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News you can use
Montana State University-Northern guard Adam Huse dribbles a ball inside the Armory Gymnasium last January in a Frontier Conference game against Lewis and Clark State. The Lights will face a brutal slate inside the Frontier again during the 2018-19 season, as well as some challenging opponents outside the league, in non-conference play. The season starts Oct. 27.
Scheduling outside of conference play is never easy in NAIA basketball, but longtime Montana State University-Northern head coach Shawn Huse has certainly put together an exciting slate of games for the upcoming season.
“I like our schedule this year because we are in a good rhythm,” Huse, who released the schedule earlier this summer, said. “We have some competition every weekend or really close to those weekends. There’s no breaks in there once we get started. We’re able to get on a good rhythm as far as preparation and competition.”
And before the new year, the Lights will get plenty of tough competition.
Northern opens the 2017 season Oct. 27 with a home game against Salish Kootenai College, but then the Lights will head to Lewiston, Idaho, for a pair of tough games, one of which will be against the College of Idaho. The Yotes are traditionally one of the top teams in the Cascade Conference every year.
Following the early-November trip to Lewiston, the Lights will also travel to Dickinson State and Salish Kootenai College before coming home for the AmericInn Thanksgiving Classic. This year’s tournament will feature Northern taking on two more tough Cascade teams in Portland Bible College and Oregon Tech. Those two games will be the final preparation for the opening of Frontier Conference play, which, for the Lights, starts on the road at Rocky Mountain College Nov. 29 and Carroll College Dec. 1.
The month of December also sees a return to non-conference play, starting with a rematch against DSU Dec. 9 in Havre. The following night, the Lights will host Alberta-Augustana, before heading off to Phoenix to close non-conference play with the Phoenix Classic. In Arizona, Northern will be surely tested with games against Menlo College and Vanguard University, two GSAC powers, as well as Embry-Riddle.
“I think we’ve got some really good, stiff NAIA competition. That’ll get us ready for conference, or should get us ready for conference play,” Huse said. “I’m excited about being able to get the teams up here again for our Thanksgiving tournament. I think that’s real important, to be around here at Thanksgiving.”
Frontier play begins for good Jan. 4-5 when the Lights host UM-Western and Lewis-Clark State, respectively. Once again, the Frontier schedule has each team playing each other three times, with one set of games forcing each squad to go to an opponent twice during the season. This season, the Lights travel to Rocky and Carroll twice, but get Western, LCSC, Providence and Montana Tech at home twice.
January’s schedule includes the Lights visiting Providence Jan. 8, before hosting Tech Jan. 12. Northern travels to Western and LCSC Jan. 17-19, and Tech Jan. 26. The Lights host Providence Jan. 24.
February begins with Rocky and Carroll’s only trips to Havre, and the Lights will play four straight, as well as eight of the 10 games that month in the Armory Gymnasium. Northern hosts Providence Feb. 6 and Tech Feb. 8, before traveling to Carroll and Rocky Feb. 14-16. The Lights then close out the regular season with home games Feb. 22 against LCSC and Feb. 23 versus Western.
The Frontier Conference Tournament will again be played on campus sites and will be played out Feb. 26-March 5. The NAIA national tournament is again set to be hosted in Kansas City in March.
The Lights begin their new season Oct. 27 at home against Salish Kootenai College.
Oct. 27 vs Salish Kootenai College
Nov. 2-3 at Lewis-Clark State Tournament
Nov. 2 vs New Hope Christian
Nov. 3 vs College of Idaho
Nov. 17 at Salish Kootenai College
Nov. 20 at Dickinson State
Nov. 23-24 AmericInn Thanksgiving Classic
Nov. 23 vs Portland Bible College
Nov. 24 vs Oregon Tech
Nov. 29 at Rocky Mountain
Dec. 1 at Carroll College
Dec. 9 vs Dickinson State
Dec. 10 vs Alberta-Augustana
Dec. 16-18 at Phoenix Classic
Dec. 16 vs Menlo College
Dec. 17 vs Emrby-Riddle
Dec. 18 vs Vanguard
Jan. 4 vs UM-Western
Jan. 5 vs LC State
Jan. 8 at Providence
Jan. 12 vs Montana Tech
Jan. 17 at UM-Western
Jan. 19 at LC State
Jan. 24 vs Providence
Jan. 26 at Montana Tech
Feb. 1 vs Rocky Mountain
Feb. 2 vs Carroll College
Feb. 6 vs Providence
Feb. 8 vs Montana Tech
Feb. 14 at Carroll College
Feb. 16 at Rocky Mountain
Feb. 22 vs LC State
Feb. 23 vs UM-Western
Feb. 26-March 5 Frontier Conference Tournament
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