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Montana State University-Northern's Mascio McCadney goes up for a shot during Thursday night's Frontier Conference game between the Lights and the seventh-ranked Providence Argos in Great Falls. The Argos raced past Northern, handing the Lights their third straight Frontier loss. For more photos, go to www.havredailynews.com.
Northern's David Harris drives past a UP defender during Thursday night's game in the McLaughlin Center. The Argos beat the Lights 100-65. Northern is on the road again next weekend, but has a rematch with the Argos later this month.
Cedric Crutchfield shoots during Thursday night'[s game in Great Falls.
GREAT FALLS - It's still early, but there's no denying the University of Providence Argos are making a statement. And that statement continued against the Montana State University-Northern Lights.
Thursday night inside the McLaughlin Center, the Argos ran their record to 16-0 with a stunning, methodical 100-65 dismantling of the Lights, who dropped to 1-3 in the Frontier Conference.
"First off, Providence is playing at a high level right now. Let's be clear on that," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. "You have to give them credit with how good they look at this point. That said, I did cut my guys some slack in our postgame talk, given the schedule (Northern played Tuesday and this was UP's first game of the week). Yes, I am excuse-making a little when I say that, but I do think we just were not fresh, we are banged up, and were much more mentally gassed than Providence tonight.
"At the end of the day, though, we know we are better than that score and need to keep working."
Providence did play nearly flawless basketball, after Adam Huse' first 3-pointer of the night gave Northern a 7-6 lead. Zack Darko-Kelly answered with a three of his own, and a thunderous dunk minutes later sparked a 15-2 Argo run that gave them a 21-9 lead.
Northern responded with a Mascio McCadney triple which sent the Lights on an 11-2 run, and when Kavon Bey nailed a bomb, the Lights trailed just 27-23. But Brandon Cotton nailed two threes as the first half came to an end, sending the Argos into halftime with a comfortable 42-31 edge.
Things got much more comfy in the second half.
Cotton hit an early three and Darko-Kelly drilled a pair of treys of his own to give the Argos a 60-41 lead. Kavon Bey answered with a bomb to stop a five-minute Northern drought, but the damage had already been done, and when Darko-Kelly scored seven straight points, including his second huge throwdown of the night, the route was on.
Darko-Kelly finished with 23 points, as did Cotton, while four Argos reached double figures on a night when Providence shot an amazing 64 percent from the floor, went 12-of-22 from three and led by as many 35 points.
On the other end, Northern shot 41 percent and went just 4-of-16 from distance. Bey led the way with 15 points, while Adam Huse added 13 and Jesse Keltner scored 10.
The loss dropped Northern to 13-6 overall, ahead of Frontier road games at Lewis-Clark State and Montana Tech next weekend.
"We are all disappointed and know we can perform at a much higher level than what we showed," coach Huse said. "We have a great group of guys and we are all searching for answers as to how to get to our peak level of play ... specifically on offense. We have had a great scoring defense all year, with the exception being tonight of course, and just need to find ways on offense more than anything else. I can not explain it but I just can't help but believe it will happen. We have too many proven weapons for it not to."
Providence 100, Lights 65
MSU-N - Kavon Bey 6-17 2-2 15, Cedric Crutchfield 3-8 0-0 6, Gio Jackson 1-2 0-0 2, Mascio McCadney 3-10 2-2 9, Adam Huse 5-10 1-2 13, David Harris 3-7 0-0 6, Jesse Keltner 5-10 0-0 10, Eddie Harmon 0-0 0-0 0, Devin Bray 1-3 0-0 2, TJ Reynolds 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 28-69 5-8.
UP - Zack Darko-Kelly 10-18 0-0 23, Rashee Stocks 2-7 0-0 5, Jaxen Hashley 5-5 0-0 11, Brandon Cotton 9-12 2-3 23, Dawson Fowler 7-7 0-0 16, Kevin Schilling Jr. 1-1 0-0 2, Joel Thabize 3-6 0-0 6, Jacob Wetzel 2-4 0-0 5, Caleb Currington 4-7 0-0 9. Totals: 43-67 2-3.
Halftime: Providence 42-31. 3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 4-16 (Bray 0-1, Huse 2-6, Bey 1-2, McCadney 1-3, Reynolds 0-1, Keltner 0-1, Harris 0-1, Jackson 0-1), Providence (Mont.) 12-22 (Wetzel 1-3, Hashley 1-1, Cotton 3-4, Stocks 1-3, Currington 1-2, Fowler 2-2, Darko-Kelly 3-7). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 32 (Keltner 10), Providence (Mont.) 31 (Hashley 10). Fouls Montana State-Northern 9, Providence (Mont.) 9. Fouled out: none. Technical: none.
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