Lights rally to beat Pronghorns

Friday night in Lethbridge, Alberta, the Lights pulled off a thrilling comeback, defeating the Pronghorns 93-87 in overtime.

The Lights trailed the Pronghorns late in the second half, but, behind the stellar shooting of point guard Trevail Lee, who scored a game-high 28 points, the Lights clawed their way back into the game, and evened things up at 78-78 after four quarters of play. Northern erased the late deficit by outscoring the Pronghorns 26-14 in the fourth stanza.

Then, in overtime, MSU-N outscored Lethbridge 15-9 to complete the comeback win.

"Unbelievable game," said Northern head coach Shawn Huse. "We showed great resilience and character on a night where Lethbridge played fantastic in front of their big home crowd. They had some key guards back in their lineup and had us down big near the end of the 3rd quarter."

The Lights trailed by one point, 36-35 at halftime, but the third quarter is where the Pronghorns made their move. In a 10-minute span, Lethbridge went on a 28-17 run, and it looked as though the Lights were out of the game. But they buckled down and made a great comeback.

"It was slipping away and, somehow, we came back. It was great to see from our team, which does have many new players at key positions," Huse said.

Lee was the catalyst, going 8-of-13 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the free-throw-line. He also made four of Northern's 13 3-pointers. Jermaine Graves was spectacular as well, adding 18 points and seven rebounds, while Warren Edmonson scored 14 points and Corbin Pearson chipped in with 12. Those three combined for six more threes while Nicholas Blount and Dylan Tatarka made triples as well. Lethbridge had three players in double figures, led by Brandon Brine's 28 points.

The win in Lethbridge kept the Lights unbeaten at 4-0. Northern will also get a forfeit victory as their game with the University of Alberta was canceled Saturday afternoon.

The Lights return to action in two weeks when they travel to Portland, Oregon, for three games.

Lights 93, Lethbridge 87 OT

MSU-N - Trevail Lee 8-13 8-10 28, Nicholas Blount 1-6 0-0 3, Jermaine Graves 6-15 4-4 18, Corbin Pearson 5-9 0-0 12, Warren Edmonson 4-12 4-7 14, Dylan Tatarka 2-2 0-0 6, Damian Robinson 0-3 0-2 0, Jesse Vaughan 2-3 2-2 6, KJ Rech 3-3 0-2 4. Totals: 31-66 18-27.

UL - Brandon Brine 10-21 6-9 28, Tyler York 1-2 0-0 3, Spencer Lambert 2-6 2-2 7, Zac Overwater 3-5 2-2 9, Josh Sparkes 1-1 2-2 5, Rob Olson 6-14 0-0 12, Brent Watkins 8-13 1-2 17. Tyson McIntyre 0-3 4-6 4. Totals: 31-70 19-25.

Halftime: Lethbridge 36, Northern 35. 3-pointers: MSU-N 13-33 (Lee 4, Graves 2, Pearson 2, Edmonson 2, Tatarka 2, Blount 1), UL 6-16 (Brine 2, York 1, Lambert 1, Overwater 1, Sparkes 1), Rebounds: MSU-N 33 (Graves 7, Pearson 7, Vaughan 7), UL 31 (Brine 10); Fouls: MSU-N 24, UL 20; Fouled out: None.