Lights fall to Firestorm, continue with Cactus Classic

What was going to be a tough three-game road trip in Arizona certainly started out that way for the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team.

Saturday night in Phoenix, the Lights lost their opening game of the Cactus Classic to host Arizona Christian. Northern fell to the No. 19 Firestorm in a tight battle, 77-73.

The game between the Lights and Firestorm was close throughout, with the two teams knotted up at 34-34 at halftime. However, ACU went on a run early in the second and led by 12 points with 9:49 left to play. The Lights fought right back though and had the game tied up with under five minutes to play, before the Firestorm was able to hold on for the win.

Northern shot a solid 41 percent and made 12 3-pointewrs Friday night. Kavon Bey led four Lights in double figures with 17 points, while Adam Huse hit four triples and scored 16. Mascio McCadney added 14 points, while David Harris came off the bench to score 12. However, the Lights good shooting was offset by the Firestorm shooting 49 percent from the floor, holding a commanding 44-33 edge on the boards, and Shane Carney pouring in a game-high 29 points.

The loss dropped the Lights to 7-2 on the season, while ACU improved to 7-3. Northern had Sunday off, but returns to action this afternoon against Mount Vernon Nazarene. MSU-N wraps up the Arizona trip with Embry-Riddle University on Tuesday night.

Arizona Christian 77, Lights 73

ACU - Isaiah WALTON 0-1 0-0 0, Al BURGE 3-5 2-4 8, KeyVaughn WILLIAMS 1-3 1-2 3, Shane CARNEY 10-16 4-5 29, Robby WILSON 3-10 6-8 12, Eric KLEKAS 1-3 1-2 3, Xander BOWERS 2-5 0-0 4, O'Shae WILLIAMS 3-7 7-8 13, Kenny SUTTON 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 25-54 22-31 77.

MSU-N - Devin Bray 1-5 0-0 3, Adam Huse 5-11 2-2 16, Cedric Crutchfield 1-2 0-0 2, Kavon Bey 7-12 1-2 17, Mascio McCadney 6-18 0-0 14, Jesse Keltner 2-5 0-1 4, David Harris 4-12 2-2 12, Gio Jackson 2-4 0-0 5, Eddie Harmon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-69 5-7 73.

Halftime: 34-34. 3-pt FG:Arizona Christian 5-19 (WALTON 0-1, BURGE 0-1, WILLIAMS 0-1, CARNEY 5-9, WILSON 0-4, KLEKAS 0-1, WILLIAMS 0-2), Montana State-Northern 12-34 (Bray 1-5, Huse 4-8, Bey 2-3, McCadney 2-9, Harris 2-6, Jackson 1-3). Rebounds: Arizona Christian 42 (WILSON 11), Montana State-Northern 33 (Crutchfield 6). Fouls Arizona Christian 12, Montana State-Northern 22. Fouled out: Jackson .