Northern men look for momentum against Bulldogs, Orediggers

Coming off an emotionally charged, triple-overtime, last-second win at Rocky Mountain College, the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team is back in the friendly confines of the Armory Gymnasium.

    But in the Frontier Conference, there's no time to rest, and no time to look back. Instead, Northern head coach Shawn Huse' Lights will only look forward as they begin a four-game home stand tonight when the Lights (3-5, 14-7) host the Montana Western Bulldogs at 7. Northern is also home to face Montana Tech Saturday afternoon.

    "We are just mostly focused on us and what we need to do moving forward now," Huse said. "We know these teams and their tendencies, having played them and familiarity from past years. It's a matter of continued improvement, learning, decision-making, and capitalization upon opportunities each and every possession. We have certainly had the most game time situational experience - we feel like that is something we can draw off of and use."

    Indeed, the Lights will keep looking to get better as the Frontier is still very much up for grabs. Despite being two games under .500, the Lights are just three games out of first place with seven games left in the regular season. MSU-N is led by senior Jesse Keltner, who averages 13 points and eight rebounds per night, while he also leads the Frontier in field goal percentage. MSU-N is overall, a balanced offensive attack, as Zackary Martinez, Immanuel Anderson, C.J. Nelson, Tanner McCliment-Call and Dae'Kwon Watson all average between eight and 10 points per game.

    And the Lights will need all hands on deck this week. MSU-N is tied with Western (3-5, 8-13) in the Frontier standings, and the Bulldogs, who are paced by Jamal Stephenson, Ky Kouba and Brenton Woods, beat the Lights just two weeks ago in Havre. It was a back and forth game in which Western pulled away in the final minutes.

    Of course, Northern doesn't just have to worry about Western either, because Saturday, league-leading Montana Tech, ranked 12th in the NAIA comes to town. The Lights battled the Orediggers (6-2, 18-3) to double-overtime just a few nights ago in Butte, but, led by Caleb Bellach's 19 points per night, along with big contributions from former Fort Benton star Hayden Diekhans, the Orediggers are deep and talented and will be very formidable come Saturday afternoon.

    "These are two tough opponents that pose similar yet different challenges," Huse said. "Being prepped and ready for those is an important factor for our success ... while remembering who we are, and applying what we have learned."

    Tonight's game between the Lights and Bulldogs tips off at 7 in the Armory. Northern hosts Tech Saturday at 4 p.m. The Lights host Çarroll and Providence next week to finish the home stand.