Despite slow start, Lights dominate Northwest Indian College

Early Thursday night at Armory Gymnasium, it looked like the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team was in for a tough night. The Lights' opponent, Northwest Indian College, played tough in the first half and even had the lead at one point. While the Lights got on a roll and pulled away for a 100-45 win in the second half, MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse believes the Eagles made the Lights work for it.

"I'll give credit to NWIC. They came in here and they played very smart basketball. They do a lot of things that disrupt you," Huse said. "Got to give them a lot of credit for pushing us deep into that first half, coming in here with eight guys and giving us a heck of a run. It took us a while to figure something out to get the flow of the game in our favor so my hats go off to Northwest Indian College."

The Eagles struck first on their first possession of the game with a 3-pointer from Alec Mora to take the lead. After Jesse Keltner responded with a layup for the Lights, Jesse Hoiby made a layup and one free throw to give the Eagles a 6-2 lead.

Keltner continued his strong start to the game with a layup and a pair of free throws to tie the game. Back-to-back threes from Tanner McCliment-Call then gave the Lights a 12-6 lead. But the Eagles stayed with it as Trazil Lane went on a personal 7-0 run to give the Eagles a 13-12 lead. Mycole Rodriguez then made three free throws and a three to extend the lead to 19-12.

The teams exchanged scores to the point NWIC led 24-17 halfway through the first half. Back-to-back scores by Keltner and C.J. Nelson cut the deficit to 24-21 for the Lights. The Lights then turned up the intensity on defense to force some Eagle turnovers.

Myles Dalton got it started with a steal that he converted into a dunk. After another Eagle turnover, Keltner made a layup to give the Lights a 25-24 lead. Zackry Martinez then got another steal that ended up as a three from Dalton to extend the lead for the Lights. After a slow start in the game, Huse believes the defensive pressure got the offense going for the Lights.

"We had to change up our defense a little bit to hopefully create ourselves some more possessions and give us more opportunities on the offensive end of the floor," Huse said. "I think once we did that, the energy picked up and everything looked better."

The Eagles tried to respond as Hoiby scored to cut the Lights' lead to 27-26. But a three from McCliment-Call and a bucket from Keltner pushed the lead out to 32-26. After some Eagle free throws, the Lights went on a 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 42-28. Over the last few minutes of the half, the Lights continued to roll as they made their lead 49-30 heading to halftime.

The Lights started the second half strong with a 20-8 run over the first eight minutes of the half. On offense, the Lights continued to shoot the ball as they slowly pulled away for the win. But more importantly, the Lights shut down the Eagles on defense to squash any hopes for a comeback.

"That momentum that we built going into halftime helped fuel our confidence and our quick decision making on defense," Huse said. "We cleaned up some of those mistakes, we got a little more sharp with it and we got a little bit quicker with the rotations, adjustments and switches that they force you to do."

Through most of the second half, the Lights executed on both ends of the floor. After trailing by one point halfway through the first half, the Lights wound up winning the game by 55 points.

As a team, the Lights shot 45.5 percent from the field and 35 percent from deep. McCliment-Call recorded a double-double as he led the team with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Keltner also played well with 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field.

The Lights played well on defense as the Eagles shot 26.6 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from deep. The Lights also forced 15 turnovers by the Eagles. Rodriguez and Mora each scored 13 points to lead the Eagles.

The Lights are now 3-0 on the young season. While the Eagles did give the Lights some early trouble, Huse believes what his team saw in this game will help them moving forward.

"They made us work and we had to think and figure it out and we had to make adjustments and once we did that, it was good," Huse said. "Overall, we got a lot of good zone work and I think we got a lot of good defensive work in terms of playing a defense that we don't normally play."

The MSU-N men's basketball team will play in an exhibition game against Northwest Indian College tonight at Armory Gymnasium at 6 p.m. The Lights will play their next game Nov. 10 against the University of Alberta-Augustana at Armory Gymnasium.

MSU-Northern 100, NWIC 45

NWIC - 30 15 - 45

MSU-N - 49 51 - 100

NWIC - Trazil Lane 6-21 1-1 13, Mycole Rodriguez 4-13 3-3 13, Jesse Hoiby 3-9 3-4 9, Alec Mora 3-9 0-1 8, , Moses Bobb 1-3 0-1 2, Mylo Jones 0-4 0-0 0, Gavin Carlos 0-3 0-0 0, Elias Rockwell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 17-64 7-10.

MSU-N - Tanner McCliment-Call 6-16 5-14 17, Jesse Keltner 7-9 2-2 16, Myles Dalton 6-8 0-0 14, Jacob Randall 5-7 1-2 11, Zackry Martinez 3-10 1-2 10, Anthony Braggs Jr. 3-7 2-2 8, Micaiah Hauser 2-8 0-0 6, CJ Nelson 2-5 0-0 5, Immanual Anderson 2-4 0-0 4, TJ Reynolds 2-6 0-0 4, Dae'Kwon Watson 1-7 0-0 3, Rogan Barnwell 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 40-88 6-8.

Halftime: MSU-N 49-30. 3-pointers: NWIC 4-24 (Mycole Rodriguez 2, Alec Mora 2), MSU-N 14-40 (Tanner McCliment-Call 5, Zackry Martinez 3, Myles Dalton 2). Rebounds: NWIC 28 (Mycole Rodriguez 11), MSU-N 62 (Tanner McCliment-Call 12). Fouls: NWIC 9, MSU-N 10. Fouled Out: None.