Lights run past Carroll College for the season sweep

Talk about scorching hot. The Montana State University-Northern Lights were already on a roll, but in the Armory Gymnasium Thursday night, they shined even brighter.

Northern used a 23-point unanswered run in the first half to crush rival Carroll College 79-61 in Havre. The win meant a season sweep of the Fighting Saints for the Lights, while it was also their fourth straight Frontier Conference victory.

"Carroll is a team that's neck and neck with us in the standings, they present a lot of challenges for us," Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. "And they came in here fresh off a heartbreaking loss their last time out. Tonight, they were the unfortunate team who had to play us in our gym, on a hot-shooting night, when we were coming in with some nice momentum.

"We got hot tonight," he added. "The three-ball was huge. Credit our guys for capitalizing on the momentum we had already built."

Early on, Carroll battled. Despite five quick points from C.J. Nelson, the Saints actually led 12-7 six minutes in. From there, though, it was nothing but an Armory party.

Northern took the lead on a Zackry Martinez 3-pointer with 13:20 left in the first half, and by the time Immanuel Anderson threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk, the Lights were ahead by 10 points, and they didn't stop. Two triples by Dae'Kwon Watson put the Lights up 22 and would cap off a 23-4 run that sent the Lights into halftime leading by 22 points.

Northern stayed hot in the second half. Another triple by Watson, a trey by Anthony Braggs Jr., and a massive dunk by Jesse Keltner would lead to Northern going up by 30 points with five minutes to play, and elicited plenty of roars from the Armory faithful as the Lights would win going away.

"I thought we did a great job defensively," Huse said. "And I also thought we did a nice job of scoring around the rim. It was just a solid all-around effort by our guys. They played well in pretty much every phase. It was really fun to watch, and our crowd was just awesome, as they always are."

Northern shot 54 percent from the field and went 11-for-23 from beyond the arc. The Lights forced Carroll into 16 turnovers, while holding them to just 43 percent shooting and four triples.

Individually, the Lights got 19 points off the bench from Watson, including five triples, while Braggs Jr. pitched in 15 and three trey's. Keltner added 14 points, four rebounds and six assists as MSU-N improved to 6-5 in the Frontier and 17-7 overall.

"Obviously, we're playing well right now," Huse said. "When we shoot it like that, and defend at the same time, you see how good we can be. But this league is tough, we know that. We've got plenty of big challenges ahead of us."

Northern will look to keep the win streak going when they take on Providence Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Armory Gymnasium.

Lights 79, Carroll 61

CC - Brayden Koch 10, Gui Pedra 3, Andrew Cook 15, Jonny Hillman 8, Brandon Temple 3, Trent Rogers 4, Isaiah Moore 6, James Lang 2,. Totals: 24-55 9-12.

MSU-N - Myles Dalton 2, Immanuel Anderson 6, Zackary Martinez 9, C.J. Nelson 7, Jesse Keltner 14, Dae'Kown Watson 19, Tanner McCliment-Call 5, Anthony Braggs Jr. 15. Total: 32-59 4-4.

Halftime: Northern 42-20; 3-pointers: CC 4-11 (Koch 2, Hillman 2), MSU-N 11-23 (Martinez 1, Nelson 1, Watson 5, McCliment-Call 1, Braggs Jr. 3); Rebounds: CC 22 (Rogers 6), MSU-N 23 (Braggs Jr. 4, Keltner 4), Fouls: CC 10, MSU-N 8. Fouled out: None.