Lights beat Battlin' Bears for third straight Frontier win

Win two in a row, that’s momentum, win three straight, that’s called a winning streak. And the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team can officially say they’re on one now.

Saturday night in Billings, the Lights won their third straight Frontier Conference game with an 80-75 victory at Rocky Mountain College. Northern, which improved to 5-7 in league play, also erased a halftime deficit for the second straight road game.

“Just a great team effort all weekend,” Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. “Both opponents play extremely hard, run great stuff and have great scorers. Different guys stepped up and were at their best when their best was needed.”

Trailing 32-30 at Rocky Saturday night, the Lights’ offense certainly stepped up by exploding for 50 points in the final 20 minutes. The Lights buried four key 3-pointers and shot a sizzling 58 percent in the second stanza, as they outscored the Battlin’ Bears 50-43 on their way to avenging an overtime loss to Rocky at home back in December.

Northern had five players in double figures as well, led by Kavon Bey’s 19 points. Adam Huse added 16, while Mascio McCadney scored 15 and David Harris and Gio Jackson each chipped in with 12.

The win moved Northern (15-9) to within one game of Montana Tech for the all important fourth spot in the Frontier standings. The Lights visit Tech this Thursday night, before traveling to Lewis-Clark State next Saturday.

“I can’t say enough good things about the character and toughness of the guys on our team,” Huse said. “We feel we are still not all the way there and fully clicking yet ... but we feel like we are very close.”

Saturday night didn’t go as well for the No. 18 MSU-Northern women in Billings. Taking on No. 22 Rocky Mountain College, the Skylights fell behind early and couldn’t recover in an 88-72 loss to the Bears.

Northern’s offense had its strong moments, but the Skylights could do little to hold back the Bears, who scored 49 first-half points, including making 10 3-pointers. The Bears would go on to shoot better than 57 percent from the field, while Kloie Thatcher made five triples and poured in 25 points.

Trailing 64-43 in the final stanza, the Skylights did rally, but it was too little too late, as Northern dropped its fourth straight Frontier game. Peyton Kehr led the way with 14 points for the Skylights (4-8, 15-10), who play at Montana Tech this Thursday and at LC State Saturday. Allix Goldhahn and Tiara Gilham each added 12 points.

Rocky Mountain 88, Skylights 72

MSU-Northern 16 14 13 29 - 72

Rocky Mountain 22 27 15 24 - 88

MSU-N - Kenya Lorton 0-5 1-2 1, Reilly Walsh 1-2 0-0 2, Petra Sellin 0-0 2-2 2, Allix Goldhahn 4-6 2-3 12, Peyton Kehr 5-9 2-2 14, Morgan Mason 2-3 0-0 6, Sydney Hovde 2-4 0-2 4, Tiara Gilham 5-13 1-2 12, Jada Nicholson 1-2 0-0 2, Mckenzie Gunter 2-10 5-5 9, Ryley Kehr 3-5 2-2 8. Totals 25-59 15-20 72.

RMC - Markaela Francis 6-11 1-3 14, Olivia James 0-0 0-0 0, Antuanisha Wright 6-10 0-0 14, Kloie Thatcher 7-11 6-6 25, Mackenzie Dethman 1-2 0-0 2, Grace Parker 2-6 4-6 9, Leah Gannon 0-0 0-0 0, Destinee Pointer 0-0 0-0 0, Keahi-lele Roy 5-7 10-12 24. Totals 27-47 21-27 88.

3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 7-17 (Lorton 0-1, Goldhahn 2-2, Kehr 2-4, Mason 2-2, Gilham 1-4, Gunter 0-3, Kehr 0-1), Rocky Mountain College 13-19 (Francis 1-1, Wright 2-4, Thatcher 5-7, Parker 1-2, Roy 4-5). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 29 (Gilham 7), Rocky Mountain College 32 (Francis 11). Fouls Montana State-Northern 23, Rocky Mountain College 21. Fouled out: Gunter Wright . Technical: Gunter, THATCHER.

Lights 80, Rocky Mountain 75

MSU-N - Gio Jackson 3-3 5-7 12, David Harris 4-6 3-3 12, Mascio McCadney 6-14 3-3 15, Adam Huse 5-9 2-2 16, Jesse Keltner 3-6 0-0 6, Kavon Bey 8-14 3-6 19, Devin Bray 0-1 0-0 0, Cedric Crutchfield 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-54 16-21 80.

RMC - Grant Wallace 9-16 9-10 27, Brandon The Boy 1-1 0-0 2, Clayton Ladine 11-21 0-1 26, Sam Vining 2-6 0-0 5, Kelson Eiselein 2-4 1-2 5, Kalvin Bowen 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Eckmann 0-0 0-0 0, Darius Henderson 3-8 1-2 10, Scott Malikie 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 28-58 11-15 75.

Halftime: Rocky 32-30. 3-pt FG:Montana State-Northern 6-18 (Jackson 1-1, Harris 1-3, McCadney 0-4, Huse 4-6, Keltner 0-2, Bey 0-2), Rocky Mountain College 8-19 (Wallace 0-2, Ladine 4-10, Vining 1-2, Eiselein 0-1, Henderson 3-4). Rebounds: Montana State-Northern 29 (TEAM 8), Rocky Mountain College 30 (Wallace 10, Ladine 10). Fouls Montana State-Northern 14, Rocky Mountain College 19. Fouled out: none.