Argos freeze the Lights in the Armory

The Polar Vortex is firmly entrenched in Havre right now. But, it isn't just outside. For two stretches Wednesday night, it got awfully frosty inside the Armory Gymnasium.

In the final meeting of the regular season between the Montana State University-Northern Lights and 11th-ranked Providence Argos Wednesday night, Northern fell victim to two long scoring droughts in an 80-66 loss inside the Armory. It was the only game of the night as the women's game was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols.

The first half saw Northern go over nine minutes without a score, and the Argos rip off a 12-0 run in the process. But before and after that stretch, the Lights played pretty well. Mascio McCadney hit three early triples as the Lights led 18-14 early on. Aaron Collins also snapped Northern's scoring drought with a triple, and David Harris and McCadney hit bombs, as well, to help the Lights recover and trail just 34-31 at intermission. Still, the Lights shot just 35 percent in the first 20 minutes, and Northern head coach Shawn Huse said his team needed to convert more opportunities.

"You simply have to capitalize more against a potent team like UP," Huse said. "Hats off to their group who caught fire more overall than our group, and there is your ball game. Compare the shooting percentages and that's pretty much what it comes down to."

The Lights shot better overall in the second half, especially Jomel Boyd, who scored the first 10 points of the second stanza, as the Lights were down by just one five minutes in. Northern was again within striking distance when McCadney nailed another trey, then stole the ball from Zach Darko-Kelly, leading to a C.J. Nelson layup, but from that point, the Argos went on a 16-2 run, capped by back-to-back 3-point plays from Cap Uzan, and the game was out of reach the rest of the way, as the Argos shot 50 percent compared to 41 percent for the Lights. Northern was held to just one three in the second half, while the Argos also outrebounded the Lights 41-33, and got 21 points each from Marcus Stephens and Darko-Kelly.

Boyd led the Lights with 22 points, while McCadney made four three's and had 18. Harris finished the night with 11 points and nine rebounds, as the Lights fell to 5-8 in Frontier Conference play ahead of Saturday and Sunday's home finales against the Montana Western Bulldogs.

"I liked how we played for the most part. I felt it was anybody's game except for one crucial stretch late," Huse said of Wednesday's game, which gave the Argos a 2-1 edge in the season series. They score in the 90's routinely, so I thought our defensive effort overall was about as good as we could ask for. You just need to find each other better, be more shot ready, and use your mind a little more in decision-making, to get a lead and hang onto it against teams like them."

Lights are 5-8 in

Frontier, 6-8 overall: Next: vs Western Saturday-Sunday

Providence 80, Lights 66

UP - Marcus Stephens 9-17 2-2 21, Davien Harris-Williams 3-7 2-2 8, Caleb Currington 0-0 0-0 0, Dawson Fowler 2-4 0-0 4, Cap Uzan 6-9 2-2 14, Rashee Stocks 1-5 0-0 2, JF Daho 0-0 0-0 0, Jake Olsen 2-2 4-4 8, Zaccheus Darko-Kelly 10-18 0-0 21, Jaxen Hashley 1-6 0-0 2, Rasheed Butler 0-0 0-0 0, Reece Green 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-68 10-10 80.

MSU-N - Nakyel Shelton 0-4 0-0 0, David Harris 5-13 0-0 11, Mascio McCadney 7-14 0-0 18, C.J. Nelson 3-7 0-0 6, Jesse Keltner 1-2 0-0 2, Jomel Boyd 10-18 2-2 22, Aaron Collins 1-4 0-0 3, Allen Sims 2-7 0-0 4, Zyare Ruffin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-70 2-2 66.

Halftime: Providence 34-31. 3-pt FG:Providence (Mont.) 2-13 (Stephens 1-4, Harris-Williams 0-2, Fowler 0-1, Uzan 0-1, Stocks 0-1, Darko-Kelly 1-3, Hashley 0-1), Montana State-Northern 6-18 (Shelton 0-2, Harris 1-4, McCadney 4-6, Nelson 0-1, Collins 1-3, Sims 0-1, Ruffin 0-1). Rebounds: Providence (Mont.) 41 (Stocks 8, Hashley 8), Montana State-Northern 34 (Harris 9). Fouls Providence (Mont.) 9, Montana State-Northern 12. Fouled out: none.