Lights win, Skylights fall at Dickinson State

In the opening game of the season, the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team had to stage a thrilling comeback in the final minutes to beat the Dickinson State Blue Hawks. The rematch however had no such drama.

On Sunday afternoon in Dickinson, Northern Dakota, the Lights pulled away from the Blue Hawks for an 86-64 non-conference, win as MSU-N improved to 9-2 overall this season.

The Blue Hawks put up a great first-half fight, as they went into the locker room tied with the Lights at 38-38. However, Northern started the second stanza with a big run to gap the Blue Hawks, and never looked back as the Lights outscored DSU 48-26 the rest of the way.

Northern was spurred to victory by a huge 30 points from Mascio McCadney, who made three of the Lights’ eight 3-pointers. Jesse Keltner also had a big game for Northern, scoring 20 points, while David Harris pitched in with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double.

While the Lights shot a stellar 47 percent from the field, they also held DSU to just 36 percent shooting, and forced the Blue Hawks into 15 turnovers.

“I know it sounds cliche’ but Dickinson is a very good team, despite their record. A great deal of their games have literally been decided on the final possession,” MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. “Many of which have been against teams in our league. Including the early season one against us. They are a well-coached group that will just get better if they can hang together.

“On that note, I am as proud as any team I have coached, tonight. It felt like we could do nothing right in the first half,” he added. “Yet we still fought through it and managed to overcome the challenges. We got some big games and big plays from several guys. Our leaders led the way once again but several others chipped in big as well … which culminated in a very good team road win for us.”

The Northern men will now head to Phoenix for three games this weekend. The Lights play Friday, Saturday and next Monday in Arizona

Blue Hawks 63, Skylights 47

It’s been a tough go for the Montana State University-Northern women’s basketball team of late. And things didn’t get any easier Sunday in Dickinson, North Dakota.

In a rematch with the Blue Hawks, the Skylights fell Sunday, 63-47. The loss made it a season split between the two rivals, as Northern beat DSU in Havre back in October. The Skylights also fell to 3-7 on the young season.

DSU, which also beat Montana Tech earlier in the week, got hot quickly and never looked back. The Blue Hawks led 18-12 after the first quarter, then held a cold-shooting MSU-N team to just seven points in the second, as they led 28-19 at the break.

Northern tried to battle back, but the Skylights shot for 29 percent from the field for the game, and made only one 3-pointer. MSU-N didn’t play poorly defensively, but DSU did hit six threes and out-rebound the Skylights 40-34. Offensively, Sydney Hovde scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Ryley Kehr added 11 points, but it wasn’t enough.

The Skylights will look to rebound with three games in Arizona next week.