on his heels before pulling up a few feet beyond the line and finding nothing but the bottom of the net.
“I practice that shot with the coaches and it felt good,” said Senglin, a first-team All-Big Sky selection in his first season playing off the ball. “A lot of my shots felt good today. We had to have that one.
“Knowing we had another shot in overtime to play, the first thing I did was look at my teammates and coaches because I was excited for them as much as for myself.”
Weber State offset a 13-of-22 night at the stripe by executing efficiently despite UND bringing a constant two-man trap to swarm Joel Bolomboy, the Big Sky MVP. Weber finished with 17 assists on 28 made field goals and shot 47.5 percent overall, including 38.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Despite facing constant pressure, Bolomboy passed with proficiency and earned a few buckets on put-backs or tips, including a tip-in as the first half clock expired to knot the game at 30, one of 10 ties on the evening. Despite the extra attention, the senior notched his 25th double-double this season, scoring 17 points and grabbing 19 rebounds
“They threw me off with the monster trap, they kind of rushed me but this is a team sport, team basketball and I have great teammates,” said Bolomboy, who converted all five of his 2-point chances but missed four of five from beyond the arc.
After Senglin tied the game in regulation, UND looked for Hooker on its final possession. But Richaud Gittens did not let him catch the ball. Instead, freshman Geno Crandall got a pull-up 17-footer that did not reach the rim. Freshman Adam McDermott grabbed the offensive rebound and got a shot off but Kyndahl Hill rejected the shot.
After Hill missed the second of two free throws with 25 seconds left, Hooker sliced into the lane and converted to cut the WSU lead to 79-76. Weber freshman McKay Cannon, a 74.4 percent free throw shooter, missed two more free throws and Hooker again converted in a blur, cutting the lead to 79-78 with 11 seconds left.
On the ensuing possession, Dusty Baker drilled two free throws after sitting on the bench since the six-minute mark of the first half to extend the lead to 81-78 with 10 seconds left.
UND inbounded to Crandall, who tried to pull up from 30 feet and was fouled by Senglin. The officials ruled the foul on the ground, giving Crandall two free throws instead of three. He missed both, Bolomboy grabbed his 19th rebound, was fouled and hit both free throws to put the game on ice.
“We had our opportunities,” UND head coach Brian Jones said after his team fell to 17-15 this season. “It came down to that one big shot at the end to tie it. We just didn’t have a quality possession there but I’m not going to go back and look at that because there is probably other possessions to look at too. It was a back and forth game.”
Weber State has been the crown jewel of Big Sky men’s hoops since the league’s inception in 1963. The Wildcats have claimed 22 regular-season titles, including this year’s championship. Weber has advanced to the NCAA Tournament on nine occasions. The Wildcats have not finished outside the top three in Rahe’s 10 seasons, save an eighth-place finish last season. Despite Senglin’s best efforts, Weber fell in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament to Montana in Missoula. The bitter taste from the disappointing ending still lingers.
“We kept last season in the back of our heads,” Senglin said. “We had to let it go because that was last season but everyone that is here remembers that. No one wanted to relive that. That’s why we have been fighting this year so hard.”
With Senglin healthy all season — he missed six weeks with a broken jaw last winter — and Bolomboy playing at an MVP level, the Wildcats have bounced back in resounding fashion. Weber’s 24th win means the Wildcats will play in the Big Sky title game for the sixth time in Rahe’s tenure.
“Every team in the country wants an opportunity to play for that chance,” Rahe said. “It’s all you can hope for. It’s been a long season. These kids have done an unbelievable job getting through the regular season and winning that thing. When you are the target and everyone has the target on you, it’s hard to win sometimes. That’s what shows the toughness and the fight that these guys have.
“For 18 games in league, we’ve had the targets on our back and we’ve found a way. In this tournament, we have a target on our back and we have found a way, You have to be really tough, really resilient to do that.”
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