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Montana State University-Northern's Ryan Reeves, right, goes up for a shot during Friday's game against New Hope Christian at the Armory Gymnasium. Reeves and the Lights dominated both games in their Thanksgiving Classic.
MSU-Northern's Cameron Epps goes in for a layup during Saturday's game against Salish Kootenai College in Havre.
Northern's William Walker looks for a shot during Saturday's game against Salish Kootenai.
MSU-N's Justin Dunsmore makes a move during Friday's Thanksgiving Classic game in Havre.
Northern freshman Adam Huse takes a 3-pointer during Friday night's game in the Armory.
David Straughter lays in a shot during Friday night's game against New Hope Christian.
Northern's Charles Porter goes in for a shot during Friday's Thanksgiving Classic game at the Armory Gymnasium.
The Montana State University-Northern Lights are headed for Frontier Conference play. At least their first two games of it anyway. And while the Lights were home for two lopsided wins in their Thanksgiving Classic, Northern head coach Shawn Huse was more than pleased with how his team played in those wins.
The Lights crushed both New Hope Christian and Salish Kootenai College this past weekend at the Armory Gymnasium, and while the team may not have faced many challenges, or any adversity, Huse still liked what he saw as Northern improved to 5-0 on the season.
“I was pleased with how we played this weekend,” Huse said. “When you’re the favorite in games like these, it’s a challenge to come out and make sure you play well. And while the games were lopsided, I thought we did plenty of things to make ourselves better.”
In the first game of the weekend, against New Hope Christian on Friday, the Lights started slowly. But after a 3-pointer by Kevin Oberweiser gave Northern the lead, he hit another, putting MSU-N up 18-10 with 11:01 left in the first half.
Minutes later, Cameron Epps hit a three and the Lights went up 21-12, capping an 11-2 run. New Hope battled back and trimmed the deficit to 25-19, but Northern answered with an 11-4 run that put the Lights back in front 36-23, before taking a 40-28 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Lights continued to build their lead and opened with a 9-3 run to go up 49-31. Then, Northern scored 11 of the game’s next 14 points, to take a commanding 60-34 lead. Oberweiser, who led the Lights with 20 points, knocked down a few more threes in the second half, his last one put the deficit at 87-45 as Northern cruised to the 105-58 victory.
In addition to Oberweiser, David Straughter also had a solid day for the Lights as he scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Ryan Reeves also pitched in with 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Saturday afternoon, there was no slowing down the Lights, as Northern throttled Salish Kootenai 128-66. In the first five minutes, the Lights buried the Bison with an early run, including multiple looks inside for center Ryan Reeves, as well as a 3-poiinter from Dylan Tatarka, which capped the run.
The Bison, playing with just six players and no size in the interior, couldn’t stop Reeves, who had six dunks in the first half and finished with 22 points on 11-of-13 shooting, while seeing just 14 minutes of game action.
They also had no answer for Northern’s outside shooting. The Lights shot a sizzling 60 percent from the field in the first half alone, and in the final 10 minutes, Northern buried five triples, including one more by Tatarka and another by Tyler Chandler, the latter sending MSU-N into halftime with a 64-28 lead.
In all, Northern made 19 threes on the game, and finished shooting a season-high 58 percent from the floor. Reeves’ 22 were a game-high, while Cameron Epps and William Walker each scored 13 points off the bench, and Justin Dunsmore added 12. Tatarka finished with 11 points and David Straughter had 10. Northern was just as good defensively, as the Lights totaled 55 rebounds, with Walker grabbing a double-double with 10 boards.
Northern will open Frontier play this week with road games at Montana Tech Thursday night and nationally ranked Lewis-Clark State Saturday.
Lights 128, Salish Kootenai 66
SK – Aaron Ahenekew 6-14 3-5 18, Zach Mills 8-26 3-4 20, Julian Cutfinger 1-1 0-0 2, Chaylen Perdash 6-9 1-1 13, Tyson Fryberg 4-11 0-0 8, Angel Torres 3-8 1-2 7. Totals: 28-69 9-13 66.
MSU-N – David Straughter 4-9 2-2 10, Ryan Reeves 11-13 0-0 22, Badhasa Margarsa 3-6 0-0 8, Dylan Tatarka 4-5 0-0 11, Tyler Chandler 3-6 0-0 9, Cameron Epps 5-9 0-0 13, Adam Huse 3-5 0-0 8, Kevin Oberweiser 1-4 0-0 3, Devin Bray 3-7 0-0 9, Justin Dunsmore 4-5 2-2 12, Charles Porter 3-6 0-0 6, William Walker 5-7 3-4 13, Seth Christiaens 1-4 2-2 4. Totals: 50-86 9-12 128.
Halftime: Northern 64-28. 3-pointers: MSU-N 19-39 (Margarsa 2, Tatarka 3, Chandler 3, Epps 3, Huse 2, Oberwesier 1, Bray 3, Dunsmore 2), SK 3-16 (Ahenakew 3). Rebounds: MSU-N 55 (Walker 10), SK 24 (Mills 9). Fouls: MSU-N 11, SK 12. Fouled out: None.
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