Breaking Sports: Lights take care of LC State at home

It was another off shooting night for the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team. But when you play defense as well as the Lights do, it tends not to matter much. The No. 13 Lights smothered the Lewis-Clark State Warriors, 53-39 Friday night at a near capacity MSU-Nothern Fieldhouse, to improve to 19-3 on the season.

The Warriors came in as the top-scoring offense in the Frontier Conference, but the Lights possess the No. 1 defense in all of the NAIA and defense won out. MSU-N limited the Warriors to a dismal 31 percent shooting on the night and just three made 3-pointers. Northern didn't fair much better from the field. The Lights went 1-for-15 from three and shot 43 percent for the game. But 10 first-half points by Joe Simpson helped give the Lights a commanding 30-16 halftime lead. The Warriors cut the lead to eight with 5 minutes to go, but Northern sank four free throws and got a tip in by Ben Mitchell late in the second half to put LC away for good.

Simpson finished with 16 points and six rebounds. Jordan Harris scored eight off th ebench for the Lights, who are now 5-1 in the Frontier.

MSU-N returns to the floor Saturday night for a huge showdown with the Westminster Griffins, who upended Great Falls Friday night.

For full coverage, see Monday's Havre Daily News.