Just short: Saints hold off Lights, again

One night after being stunned by Carroll College at the buzzer, the Montana State University-Northern Lights went down to the wire with the Fighting Saints yet again.

Only this time, there would be no-game ending fireworks. Instead, Carroll calmly held off the Lights with big shots and clutch free throws in a 70-66 win Tuesday night in the Armory Gymnasium. The win gave Carroll a sweep of the Lights, dropping them to 0-2 on the young Frontier Conference season.

"I love the fight we showed. I am proud of our guys," Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. "Carroll did a great job on the boards against us and caught fire tonight. We, on the other hand, were a little colder than usual and there's your ballgame."

The Lights did play hard, and well at times, especially after the emotional last-second loss Monday. But, Carroll made a few more big shots than Northern did, especially down the stretch, The Saints would go 8-of-11 on the night from downtown, with the biggest 3-pointers coming on back-to-back bombs from Dennis Flowers and Shamrock Campbell. Those shots inside the final two minutes offset a huge triple by Mascio McCadney that had pulled Northern back to within three at 60-57 with three minutes left.

Down five, though, Northern answered again as McCadney and David Harris scored on back-to-back possessions, to pull the Lights back to within three with a minute to go. Northern got the ball back again, but missed a shot to tie, and, even though Zyare Ruffin would cash in a three to make it a one-possession game again, Carroll was able to methodically put the game away at the foul line.

Shooting all around was the key, too, as the Saints hit on 51 percent from the field, a sizzling 73 percent from three and 87 percent in the second half from the foul line.

Northern, though, answered all night long. The Lights took first-half lead on a McCadney triple, then went to-top-toe with the Saints for the rest of the half in what ended up being a 30-30 draw. From there, however, Carroll would widen the gap.

The Saints started the second half with two threes from Flowers and one more from Campbell, as they led by as many as nine points. Northern didn't relent, though, as McCadney led the Lights on a run that helped them stay within striking distance all the way to the end.

McCadney would end up with a game-high 27 points on a scorching 12-of-15 shooting, and 3-of-4 from deep. Jomel Boyd added 10 points for the Lights, but they couldn't offset 21 points from Campbell, and another 40 combined from Flowers and Jovan Sljivancanin.

"We picked up more great game situations for our new team to learn from," Huse said. "Seeing certain guys in certain game situations, and what works well and what does not, was huge and badly needed for us as a staff. Carroll's early season game experiences versus our lack of early season game experiences may have showed a little this weekend, but it was not glaring - that's a credit to our guys for learning on the job so well. I feel we cleaned up a lot tonight, but just did not convert on both ends to our potential."

It was indeed two really good games in the Armory, and the losses were tough for the Lights (1-2, 0-2). But they're just getting their season started, as they've had so many cancellations due to COVID-19. Now Northern will look to bounce back from the heartache in the Armory with games at Montana Western Saturday and Sunday. Then the Lights will have a five-game homestand that will take them to the end of January.

Lights are 0-2 in Frontier; Next up: at Western Saturday-Sunday

Carroll 70, Lights 66

CC - Shamrock Campbell 7-12 5-6 21, Jovan Sljivancanin 8-15 2-4 20, Brendan Temple 1-2 0-0 2, Sayer Patton 0-0 0-0 0, Ifeanyi Okeke 1-3 0-2 2, Dennis Flowers III 7-12 2-3 20, Malachi Afework 0-2 0-0 0, Murat Guzelocak 1-1 1-2 3, Gui Pedra 1-2 0-0 2, Brad King 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-51 10-17 70.

MSU-N - Nakyel Shelton 1-3 0-0 2, David Harris 4-9 0-0 8, Mascio McCadney 12-15 0-0 27, CJ Nelson 3-10 2-2 8, Jomel Boyd 3-5 4-5 10, Aaron Collins 1-4 1-1 3, Allen Sims 1-4 0-0 3, TJ Reynolds 0-0 0-0 0, Zyare Ruffin 2-6 0-0 5. Totals 27-56 7-8 66.

Halftime: 30-30. 3-pt FG:Carroll (Mont.) 8-11 (Campbell 2-2, Sljivancanin 2-2, Temple 0-1, Flowers III 4-4, Afework 0-1, Pedra 0-1), Montana State-Northern 5-18 (Harris 0-4, McCadney 3-4, Nelson 0-3, Sims 1-3, Ruffin 1-4). Rebounds: Carroll (Mont.) 31 (Sljivancanin 9), Montana State-Northern 21 (Boyd 5). Fouls Carroll (Mont.) 7, Montana State-Northern 13. Fouled out: none.