Lights slow down bigger Pronghorns

It wasn't a surprise to anyone that the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team was off to a 2-0 start this season. Nor was it a surprise that the Lights got to 2-0 with a pair of blowout wins.

But, it may have come as a surprise to some, including the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, that the Lights could look so dominant, so early in the season, and against such a quality opponent.

And in a Friday afternoon matinee at the Armory Gymnasium, the Lights were all that and more as they crushed the Pronghorns 72-55, improving to 3-0 on the young season.

"Our guys were focused today," Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. "And that's coming off of just playing a game on Thursday night. But they knew they had to be, because we were up against a conference-like opponent. Lethbridge is a talented team, they are still growing, like we are, but there's no denying their talent, and they are built like a Frontier Conference team. And that's why I'm so proud of this team, because they came in very focused and very determined today, and they played really well."

It took a couple of minutes, but that focus turned into a shooting display rarely seen this early in the season.

With the game tied at 5-5 five minutes in, Trevail Lee and Warren Edmonson hit back-to-back 3 pointers. That made the score 12-6, which is innocent enough. But what ensued was a Northern onslaught the Pronghorns had no answer for.

In less than two minutes, Northern made four more threes as Edmonson went back-to-back, then Lee hit another, then Jermaine Graves hit one. That put the Lights on a 20-0 run, and Edmonson wound up capping a devastating 24-0 run with a steal and layup. Though run's end, the Lights were ahead 30-6 and the Pronghorns were left dazed.

"We did shoot it well," Huse said. "It's nice to see them going in like that for how early it is. It gives our guys confidence, knowing they can shoot it as well as we did today.

"But what I really liked was our effort defensively," he continued. "We played very hard against Northwest Indian College on Thursday night, and to see us come back with an even better defensive effort, in an afternoon game the next day, I was really proud of that."

The Lights were stellar defensively, holding the Pronghorns to just 26 percent shooting in the first half, 36 percent for the game, and just three triples. But where Lethbridge couldn't keep up was Northern's torrid shooting pace.

The Lights finished the first half shooting 54 percent with nine 3-pointers on their way to a 45-23 lead. And though Lethbridge outscored the Lights 32-27 in the second half, MSU-N continued to play well on both ends of the floor, including seeing senior Nicholas Blount bury four treys in the final 20 minutes.

In all, MSU-N went 13-of-22 from beyond the arc, with Edmonson hitting four and scoring a team-high 16 points. Blount made five threes and scored 15 points, while Lee scored 11 and he and Graves each made two bombs. Corbin Pearson chipped in with eight points, while Jesse Vaughan added seven points and six rebounds in the easy win.

"I certainly thought we got off to a great start," Huse said. "And we had gotten off to sluggish starts the first two games. So that was nice to see. I thought we could have finished better, and what we'll learn from this game, is that if we play that well for 40 minutes, instead of shooting ourselves in the foot so much in the second half, we can really be great.

"But all-in-all, I was very pleased with this game," he added. "Our focus and our defensive effort was very good from start to finish."

The Pronghorns got 19 points from 6-10 forward Brent Watkins, while Brandon Brine added 11. And though they were blown out in Havre Friday, and he's happy his team is off to a 3-0 start, Huse already plans on Lethbridge being a much tougher bout next time around. And that next time will be Friday night in Lethbridge.

"They're a very good basketball team," Huse said. "And I believe it will be a different game when we play them at their place next week. So we'll have to really work hard in practice this week, and be very well prepared when we go up there. But we're happy with the win today, and we'll go forward from here."

The Lights will be in Lethbridge this weekend for a pair of non-conference games. Northern will have a rematch with the Pronghorns Friday night, then face the University of Alberta Saturday. The Lights won't be back in the Armory until Jan. 2.

Lights are 4-0: Next Up: at Lethbridge Tournament

Lights 72, Lethbridge 55

UL – Brandon Brine 4-10 3-3 11, Jared Baker 3-11 2-4 10, Brent Watkins 9-12 1-2 19, Tyson McIntyre 2-10 2-5 6, Spencer Lambert 4-9 0-0 9. Totals: 22-61 8-14.

MSU-N – Corbin Pearson 3-5 2-3 8, Jesse Vaughan 3-7 1-2 7, Trevail Lee 3-7 3-4 11, Nicholas Blount 5-8 0-0 15, Jermaine Graves 2-4 0-0 6, Warren Edmonson 5-9 2-2 16, Dylan Tatarka 0-2 0-0 0, Brett Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Damien Robinson 1-1 2-3 4, Pat Jensen 1-1 0-0 2, KJ Rech 0-1 3-4 3, Nikola Ivanovic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-45 13-18.

Halftime: Northern 45-23. 3-pointers: MSU-N 13-22 (Lee 2, Blount 5, Graves 2, Edmonson 4), UL 3-8 (Baker 2, Lambert 1). Rebounds: MSU-N 27 (Vaughan 6), UL 30 (McIntyre 8). Fouls: MSU-N 14, UL 17. Fouled out: None.