Lights cage Bears in Billings

Talk about starting a road trip off on the right foot.

That's what the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team did Thursday night in Billings.

With a six-game Frontier Conference road trip in front of them, and the nationally ranked UM-Western Bulldogs waiting for them Saturday night, the Lights went into the Fortin Center and knocked off the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears 66-61.

On the strength of 13 3-pointers and a tenacious defense, the Lights found a way to knock off the Bears for the second time this season.

"We are very pleased with the win," Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. "Rocky did a good job of fighting and making it interesting in the end — ultimately we responded well and I am extremely proud of the guys."

Rocky had to fight back because Northern was red-hot in the first 20 minutes.

The Lights buried six triples on their way to a commanding 35-23 halftime lead.

Rocky responded with 39 points in the second half, but 3-pointers by Cameron Epps and David Straughter, as well as some timely free throws, and the Lights' trademark defense, stemmed the tide and allowed Northern to beat the Battlin' Bears for the second time in four weeks.

The Lights shot 44 percent from the floor for the game, and made seven more three's in the second half to pick up their first in Billings in two seasons.

Straughter paced the Lights with 17 points and three treys, while Tyler Chandler knocked down three bombs and scored 13 points. Epps hit a game-high four threes and scored 12, while Devin Bray knocked in two shots from long range as well.

Northern's offense was enough to overcome a huge night from Zach Hinton. The RMC senior scored 29 points and grabbed six rebounds, but the Lights held leading scorer Riley Bradshaw to just eight, as RMC dipped to 4-7 in league play.

The Lights meanwhile, improved to 6-5 in the Frontier and gained a two-game lead on fifth--place Rocky in the process. The two teams will meet one more time, later this month in Havre.

Now Northern can also turn its attention to Saturday's showdown with No. 13 Western in Dillon. The Bulldogs beat UGF Thursday night to improve to 8-2 in conference play. They also beat the Lights 75-62 last month in Havre.

For now, however, Huse is just proud of his team for getting the first one on a road trip that will span three weeks.

"Conference games are always tough to get, and especially on the road," Huse said. "So I'm very proud of our guys for coming out on top tonight against a very good Rocky team."

Bears thwart Skylights, again

It turns out, the Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears might just be a thorn in the side of the Montana State University-Northern Skylights this season. Rocky won just its third Frontier Conference game Thursday night, but two of them are now against Northern.

MSU-N went into Thursday night’s game against the Bears in Billings having just knocked off both UGF and Carroll College at home, but the No. 11 Skylights couldn’t overcome a torrid shooting pace by the Bears in a 73-57 defeat.

The loss, the second to the Bears in four weeks, dropped the Skylights to 7-4 in the Frontier, and was also a rough start to their six-game road trip. The trip has to continue Saturday night at nationally ranked UM-Western.

Northern’s start was perfect with Natalee Faupel knocking down a 3-pointer to open the game, but Rocky shot to a 7-6 lead midway through the first and never trailed again. The modest Bears lead of 17-12 after the first quarter wasn’t anything to panic about, but the Bears ripped off two huge runs in a 26-point second quarter and led 43-28 at halftime.

The deficit was the biggest Northern has faced at halftime of any game this season, and while the Skylights played better offensively in the second half, they just couldn’t slow the hot-shooting Bears down. Rocky shot 45 percent from the floor for the game, but more damaging was the fact the Bears went 8-of-11 from the 3-point-line. Hailee Farstveet and Justyn Juhl combined for six of those eight threes, while Farvsteet scored a game-high 21 points. Markeala Francis added 14, Juhl scored 12 and Jayde LaFevre added 10 in the Bears’ win.

On the other side, Faupel poured in 19 points and two triples to go with seven rebounds for the Skylights. Jacy Thompson hit three triples and scored 14 points, while Sierra Richards added 12 points and eight boards.

The Skylights 17-5), now have to go to No. 22 UM-Western on Saturday night. The Bulldogs (7-4, 18-4) throttled UGF by 20 points Thursday and now are tied with the Skylights for second place in the Frontier standings. That game tips at 5:30 p.m. in Dillon.

Rocky Mountain 73, Skylights 57

Northern 12 16 16 13 – 57

Rocky 17 26 18 12 – 73

MSU-N – Jacy Thompson 5-10 1-2 14, Kate Fertterer 0-2 0-0 0, Brandy Lambourne 0-1 0-0 0, Natalee Faupel 6-12 5-6 19, Peyton Filius 0-2 0-0 0, Molly Kreycik 1-6 1-2 4, Makhayla Farmer 0-0 0-0 0, Cydney Auzenne 1-9 6-8 8, Sierra Richards 6-10 0-0 12. Totals: 19-52 13-18 57.

RMC – Jayde LeFevre 3-9 2-2 10, Hailee Farvsteet 8-21 2-2 21, Keisha Englehardt 4-8 0-0 8, Alecia Chamberlain 2-3 4-6 8, Madeline Jacquart 0-1 0-0 0, Ronnie Harris 0-1 0-0 0, Justyn Juhl 4-6 1-1 12, Markaela Francis 5-9 4-6 14. Totals: 26-58 13-17 73.

3-pointers: MSU-N 6-23 (Thompson 3, Faupel 2, Kreycik 1), RMC 8-11 (LeFevre 2, Farvsteet 3, Juhl 3). Rebounds: MSU-N 31 (Richards 8), RMC 27 (Francis 6). Fouls: MSU-N 13, RMC 12. Fouled out: None.

Lights 66, Rocky Mountain 61

MSU-N - Cameron Epps 4-8 0-0 12, Adam Huse 1-3 0-0 3, Badhasa Margarsa 0-1 0-0 0, David Straughter 7-16 0-0 17, Kevin Oberweiser 0-2 0-0 0, Devin Bray 2-5 2-2 8, Dylan Tatarka 1-3 0-0 2, Justin Dunsmore 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Chandler 5-10 0-0 13, William Walker 2-4 0-0 4, Ryan Reeves 3-7 1-2 7. Totals: 25-61 3-4 66.

RMC - Chad Kananan 0-6 0-0 0, Riley Bradshaw 3-11 2-2 8, Derek Graves 5-8 1-2 12, Danny Betcher 4-6 0-0 8, Taylor Longo 0-7 0-0 0, Craig Wilmore 103 0-0 2, Grant Wallace 1-2 0-0 2, Zach Hinton 12-16 2-2 29. Totals: 26-59 5-6 61.

Halftime: Northern 35-22. 3-pointers: MSU-N 13-33 (Epps 4, Huse 1, Straughter 3, Bray 2, Chandler 3), RMC 4-14 (Graves 1, Hinton 3). Rebounds: MSU-N 37 (Reeves 9), RMC 28 (Hinton 6). Fouls: MSU-N 13, RMC 11; Fouled out: None.