Breaking Sports: Lights take care of Western in nationally-ranked showdown

MSU-Northern's Joe Simpson slams a dunk during the Lights' win over UM-Western Saturday night at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse.

The first truly big game of NAIA men's basketball took place Saturday night in Havre when the No. 13 MSU-Northern Lights took on the No. 23 UM-Western Bulldogs. Fortunately, the Lights are used to the big stage. Northern scored the last six points of a tight on free throws, holding off the Bulldogs 63-55 at the MSU-Northern Fieldhouse.

The game was in doubt throughout. The Lights trailed 10-2 at the onset, but a 9-0 run midway through the first half, capped by a David Maddock 3-pointer pulled MSU-N back into contention. The Lights closed the first half with a 14-6 run to lead 30-27 at halftime. But the powerful Bulldogs never went away. Western nudged ahead early in the second, but huge shots by Shaun Tatarka and Devin Jackson offset 26 points from Western star Brandon Brown, who wound up fouling out near the end of the contest. Northern kept at least a four-point lead in the final five minutes, and Joe Simpson, and LaVon Myers both made clutch free throws in the final 1:34.

Northern got a balanced attack, with Jackson scoring 13 points, Simpson adding 12 and Myers chipping in with 11. MSU-N went 10-for-27 from the 3-point-line. Jackson and Tatarka each made three triples. The Lights improved to 17-2 overall and a perfect 3-0 in the Frontier. The win also gave Shawn Huse his 200th career win at Northern. The Lights haven't lost to Western at home in their last six meetings.

Northern returns to the road to face Carroll College on Thursday night and Rocky Mountain College on Saturday.