Lights ready to tip off a brand new season in hoops

The Montana State Universty--Northern Lights men's basketball team will open the 2023-2024 season Saturday in Butte when they take on Portland Bible College. 

The Lights, under Coach Shawn Huse in his 22nd season, are coming off a 19-11 season that saw them advance to the semi-final round of the Frontier Conference Tournament.

Sophomore Dae'Kwon Watson garnered Frontier 6th Man of the Year as well as Newcomer of the Year a season ago. Watson averaged 9.8 points per game shooting 46 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line. He leads a strong group of returners who saw significant minutes for the Lights.  Senior guard Zackry Martinez averaged nearly 10 points a game in his first season in a Lights uniform. Senior guard Myles Dalton and junior forward Jacob Randall both saw significant minutes and appeared in every game. Rogan Barnwell, Oskar Pula, and R.J. Ramon were all highly-decorated high school players and had strong redshirt seasons.

While the Lights will have to replace NAIA All-American Jesse Keltner, Second Team All-Frontier pick C.J. Nelson, and a host of other quality players from a year ago, their recruiting class is deep and talented.  Three junior college transfers look to have an immediate impact.

J.J. Thomas, a 6-7 forward from Southwestern Oregon Community College, averaged 14.5 points and 8 rebounds for the Lakers. Anthony Mendez, a 6-4  forward, averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds for Sierra College. Mendez also shot 48.8 percent from the 3-point line.  Xaiver Bailey, a 6-foot-5 forward, averaged 9.5 points, 5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists at North Idaho College last season.  He also shot 42.9 percent from the 3-point line for the Cardinals.

Thus far, Coach Huse has liked what he's seen from the Lights.

"This team has enough newness between our young guys who have been in the program and newcomers that we have a learning curve ahead of us," Huse said, "We have great leadership and our first two months have gone really well. That said, there is no better way to improve and gain experience as a group than to play actual games."

The non-conference schedule will provide many tests for the Lights before Frontier play begins. The Lights will take a trip to California for a four-game swing next week, including a matchup with Golden State Athletic Conference member William Jessup University.  William Jessup advanced to the GSAC Tournament final last season.

A non-conference tournament in Helena Nov. 10-11 will pit the Lights against Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Corban University. Corban, a member of the Cascade Conference, advanced to the NAIA National Tournament a season ago.

The Lights open at home Dec. 2, when they host Alberta-Augustana in a field trip game.  That game will have an early start time of 12:30 in the afternoon.  On Dec. 5, the Lights will travel for an exhibition matchup with the University of Montana.

The annual Cactus Classic will take place in Arizona Dec. 15-18. Two key opponents in Phoenix will be Ottawa University Arizona and Arizona Christian University. Both teams advanced to the NAIA National Tournament last season.

The Lights will conclude non-conference play with a pair of games after Christmas, then will turn their attention to Frontier Conference action.

"Our pre-season schedule is very challenging and full of early-season road games," Huse said. "The guys are very excited to open up this weekend. It's time to compete as one against opponents as we have been competing against each other for a good while now."

The Frontier opener is set for Jan. 6 at 4 p.m. in Dillon against Montana-Western, and their home conference opener is Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. against defending conference and Frontier tournament champions Montana Tech.