Western sweeps Northern in the Armory

In basketball, sometimes, the ball just doesn't go in the hole. And that was the case for the Montana State University-Northern Lights in their first Frontier Conference game of 2019.

Friday night, inside the Armory Gymnasium, the ball just didn't go in enough for the Lights, including a game-tying 3-pointer as time expired in a 66-63 loss to the UM-Western Bulldogs.

The final attempt was the culmination of a wild comeback in which the Lights nearly erased a 16-point deficit in the final six minutes. But, it wasn't to be as Northern shot just 44 percent from the field and made a season-low five 3-pointers, while the Bulldogs shot 53 percent and a sizzling 57 percent in the first half.

"Credit Western," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said, "They came in here and played really well tonight. They did a great job.

"Credit to our guys too," he added. "They battled back on what was a tough night. It kind of looked exactly like it was our first game back from Christmas break, particularly with the way we shot the ball. But I am very proud of the way our guys fought, and we gave ourselves a great chance at the end."

Northern was forced to fight all night long. Behind 3-pointers from Kooper Kidgell and Collin Achenbach, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-1 lead and eventually led by as many as 13 points in the first half. Conversely, Northern started the game icy cold from the field. The Lights shot just 36 percent in the first 20 minutes, but a late spurt got the game to within 10 points at the half, 35-25.

Early in the second half, Western again distanced itself. But, a triple from Caulin Bakalarski, and a breakout performance from junior Joe Fons brought the Lights roaring back. Fons scored 12 of Northern's last 17 points, and when he and Devin Bray went back-to-back from deep, the Lights had pulled to within five. But Fons wasn't done either. He scored two more buckets to pull Northern to within 64-63 with :32 left, and after two Western free throws, the Lights had the ball with a chance to send the game to overtime.

"Statistically, we looked very good tonight, except for the part where the ball needed to go in the basket," Huse said. "It wasn't for a lack of effort. Our guys played hard, and offensively, we got great looks all night, with the guys we wanted shooting those shots. But we just didn't make enough of them, and it felt like we were fighting uphill all night long."

Indeed, the Lights never led against Western, and the game was an uphill battle. Butm Fons certainly led that charge with a season-high 18 points to go with seven rebounds. He was the only Light in double figures, while Kidgell paced the Dawgs with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

"Joe Fons really gave us a spark tonight off the bench," Huse said. "I was really proud of the way he played. He made some huge shots, some big rebounds and great passes, including the last one that got us a great look to tie. He just did a great job tonight."

The Lights (0-3, 8-7) host Lewis-Clark State Saturday night.

Skylights can't stay with Dawgs

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights knew their first two Frontier Conference home games of the season were going to be daunting. And they were.

Friday night, the Skylights rung in the new year with a difficult loss to one of the best teams, not just in the Frontier, but in all of the NAIA in the UM-Western Bulldogs.

Behind star guard Brianna King, the No. 4 Dawgs raced past Northern 64-30 in the Armory Gymnasium. But, as great as King was, it was Western's team defense that stole the show as the Dawgs held the Skylights to just 25 percent shooting, forced 20 turnovers, and allowed MSU-N just 12 field goals on the night.

"Give Western credit," Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. "They came in only giving up 41 points per game. We knew how good they were defensively. Their pressure really bothered us tonight. They were extremely good defensively, and we didn't handle it well at all."

Actually, it seemed Northern was going to be fighting for its lives before the game even started, as the Skylights were assessed a technical foul prior to the opening tip because of an equipment malfunction. Then, the Dawgs raced out to an 8-0 lead, and despite 3-pointers from Peyton Kehr and Sabin Keo, Western led 18-10 after one quarter.

Then, the Dawgs jumped on King's back. She scored 14 straight points to start the second stanza, before Sydney Hovde finally answered with a three-point play. However, King came right back and hit her second straight triple, capping an incredible 17-point run by the senior All-American. The run also pushed Western to a 37-17 lead at intermission, and while Allix Goldhahn canned two trey's in the third stanza, Northern was never able to recover.

"The bottom line is, we didn't shoot the ball well at all," Mouat said. "When you take 48 shots and make 12, and when you score two points in a quarter, that's just not going to be good enough in any college basketball game. We just didn't play well. We turned it over too much, we got out-rebounded, we got beat to loose balls and we shot it poorly pretty much all over the floor."

Shooting did doom the Skylights, who shot just 20 percent in the second half, and went more than seven minutes without a field goal. Kehr and Keo each scored seven points for the Skylights, while on the other end, King poured in 27 points to go with two steals and two assists. She also made five of Western's 10 triples as the Bulldogs remained undefeated on the season.

"Our kids played hard," Mouat said. "They battled. But there are things we have to fix and we have to fix them quickly. We just simply must play better."

The Skylights (0-3, 8-7) face No. 16 LC State tonight in Havre.