And They're Off: Lights win their opener

The wait was a painful one. In the end, though, patience paid off for the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team.

The Lights had their season-opening games delayed two weekends in a row, then had Lewis-Clark State cancel on them this weekend. Fortunately, Northern's original opponent for its season-opener was able to come to Havre Friday night, and the Lights finally got to tip their season off with an 86-64 win over the Yellowstone Christian Centurions inside the Armory Gymnasium.

The win was a good start for the Lights, and head coach Shawn Huse, who have certainly been through a lot this young season just to play one game.

"Our squad has been through so much this semester. They are a high-character group that has done a great job of battling through it all. I feel like they deserved to have a great team moment tonight."

There were plenty of moments Friday night, too. The Lights started with David Harris opening the season with back-to-back 3-pointers, and fellow senior Mascio McCadney adding one of his own. But it became obvious early on the that YCC was going to battle, and the Centurions did just that by nailing seven threes in the first half alone.

"Yellowstone plays so hard and makes so many plays on both ends of the floor," Huse said. "I am very appreciative of them for traveling up and being here tonight. I am impressed with how well they play, they certainly gave us a lot to watch film on and learn from."

As much as the Centurions battled, the Lights stayed one step ahead, though. A 3-pointer from C.J. Nelson and a flurry of inside buckets from fellow newcomer Allen Sims helped the Lights stake a 42-28 halftime leads.

And while YCC continued to claw back, closing the gap to 10 points on a couple of second-half occasions, it would never be enough, as the Lights canned five treys in the final stanza, and ended the night with spectacular breakaway dunks from McCadney and Sims.

Of course, as exciting as the dunks and the night in general were, there were, of course, no fans in the Armory to cheer. For the foreseeable future, the Frontier Conference will go with no spectators allowed at any games by its members. That of course, was weird for all in the Armory Friday night, but it didn't stop the Lights from enjoying their debut, with Harris scoring 23 points and McCadney chipping in with 15.

"I was extremely proud of our team in this opener," Huse said. "We have a lot of new guys out there this year, that had to make plays and did. Everyone pitched in and I could not be happier for the them."

The Lights (1-0) will be off until the Frontier tries to restart Jan. 4-5 when Northern is slated to host the Carroll College Fighting Saints.

Lights 86,

Yellowstone Christian 64

YCC - Chris R 6-7 6-8 19, Derrian Reed 5-13 2-5 14, Ray Lott Jr. 1-2 0-0 3, Devante King 3-5 0-0 7, Devin Jones 1-6 3-5 5, TJ Rivera 5-9 0-0 13, Andril Basovet 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 22-45 11-18.

MSU-N - Jomel Boyd 4-9 0-0 8, David Harris 8-15 5-5 23, Mascio McCadney 4-8 4-4 15, CJ Nelson 2-6 0-0 6, Aaron Collins 1-3 2-2 5, Nykel Shelton 3-7 2-2 9, Micaiah Hauser 0-0 2-2 2, Allen Sims 2-4 4-4 9, TJ Reynolds 1-2 0-0 3, Zyare Ruffin 2-3 1-3 6. Totals: 27-57, 20-23.

Halftime: Northern 42-28. 3-pointers: YCC 9-20 (Chris 1, Reed 2, Lott. Jr. 1, King 1, Rivera 3, Basovet 1), MSU-N 12-25 (Harris 2, McCadney 3, Nelson 2, Collins 1, Shelton 1, Sims 1, Reynolds 1, Ruffin 1). Rebounds: YCC 25 (Chris 9), MSU-N 30 (McCadney 6). Fouls: YCC 19, MSU-N 17; Fouled out: None. Technical Foul: Jones.