Lights basketball inks Missoula Loyola star

Montana State University-Northern men's basketball coach Shawn Huse has announced the signing of a prep standout from his hometown. Will Burns, a 6-0 point guard signed with the Lights last week.

Burns was a First Team All-Conference selection this past season and led the Western B in scoring at 18.8 points-per game. He also dished out 4.5 assists per game while averaging 3.5 steals and 3.2 rebounds per outing for the Rams. For his efforts at the HIT All-Class tournament hosted by MSU-N at Havre High School earlier this Spring, the coaches tabbed Will with All-Star honors.

"We are very impressed with the enthusiasm and intelligence Will brings to a team," Huse said. "He knows how to find his shooting spots, converts at a high percentage, and knows how to create for his teammates. He also competes very well on defense and knows how to make plays on that end of the floor. He is a high character guy that will enhance our team philosophies both on and off the court. We look forward to watching his overall development and growth at this level."

Burns comes from a basketball family. His dad, Brian, played at Northern Arizona and brother, Charlie, currently plays there now.

"I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue my basketball career at MSU-Northern. Basketball has always been a big part of our family growing up and it has always been a dream of mine to play college basketball," said Burns. "I feel honored to join coach Huse's successful basketball program after graduating from Loyola Sacred Heart. I have always been blessed to play for great coaches who truly care about developing me as a student and player. At Loyola it was coaches Eddie Stack and Travis Walker, and now playing for Coach Huse next year."

"Will showed a strong interest in our renowned College of Technical Sciences programs at MSU-N," said Huse. "He will study under the Electrical Technology/Trades Management program. All parties saw this as a very good fit academically for him. He is a sound student at Loyola Sacred Heart and should really excel in his desired program, that we have, at our school."

Burns joins a Lights squad that hosted and won their first round Frontier Conference playoff game in 2020-21, then finished their season in a close semifinal loss to the eventual champion.