Skylights top LC State; Lights crushed at the end

It was one wild night in the Armory Gymnasium. It started with the No. 15 Montana State University-Northern Skylights taking down No. 12 Lewis-Clark State 63-61 in the NAIA National Game of the Week. But the night ended in wild controversy, on which the Northern Lights were on the losing end.

The Skylights improved to 2-0 in Frontier Conference play with a sensational win over the talented Warriors. Northern played near flawless basketball in the first half on its way to a 28-22 lead.

LCSC didn't go away however, and the Warriors stormed back, erasing an 11-point Skylight lead to tie the game at 57-57 with just over two minutes to go. From there, it was a dogfight. A'Jha Edwards and Jacy Thompson made huge baskets to put the Skylights back up by five, but twice LC responded. After Caelyn Orlandi cut the lead to two with 11 seconds left, Megan Feldman had a chance to ice the game with two free throws. But she missed both and LCSC raced down the floor for what would be a game-tying shot. But Shelby Barnes missed and Feldman secured the rebound, giving Northern a huge early season victory.

Natalee Faupel scored a game-high 20 points for the Skylights, while Edwards added another stellar performance, scoring 19 points and grabbing 19 rebounds. Thompson chipped in with 14 as MSU-N improved to 17-1 on the season.

And if the finish to the women's game was exciting, the end to the men's game was gut-wrenching. In Northern's 80-76 loss to the No. 21 Warriors, the Lights twice had game-tying shots erased from the board in the final eight seconds.

With eight seconds left, and his team down by three points, junior Trevail Lee swished a near 40-foot shot while being fouled in the process. But the officials waved off the made basket and instead, said Lee was not in the act of shooting when he was fouled. That meant Northern was still down three with 1.5 seconds remaining and Lee at the free-throw-line for two shots. He made the first and missed the second on purpose. On the miss however, Damian Robinson grabbed the rebound and laid it back in before the horn blew. The Northern crowd erupted as the game appeared headed for overtime. But the officials said that Lee's free throw never touched the rim, creating a dead-ball situation and giving LCSC posession. The Warriors then made two free throws to end the contest.

And it was a contest LC dominated for much of the second half. Northern led 33-32 at the break, but the Warriors took command at the start of the second, scoring the first six points. LC led by as much as nine points, but the Lights rallied and the game tied at 60-60 with 7:09 to play. Later int he half, the Warriors went on a 7-0 run behind big shots from Brady Bagby and Jake Wiley, but Lee scored the lights last 11 points, including a huge three with :14 left to pull them withing one at 76-75. But in the end, LCSC made several clutch free throws, and Northern's attempt at a miracle comeback was thwarted.

Lee finished with a career-high 32 points, while Dylan Tatarka and Damian Robinson each scored 10. The Warriors, which moved to 1-1 in league play, got 20 from Brady Bagby and another 18 by Wiley.

The loss dropped MSU-N to 0-2 in the Frontier. Both the Lights and Skylights will be on the road next Thursday at Carroll College.

For complete stories, see Monday's HDN.