Northern men battle in Arizona

With the Frontier Conference season fast approaching, the time is now for the Montana State University-Northern Lights to make some big strides on the basketball court.

And head coach Shawn Huse' team will look to do that when they play three games in four days in Chandler, Arizona.

Northern opens the three-game road trip with Ottawa University of Arizona Friday at 2 p.m., and then the Lights will play arch rival Arizona Christian Saturday at 4:30 p.m. MSU-N wraps up the trip to Arizona against Huntington University Monday at 6 p.m.

It will be a big weekend for the Lights, who take a 7-2 overall record to Arizona. Northern has been playing some outstanding basketball so far this season, and with veterans Zack Martinez, Myles Dalton and Dae'Kwon Watson all averaging in double figures this season, as well as the improvements from Jacob Randall in the interior, Northern is looking to fine-tune things before the start of Frontier play.

And league play is indeed just around the corner.

Following MSU-N's trip to Arizona, the Lights host Ambrose and Lakeland Dec. 28-30 in Havre, and that will wrap up non-conference play.

The Frontier Conference season starts Jan. 6 when Northern travels to Dillon to face Montana Western.