Northern hoops sweeps in the Mining City

So many close games have slipped through the grasp of the Montana State University-Northern Skylight’s hands in the month of January, but not the ones against Montana Tech.

After suffering a heartbreaking overtime loss at the University of Providence Thursday night, the Skylights bounced back with an impressive, 59-51 win over the Montana Orediggers Saturday night in Butte.

It was a win the Skylights needed, and deserved.

“I’m really proud of this group,” Northern head coach Chris Mouat said. “We had a very tough game on Thursday and they really came out and played a solid game at both ends.”

The Skylights played solid indeed. Especially on the defensive end where they limited the Orediggers to just 33 percent shooting, four 3-pointers, while forcing 14 turnovers and outrebounding the Diggers 35-27.

Offensively, Northern also exploded in the second quarter. Trailing 16-13, Northern went on an 18-6 run over the next 10 minutes to take a 31-22 lead into halftime. Northern also hit key shots and outscored Tech 13-11 in the final stanza to hold the Orediggers off.

“We hit a lot of big shots throughout the night and did a great job finishing a close game, which had been a major achilles heel for us,” Mouat said. “It was great to see our kids step up and make plays when they needed to. Tech was coming off of a big win and they were playing well, and we knew it would be a battle.”

Northern stepped up by shooting 44 percent from the floor and making seven triples. Peyton Kehr scored 15 points, all on threes, while Gokce Aslan added 11 points and Hailey Nicholson chipped in with 10.

The win pushed Northern to 2-8 in the Frontier Conference, and was a much-needed confidence boost heading into what will be a four-game home stand over the next two weekends. The Skylights are home Friday night to host Rocky Mountain College, before taking on Carroll College Saturday night in the Armory Gymnasium.

“We’d been close too many times without coming away with wins against good teams so this was big for us,” Mouat said. “Our rebounding was really good tonight and we did some real good things on the defensive end with the game on the line.”

Lights bounce back

The Northern Lights were also fresh off a heartbreaking loss at Providence when they went into Butte Saturday night. And, just as they’ve done all season, the Lights responded.

Facing the Orediggers for the second time in two weeks, Northern left Butte with a 69-58 win, improving to 5-5 in Frontier play.

Northern could have been reeling after a one-point loss in Great Falls Thursday night, but instead, the Lights came out hot against the Orediggers. They shot 52 percent from the field in the first half, and took a commanding 38-21 lead into intermission.

Tech made several runs in the second 20 minutes, but three key threes and a stingy defense helped the Lights half off any charges the Orediggers were able to mount.

“Our guys stepped up when they needed to,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “I thought we really bounced back well after the tough loss on Thursday ... executed great on both ends. Tech is another tough team in this league that was coming off a huge win of their own. It was a team effort led by our seniors, who answered the bell tonight when we needed big shots to maintain our cushion.”

The key to Northern’s offense Saturday night was balance. Five Lights scored in double figures, led by Justin Dunsmore’s 16 points. Kavon Bey added a double double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Mascio McCadney scored 13 points, Adam Huse added 12 and Caulin Bakalarski chipped in with 10.

With a key road win in two, the Lights will now come home for games against Rocky Mountain College Friday night and Carroll College Saturday.

Skylights 59, Montana Tech 51

MSU-Northern 13 18 15 13 - 59

Montana Tech 16 6 18 11 - 51

MSU-N - Lily Hilderbrand 0-1 0-0 0, Peyton Kehr 5-10 0-0 15, Jessica Curl 2-2 0-0 4, Tiara Gilham 4-9 0-0 9, Sydney Hovde 2-2 1-2 5, Hailey Nicholson 5-11 0-0 10, Allix Goldhahn 0-3 0-0 0, Petra Sellin 0-0 1-2 1, Jada Nicholson 0-0 0-0 0, Sabin Keo 2-4 0-0 4, Gokce Aslan 3-10 4-4 11. Totals 23-52 6-8 59.

MT - Hailey Crawford 2-2 0-0 5, Mollie Peoples 1-3 2-4 5, Megan Delaney 0-0 0-0 0, Dani Urick 3-11 4-4 11, Lana Berg 0-1 0-0 0, Mesa Williams 3-10 0-0 6, Tjaden Pallister 1-7 1-2 4, Jaime Berg 0-0 0-0 0, Kaylee Zard 5-10 10-11 20, Celestina Faletoi 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-45 17-21 51.

3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 7-22 (Kehr 5-9, Gilham 1-3, Nicholson 0-1, Goldhahn 0-1, Keo 0-1, Aslan 1-7), Montana Tech 4-12 (Crawford 1-1, Peoples 1-2, Urick 1-6, Williams 0-1, Pallister 1-2). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 35 (Hovde 7), Montana Tech 27 (Zard 9). Fouls Montana State-Northern 16, Montana Tech 15. Fouled out: none.

Lights 69, Montana Tech 58

MSU-N - Justin Dunsmore 4-8 5-8 16, Devin Bray 0-5 0-0 0, Adam Huse 3-7 6-6 12, Caulin Bakalarski 2-7 4-4 10, Cedric Crutchfield 0-0 0-0 0, Kavon Bey 6-10 2-3 14, Joe Fons 2-4 0-0 4, Mascio McCadney 6-10 0-1 13. Totals 23-51 17-22 69.

MT - Nate Ward 0-5 0-0 0, Troy Owens Jr. 9-18 3-4 23, Christian Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Dylan Pannabecker 1-2 0-0 2, Nick Fitts 0-4 0-0 0, Blake Dittman 2-4 0-0 4, Taylor England 8-13 6-9 22, Carson Dummer 0-1 0-0 0, Drew Huse 0-5 0-0 0, Derrius Collins 3-10 0-0 7. Totals 23-62 9-13 58.

Halftime: Northern 38-21. 3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 6-22 (Dunsmore 3-4, Bray 0-3, Huse 0-1, Bakalarski 2-5, Bey 0-2, Fons 0-2, McCadney 1-5), Montana Tech 3-11 (Ward 0-1, Owens Jr. 2-4, Fitts 0-2, Dittman 0-1, Collins 1-3). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 42 (Bey 11), Montana Tech 32 (England 12). Fouls Montana State-Northern 10, Montana Tech 21. Fouled out: England.