Lights fall in semis at LC State

It was a great run. In the end, however, the Lewis-Clark State Warriors were just too much for the Montana State University-Northern Lights.

Friday night in Lewiston, Idaho, the Lights fell to the No. 7 Warriors 73-68 in the Frontier Conference semifinals. It was just Northern’s third loss in its last 12 games, and it ended the Lights’ season, for now, with a 21-12 overall record. Now, the Lights will wait to see if they earn an at-large berth to the NAIA national tournament later this month in Kansas City.

“Ultimately I am so proud of how hard our guys have fought. And we have done it without a key starter the past two games and four minutes,” Huse said. “We feel we could play with anyone right now.”

Huse should be proud of his team, not only for the season, but for Friday night’s game. Northern, playing the Warriors for a fourth time this season, and third time on their home floor, pushed LC State every step of the way.

The Lights trailed just 38-37 at the break, and led by three with about 12 minutes left in the game. Things stayed tight down the stretch, as the Lights were within two points with six minutes to go, but huge 3-pointers by LC State in the last five minutes gave the Warriors just enough of a cushion to hold on and advance to tonight’s Frontier championship game against former Havre Blue Pony Dane Warp and the Carroll College Fighting Saints.

Meanwhile, the Lights did all they could to stop the Warriors from getting there. Northern made 11 threes, including three by Mascio McCadney, who scored 18 points. David Harris had his second straight double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Adam Huse also made three bombs and scored 14 points. The Lights also won the battle of the boards, 44-39 and held LC to 43 percent shooting, but Trystan Bradley hit five threes and scored a game-high 27 points, and the six second-half threes were crucial.

“LC had a hot hand in Bradley and they did a good job of finding him,” Huse said. “And we also did a good job of knocking down the triple as a group.”

LC State 73, Lights 68

MSU-N - Devin Bray 3-11 0-0 9, Adam Huse 6-15 1-1 14, Cedric Crutchfield 1-3 0-0 2, Mascio McCadney 6-17 3-3 18, TJ Reynolds 0-0 0-0 0, Jesse Keltner 1-4 1-2 3, David Harris 6-14 0-0 15, Gio Jackson 3-6 0-0 7. Totals 26-70 5-6 68.

LCSC - Damek Mitchell 3-7 0-1 7, Trystan Bradley 10-16 2-4 27, Josiah Westbrook 2-5 0-0 5, Jake Albright 4-9 2-3 10, Travis Yenor 4-9 3-4 13, Hodges Bailey 1-6 2-3 5, Bob Boyd 0-0 1-2 1, Khalil Stevenson 0-1 3-4 3, Jaxon Hughes 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 25-57 13-21 73.

Halftime: LCSC 38-37. 3-pt FG:Montana State University- 11-28 (Bray 3-8, Huse 1-6, McCadney 3-6, Harris 3-5, Jackson 1-3), Lewis-Clark State College 10-28 (Mitchell 1-4, Bradley 5-8, Westbrook 1-3, Albright 0-1, Yenor 2-3, Bailey 1-5, Stevenson 0-1, Hughes 0-3). Rebounds: Montana State University- 44 (Keltner 13), Lewis-Clark State College 39 (Bradley 9). Fouls Montana State University- 16, Lewis-Clark State College 9. Fouled out: none.