Lights extend winning streak to six

The past few weeks could not have gone any better for the Montana State University-Northern Lights as they had won four games in a row heading into this past weekend. After a 75-54 victory over Northwest University Friday night, the Lights continued to play well in their 75-62 win over Our Lady of the Lake University at Armory Gymnasium Saturday night.

"We played really, really well, if not great. I'm just really proud of our guys and how they stepped up their defense," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. "We're just getting tremendous effort from everybody, starters, bench guys. Everybody's doing what they do best and helping each other do what their teammates do best."

With the strong weekend, the Lights extended their winning streak to six straight games and improved their record to 7-1. After starting the season 4-0, the Saints have now lost three straight games.

The game started with both teams going back and forth exchanging the lead. Just over four minutes into the game, the Saints took an 11-7 lead, which would be their largest advantage of the game. The Lights came back to retake the lead but the Saints swung right back to take a 16-14 lead.

Again, the Lights responded as they took a 26-21 lead with just over six minutes left in the half. Instead of letting the Saints go another run, the Lights held onto momentum with a 10-0 run to balloon their lead. Mascio McCadney started the run with a layup and a 3-pointer to get things rolling and Tanner McCliment-Call capped it off with another three. While the Lights were making their shots, Huse believes their ability to hold down the OLLU offense helped them take control of the game.

"I thought for the most part, we countered their quickness defensively," Huse said. "They're quick to the ball. They've got some size. They put you in some tough positions."

The Lights went into the half with a 40-25 lead. However, the Saints did not back down when they came out of the locker rooms. After a pair of MSU-N baskets to make the lead 19 points, the Saints responded with a 14-4 run to cut the deficit to nine points. The Saints have made a tendency of coming back from halftime deficits to win games this season, so Huse knew the fight was far from over.

"I knew in the back of my mind they were going to make a run. I knew they were going to make a surge," Huse said. "We weren't shooting the ball extremely well, missing some easy shots, coming up with empty possessions and on the other end, they started to knock some tough shots down."

While the Lights continued to make their shots, they could not shake the Saints. At one point in the second half, the Saints were in striking distance as they only trailed 56-51 with just over seven minutes left in the game. But that is when David Harris took over the game for the Lights.

He started the run with a pair of made free throws before hitting a 3-pointer. After the Saints responded with a three of their own,Harris hit another deep shot. He then made a layup for the Lights to give them a 66-54 lead with just over four minutes left. While the stat sheet will show Harris' impact during this stretch, Huse knows that it was still a team effort.

"He gave us what we needed right there and that's what David does," Huse said. "Ultimately though, he pours those points in because if we're not getting stops or finding him with passes, none of that ends up mattering."

The Saints continued to battle as they cut the deficit to five points with just under a minute left. But McCadney made six straight free throws to put the game away for the Lights.

McCadney finished the night with 26 points after he shot 9-for-17 from the field and 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Harris scored 17 points while Jesse Keltner led the team with 11 rebounds and four assists. As a team, the Lights shot 43.5 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from three.

Before their win Saturday, the Lights defeated NWU Friday night in Great Falls. The Lights led by double digits through most of the game en route to their victory. Harris led the Lights with 20 points on 8-for-19 shooting and McCadney also scored 18 on 6-for-18 shooting from the field. But again, Huse credited the Lights' defense for the victory.

"I thought our defense was exceptional," Huse said. "They're a team that can shoot the ball, drive the ball, post up, and finish around the basket. We just never gave them anything easy."

The Lights will now have a long break before their next game. However, their next opponent will be Carroll College in the Lights' first Frontier Conference game of the season. Heading into the break, Huse feels confident about where his team is one month into the season and he hopes to build off their strong start to the year.

"I can't say enough good things about this team. They just continue to impress me with their teamwork and their execution on both ends of the floor," Huse said. "There's so much to learn from all the things that we haven't done well and all the things that we have done well, and we got to just breathe and soak those in and marinate on those and use those moving forward."

The Lights will head to Helena to play Carroll College Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.

MSU-Northern 75, Northwest University 54

NWU - 21 33 - 54

MSU-N - 34 41 - 75

NWU - Connor Drinkwine 13, Rayvaughn Bolton 12, CaCoa Chatman 11, Tanner Davis 10, Tre Newman 4, Daniel Sharpe 2, Pa'Treon Lee 2.

MSU-N - David Harris 20, Mascio McCadney 18, Immanuel Anderson 9, Jesse Keltner 8, Tanner McCliment-Call 6, TJ Reynolds 5, Anthony Braggs Jr. 5, CJ Nelson 2, Zyara Ruffin 2.

MSU-Northern 75, OLLU 62

OLLU - 25 37 - 62

MSU-N - 40 35 - 75

OLLU - Ellis Jones 19, Joseph Anderson 13, Jordan Embry 12, Tommie Law 5, Oscar Maldonado 4, Lennox Jones 3, Ruben Monzon 2, Georges Darwiche 2, Jonathan Sanchez 2.

MSU-N - Mascio McCadney 26, David Harris 17, CJ Nelson 9, Tanner McCliment-Call 7, Zyare Ruffin 7, Jesse Keltner 4, Micaiah Hauser 3, Immanuel Anderson 2.