Streaking Lights aim for more on the road

The Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team is on a roll right now. But for that to continue, the Lights will have to win rolling through Helena and Billings.

Northern (8-6, 16-10), winner of its last three Frontier Conference games, will play its final two road games of the season when the Lights visit No. 7 Carroll College Thursday night and Rocky Mountain College Saturday.

And MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse knows that, despite how well his team is playing right now, winning on the road in the Frontier is never easy. The Lights lost to RMC and Carroll to open league play back in November.

"Every game in this league is tough," Huse said. "It's shown that anybody can beat anybody on a given night, and it's especially tough on the road."

Still, the Lights have momentum on their side. Thanks to scorching shooting and defense that is yielding just 67 ppg, just 61 in their last seven games, MSU-N has steadily climbed the ranks of the Frontier.

Offensively, the Lights have been balanced all season, but particularly in their last three wins. Northern has six players in double figures with Mascio McCadney at 14 ppg, while Adam Huse, Justin Dunsmore, Caulin Bakalarski, Kavon Bey and Devin Bray all average 10 or more, and Bakalarski and Bey come off the bench to give Northern a great scoring punch.

"I like how we're playing at both ends of the floor right now," Huse said. "We've been pretty consistent, and we're really locked in on defense."

Defense will be key on the Lights' last road trip, too.

Thursday night, Northern will walk into a hostile Carroll P.E. Center in Helena where the Saints (10-4, 21-5) will be waiting with revenge on their minds after Northern beat them 82-71 back on Feb. 1. Carroll will have star senior Match Burnham back in the lineup, after he was suspended for the game in Havre, but the Saints will probably be without Matt Wyman, who injured his knee two weeks ago. Still, led by junior star Dane Warp, as well as Ife Kalejaiye and Burnham's 19 points per night, Carroll will be hungry for a win after losing three of its last four.

And if a trip to Carroll wasn't difficult enough, the Lights have to go to Billings and play the wounded Battlin' Bears Saturday night. Rocky has already beaten Northern twice this season, but the Bears (7-7, 16-10) have lost three straight and have fallen behind the Lights in the Frontier standings.

Still, Rocky has star forward Jared Samuelson and his Frontier best 20 ppg. The Rocky offense averages 85 points per night, with former Box Elder star Brandon The Boy running the show from the point guard position.

"Carroll and Rocky bring a great deal of firepower, experience and tough defense at their opponents," Huse said. "We will need to find a way defensively to slow them down and get good looks at the basket on offense if we expect to have a successful weekend.

"Both teams know each other's tendencies like the back of our hands going into this third time around," he added. "Every game with them has been competitive - it mostly comes down to who makes the plays when plays are needed at this point in the season."

And it is that point in the season. It's the stretch run in league play and the Frontier title is still firmly up for grabs, and the Lights are every bit a part of that. So Thursday's game, which tips at 7:30 p.m. in Helena, and Saturday's trip to Billings, which also starts at 7:30 p.m., are indeed, big ones for the Lights.

Northern returns home to close out the regular season with games against Lewis-Clark State next Friday and Montana Western next Saturday in the Armory Gymnasium.