MSU-N men take to the road for the first time

The Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team is off to a perfect 3-0 start. But the Lights have only played games inside the friendly confines of the Armory Gymnasium. Now, Northern will get its first taste of life on the road.

Tonight, MSU-N plays the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta. Northern will remain in Lethbridge to take on Mount Royal University on Saturday night. And both teams will present new challenges for head coach Shawn Huse's club.

"Overall this is a very good tournament for us to gain more experience against quality competition and continue our prep as the time moves closer and closer towards that first conference game in late November," Huse said. "These games will be really, really good challenges and provide us with a great deal to learn from, no matter how they play out."

The Lights already have three wins over Canadian competition, including last weekend's sweep of the University of Regina. Northern thumped the Cougars 84-57 last Friday night, then got more of a challenge from Regina in a 68-54 win on Saturday evening.

So far, the Lights been sharp on defense, though scoring and shooting numbers have fluctuated. But that's to be expected early in the season. Alfie Miller leads MSU-N at just over 12 points per game, while seven more Lights are scoring six or more points per game.

But one thing Huse will look for this weekend is progress. He wants to see his team play more consistently, while being tested by both the Pronghorns and Cougars, two CIS Canada West teams.

"One needs to look no further than what they did last week," Huse said of the Pronghorns. "After beating a very good Western team last Friday in convincing fashion in the Bulldog's home gym, they definitely have our attention. We know we have our work cut out for us to defend and rebound against their size and shooting ability. They have a new coach and have added some very good players to the roster. Almost overnight, Lethbridge has become one of the best teams we will face in the pre-season.

"Mount Royal possesses a very good team with really good quickness, hustle, shooting ability and scoring ability in general," Huse continued. Our schedule progressively gets tougher and tougher each week and they will be a handful for the Lights."

Two tough road games won't be a bad thing for the Lights, who are gearing up for a huge showdown with Montana State-Billings Nov. 1 in Havre. The NCAA DII Yellowjackets are making their first appearance in Havre since 1996, so tonight's game against Lethbridge, and Saturday's tilt with Mount Royal will certainly help the Lights prepare for that challenge.

Tonight's game in Lethbridge tips off at 8 p.m. Saturday's game against Mount Royal begins at 7 p.m. in Lethbridge.

Northern's home game with MSU-Billings will tip off at 7 p.m. next Friday night at the Armory Gymnasium.