Lights gut out win, Skylights fall to open the year

It was a long break and there was some rust. But, the Montana State University-Northern Lights prevailed anyway.

After 17 days off, Northern restarted Frontier Conference play with a gritty, 78-69 win over the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears Thursday night in Billings.

"One of the best games I have been a part of coaching basketball," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. "We literally won that one on guts, character and chemistry. Rocky played great, aggressive basketball. They completely outplayed us early on.

"The toughness and resilience our guys showed was off the charts," he continued. "Our leaders stepped it up on both ends and everyone fell in line. We got some great team defensive stops and turned them into points ... went score stop score, chipped away, grabbed the lead, then never looked back. I can't say enough good things about these guys."

It was a heck of an effort because the Lights fell behind 43-29 at half-time as Rocky came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. However, in the second half, the Lights chipped away at the Bears' lead and on a layup by David Harris and a steal and layup from Mascio McCadney, Northern took the lead with three minutes to go and never gave it back.

Forward Jesse Keltner also closed the game out with an emphatic dunk as he led the way with 20 points and seven rebounds. C.J. Nelson also had a big game for Northern with 15 points, while McCadney scored 16 and Harris chipped in with a 12-point, 11-rebound doubel-double, as the Lights improved to 2-1 in the Frontier and 12-4 overall.

Bears claw Skylights

They put up a great fight, but the short-handed Montana State University-Northern Skylights came up short in their return from the holiday break, and a return to Frontier Conference play.

After a lengthy layoff, the Skylights traveled to Rocky Mountain College Thursday night, falling to the Battlin' Bears 76-63. Northern trailed by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, but did rally late.

The Battlin' Bears took the lead early. They extended the lead to 18 going into half time (40-22). The Skylights were able to cut the lead down to 13.

The Battlin' Bears were led by N'Dea Flye, who had 34 points going 15-25 shooting from the field. Kloie Thatcher and A Baca-Martinez each had 12 points. Shauna Bribiescas added 11 points and led the team in rebounds with nine. Rocky shot 42 percent from the field, 37 percent from the 3-point line, and 40 percent from the free throw.

The Skylights were led by Ryley Kehr, who had 22 points going 8-13 from the field. Peyton Kehr had 12 points. Shyan Krass came off the bench with nine points. Sydney Hovde led the team with rebounds with eight. The Skylights shot a field goal percentage of 46, 50 percent from the arc, and 81 percent from the free throw line.

The Skylights and Lights will now travel to Dillon to take on Montana Western Saturday afternoon. Northern then comes home to face Montana Tech next Thursday and Carroll College next Saturday.

Rocky Mountain 76, Skylights 63

MSU-Northern 10 12 23 18 - 63

Rocky 16 24 25 11 - 76

MSU-N - Ryley Kehr 8-13 4-5 22, Peyton Kehr 6-14 0-0 12, Sydney Hovde 2-6 4-5 8, L'Tia Lawrence 2-6 3-4 7, Morgan Mason 1-4 0-0 3, Shyan Krass 4-6 0-0 9, Dulci Skunkcap 1-1 0-0 2, Sydney Prather 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-52 9-11.

RMC - N/Dea Flye 15-25 2-3 34, Kloie Thatcher 4-12 0-0 12, A Baca-Martinez 4-7 0-0 12, Shauna Bribiescas 4-10 0-0 11, Mackenzie Dethman 1-4 0-0 2, Camille Cunningham 1-4 0-0 3,. Totals: 30-71 2-5.

3-pointers: MSU-N 6-12 (R. Kehr 4, Lawrence 1, Mason 1), RMC 14-37 (Flye 2, Thatcher 4, Baca-Martinez 4, Briebacasas 3, Cunningham 1). Rebounds: MSU-N 34 (Hovde 7), 36 (Briebacasas 10), Fouls: MSU-N 6, RMC 14. Fouled out: None.

Lights 78, Rocky Mountain 69

MSU-N - Emmanual Anderson 3-5 1-1 7, David Harris 6-14 0-0 12, Mascio McCadney 8-18 0-0 16, CV.J. Nelson 5-8 4-4 15, Jesse Keltner 9-12 2-4 20, Anthony Braggs Jr. 1-3 0-0 3, Micahiah Hauser 0-1 0-0 0, Tanner Mcliment-Call 2-5 0-0 5. Totals: 34-70 7-9.

RMC - Jesse Owens 3-12 0-0 6, Tayshawn Bradford 3-11 2-2 9, Maxim Stephens 8-14 3-5, Abdul Bah 2-8 0-0 5, Beau Sanisteven 3-4 2-3 10, Kael Robinson 2-3 2-2 6, Kelson Eimalsin 1-3 0-0 2, Kevin Paau 1-3 0-0 3. Totals: 27-65 12-16.

Halftime: Rocky 43-29. 3-pointers: MSU-N 3-23 (Nelson 1, Braggs Jr., 1, McCliment-Call 1), RMC 3-15 (Bradford 1, Bah 1, Sanisteven 1), Rebounds: MSU-N 31 (Harris 11), RMC 35 (Stephens 6), Fouls: MSU-N 13, RMC 17. Fouled out: None.