Lights roll ahead of home stand

The Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team had a nearly month-long break before the Lights finally returned to the court Monday. But, the extended layoff mattered little.

The No. 25 Lights played a pair of games in Camrose, Alberta Monday and Tuesday, and Northern blew out Alberta-Augustana twice. Northern won Monday by the score of 80-58 with Warren Edmondson notching 14 points in the win.

The Lights then beat the same Augustana club Tuesday afternoon. Northern won 102-59 with Edmondson scoring 17 points, Tyler Chandler adding 16 and Brett Thompson scoring 14. David Straughter also had 13 points and eight rebounds in the win.

The two wins pushed the Lights’ overall record to 10-2 while they are 1-1 in the Frontier Conference.

And with the victories, the Lights finally saw the light at the end of the long road tunnel as MSU-N now gets to come home to wrap up non-conference play, as well as jumpstart league play. Northern will be home Saturday and Sunday for a pair of games against Concordia-Edmonton, which will signal the end of non-league play.

Then, the Lights start a lengthy stretch of conference home games, beginning with next weekend’s games against rival UGF and Carroll College inside the Armory Gymnasium. Those four games are just the beginning of a healthy home stand for the Lights, who also face Montana Tech Jan. 15 and Lewis-Clark State Jan. 16, as well as Rocky Mountain College Jan. 22 and UM-Western Jan. 23.

But first things first. The Lights must take care of Cocnordia this weekend. The Thunder play in a lower level of Canadian college basketball than the highly-rated CIS. But, they won’t be intimidated by taking on the Lights in Havre. Concordia has already played a slew of Frontier Conference teams this season, including visits to UGF, Montana Tech and Carroll. So, playing the Lights won’t be out of the ordinary for the talented Thunder.

Still, Northern’s final two non-conference games should be a good tuneup for the long league season that lies ahead.

Saturday’s game between the Lights and Thunder will tip inside the Armory at 6 p.m. Sunday’s matinee between Northern and Concordia will start at 2 p.m.

Note: Tuesday night, the MSU-Northern Skylights beat Northern New Mexico 57-35 at a tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. The Skylights play Arizona Christian tonight before returning home to host the University of Lethbridge Sunday afternoon. For more on the Skylights, see Thursday’s Havre Daily News.