Lights split with Diggers, Warriors

Closing out big leads was certainly the Achilles heel of the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team in a pair of home, Frontier Conference losses last weekend.

But, on Friday night, the Lights were determined not to let that happen for a third straight game.

On the strength of a huge first half from sophomore Ryan Reeves and freshman Justin Dunsmore, the Lights built up a 35-20 lead over the Montana Tech Orediggers in the Armory Gymnasium. And, they didn’t let it slip away, as MSU-N ran away from Tech, 74-58.

Reeves, the 6-10 sophomore from Alaska, who was inserted into the starting lineup Friday night, was the catalyst early on, as he outscored Tech 8-2 in the first seven minutes, while finishing his first start with 12 points, eight rebounds and a block.

“It’s the entire team, that’s why we were successful,” Reeves said. “It did feel good to get the start, because it helped me focus even more. And from there, I just tried to be aggressive, attack the basket and go for every rebound.”

Reeves’ aggressiveness, as well as a hot-shooting Northern squad had Tech on the ropes early. Warren Edmondson and Trevail Lee opened the game with back-to-back 3-pointers, and later in the half, Dunsmore scored six straight points to put the Lights up 24-7 nine minutes into the contest.

And they weren’t done. An ally-oop to Reeves capped a 10-2 Northern run, and another member of Northern’s younger crew, Kevin Oberweiser, put the exclamation point on the first half with a triple to put the Lights up by 15.

It was exactly the kind of start the Lights, and head coach Shawn Huse were looking for. Especially after losing two tough battles to UGF and Carroll College last weekend.

“We had two tough losses last week,” Reeves said. “So we’ve had a chip on our shoulder all week long. Those games drove us all week in practice. They drove us to come out and play the way we did tonight.

“I think our confidence got a little rattled by last weekend’s results,” added Huse. “But, I still believe we have all the pieces, we have really good players and we are a really good team, a team that can compete with anybody in this league, and you saw that tonight. You saw what this team can do when they play the way they are capable of. So, I’m really proud of them for coming right back with focus, and energy and for playing Lights basketball.”

The Lights did indeed do that, but they also led both the Argos and Saints at the half last week. However, there would be no such shortcomings in the second half Friday night.

Despite the Orediggers starting the second half on a 9-0 run, and Jalen Coats scoring a mountain of points late, the Lights simply weren’t going to be denied.

Lee drilled a bomb to put his team back up by 15 points, and minutes later, Edmondson would drill two treys in less than 50 seconds, the second of which put Northern up 54-38 with nine minutes left. Tyler Chandler would add back-to-back layups later to balloon the lead back to 18 points, and while the Diggers did shave it down to 64-54 with 1:15 to play, Northern made enough free throws at the end to finish off a much-needed win.

“I thought everything started with our defense,” Huse said of his Lights, who held Tech 13 points below their season average. “We were extremely active and alert defensively; we didn’t give second-chance points, and I don’t think we gave their shooters many clean looks. And when you play like that defensively, it’s usually a recipe for success.”

MSU-N was stellar defensively, holding Tech to just 45 percent shooting, two 3-pointers, while commanding a massive, 40-19 edge in rebounding. Offensively, the Lights were their usual balanced self, as Edmondson scored 17 points, while Chandler and David Straughter each scored eight and Lee finished with seven, to go along with Reeves’ big contributions.

“It was a total team effort,” Huse said. “We played really well together, we were very unselfish tonight, and when you do those things, and play defense like we did, you see what kind of team we can be.”

Momentum Stopped

While the Lights seemed to put it all together Friday night, they had a much bigger challenge Saturday when they welcomed in the No. 5 team in all of the NAIA — the Lewis-Clark State Warriors.

And while Northern hung tough for much of the game, in the end, the Warriors proved exactly why they are ranked so high, and why they are picked to win the Frontier Conference this season.

“Credit LC for coming in here and playing really well,” said MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse. “There was a ray of light for us there in the second half, and I thought we did a pretty good job defensively for much of the game. And I thought we might seize the opportunity there when we had the chance to really get close, but we just didn’t get over the hump. Again, credit goes to LC for that. They are a quick, athletic team that has been shooting the ball well all year. They put a lot of stress on your defense and they certainly did that tonight.”

The ray of light for the Lights came when Badhasa Margarsa made an old-fashioned 3-point play, and minutes later, Warren Edmondson and Tyler Chandler made back-to-back buckets that cut what was once a 16-point LC lead down to 66-57.

And there was plenty of time for the Lights to keep coming back, but the Warriors, who improved to a sparkling 18-1 on the season, responded by out-scoring MSU-N 7-2 the rest of the way.

And that was the story of the night for the Lights. Every time they got close, LC ran away. It happened earlier in the second half when the Warriors ripped off a 9-0 run, including two three’s from Trea Thomas, which gave them a 56-41 lead with under 10 minutes to play.

It also happened in the second portion of the first half.

Early on, it was a tight battle, and when Edmondson hit a pair of triples in a two-minute span, the Lights were ahead 14-13. Tyler Chandler and Kevin Oberweiser would also give the Lights leads when they each hit bombs late in the first stanza. But, every time, LC would answer. And it took an Edmondson three just before the half for the Lights to only trail 39-35 at intermission.

“I thought we did some good things defensively,” Huse said. “That’s a team (Warriors) that can put a lot of points on the board, and do it in a hurry. So I definitely thought we defended well, and I felt we were in good shape at halftime.

“Again, we just didn’t convert when we need to most,” he continued. “When we would get close, we just didn’t make the shot or the free throw, or get the big stop we needed. And you can’t afford to blow those kinds of opportunities against these really good teams like the one we played tonight.”

Shooting again was an issue for the Lights, who went just 7-of-19 from three, while the Warriors went 8-of-19. Second chances also hurt the Lights as they gave up 10 offensive rebounds, while committing 14 turnovers. Doug McDaniel came off the bench to lead LC with 18 points, while offensively, Northern got a game-high 23 from Edmondson, who went 6-of-10 from the field, 3-of-6 from three and 8-of-11 from the foul line. But after that, Northern struggled to find more scoring, as Chandler was next with just seven points.

Still, as tough as the loss was, and as well as LC played, Huse said, the weekend, overall was a positive. And his team learned a lot of from playing a close game with a team of LCSC’s caliber.

“It was a great learning experience, and I think we still took a step forward this weekend,” Huse said of his team’s home split. “We have a lot of guys out there who haven’t played against this style of team before, and haven’t played in a lot of Frontier Conference game either. So a great deal can be learned from this game, and we’re going to keep our nose to the grind, and keep working on getting better.”

Northern will have yet another opportunity at home to do just that. This Friday, the Lights host Rocky Mountain College, before taking on arch rival UM-Western this Saturday night in the Armory Gymnasium.

Lights 74, Montana Tech 68

MT - Paul Engstrom 3-7 5-8 11, Flemming Okeke 3-5 0-0 7, Akeem Williams 1-2 0-0 3, John Chapman 0-1 0-0 0, Carson Dummer 1-1 1-2 3, Dylan Haddix 0-0 0-0 0, Jalen Coates 6-12 12-13 24, Kale Guldseth 0-1 1-2 1, Lukas Vining 4-11 1-2 9. Totals 18-40 20-27 58.

MSU-N - Trevail Lee 2-7 1-2 7, Badhasa Margarsa 0-1 0-0 0, David Straughter 4-12 0-1 8, Kevin Oberweiser 1-2 2-2 5, Warren Edmondson 7-12 0-0 17, Dylan Tatarka 0-1 3-4 3, Justin Dunsmore 3-3 0-0 6, Brett Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Chandler 3-6 2-2 8, Nikola Ivanovic 0-0 0-0 0, William Walker 1-4 0-0 2, KJ Rech 2-5 2-3 6, Ryan Reeves 6-9 0-1 12. Totals 29-63 10-15 74.

Halftime: Northern 35-20. 3-pointers: MT 2-5 (Okeke 1-1, Williams 1-2, Chapman 0-1, Coates 0-1), MSU-N 6-22 (Lee 2-5, Margarsa 0-1, Straughter 0-1, Oberweiser 1-2, Edmondson 3-6, Tatarka 0-1, Thompson 0-1, Chandler 0-3, Rech 0-2). Rebounds: MT 22 (Okeke 6), MSU-N 40 (TEAM 9). Fouls: MT 18, MSU-N 23. Fouled out: none.

LC State 73, Lights 59

LCSC – Rich Tesmer 1-4 2-3 4, Cammie Lewis 1-4 0-0 3, Isaiah Omamogho 1-2 0-0 2, Nick Emerson 5-10 0-0 10, Jake Wiley 5-9 1-3 11, Trea Thomas 3-4 1-2 9, Zavon Jackson 0-0 2-2 2, David Shedrick 1-2 0-0 3, Doug McDaniel 5-12 6-6 18, Ty Higbie 1-4 0-0 3, Derrick White 4-4 0-0 9. Totals: 27-55 11-16 73.

MSU-N – David Straughter 3-4 0-0 6, KJ Rech 1-4 2-2 5, Ryan Reeves 2-3 0-0 4, Trevail Lee 1-8 0-0 3, Warren Edmondson 6-10 8-11 23, Badhasa Margarsa 1-3 2-5 4, Kevin Oberweiser 1-4 0-0 3, Dylan Tatarka 0-2 0-0 0, Justin Dunsmore 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Chandler 3-4 0-0 7, William Walker 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 20-45 12-18 59.

HalftimeL LCSC 39-35. 3-pointers: LCSC 8-19 (Lewis 1, Thomas 2, Shedrick 1, McDaniel 2, Higbie 1, White 1), MSU-N 7-19 (Rech 1, Edmondson 3, Lee 1, Oberweiser 1, Chandler 1). Rebounds: LCSC 32 (Wiley 10), MSU-N 25 (Reeves 8). Fouls: LCSC 16, MSU-N 15. Fouled out: Omamogho.