Lights wins season-openers in Canada

Season-openers are never easy. Season-openers on the road are even more difficult. But the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team found a way to overcome both obstacles this past weekend.

The Lights trekked north to Red Deer, Alberta, for an exhibition game and two regular season contests to open their 2015-16 season, and they came away with a pair of wins.

Northern opened the year by beating Red Deer College Thursday night in an exhibition game, then the Lights swept Northern British Columbia University and The King’s University over the weekend.

“I was proud of our guys this weekend as we learned a lot with this early valuable game experience,” said MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse. “We had great team energy all weekend and that's what it takes to at least start the process of becoming a tough conference team.”

On Friday night, the Lights overcame an early deficit to turn away a tough Northern British Columbia squad, 70-59. The Lights trailed 41-32 at halftime, but put the defensive clamps down on the second half, and took over the game from there.

“We held them to 18 points in the second half,” Huse said. “That was a great team effort.”

Offensively, the Lights were balanced, and got huge contributions from their bench. William Walker scored a team-high 17 points off the bench, while Justin Dunsmore added 14 and Tyler Chandler added 12 in reserve roles. Dunsmore and Chandler also combined for eight of Northern’s 11 3-pointers. Warren Edmonson added nine points, and David Straughter chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds, while the Lights held Northern B.C, to just 17 percent shooting in the second half.

MSU-N then fell behind again early in its game with The King’s University Eagles Saturday afternoon, but it didn’t take long for the Lights to pull away, and Northern improved to 2-0 with a 73-43 win over the Eagles.

“We had another very good second half effort on defense (holding them to just 14 points),” Huse said.

Offensively, the Lights hit 11 more treys, including five by Edmonson, who poured in a game-high 20 points. Trevail Lee added nine points and Straughter scored eight and grabbed 10 boards, as once again, the Lights were very balanced.

With two wins this weekend in Canada, the Lights will now have some time off to prepare for their first home games of the season. The Lights open the home portion of their schedule Oct. 30 against Warner-Pacific and Oct. 31 against Portland Bible College.

Lights 70, Northern B.C 59

MSU-N – Trevail Lee 2-15 0-0 5, David Straughter 4-8 0-0 8, Warren Edmonson 4-11 0-0 9, Dylan Tatarka 0-1 0-0 0, K.J. Rech 1-4 0-0 2, Badhasa Margarsa 1-2 0-0 3, Kevin Oberweiser 0-1 0-0 0, Justin Dunsmore 4-8 2-2 14, Brett Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Chandler 4-8 0-0 12, William Walker 6-10 5-7 17, Ryan Reeves 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-68 7-9 70.

3-pointers: 11-34 (Lee 1, Edmonson 1, Margarsa 1, Dunsmore 4, Chandler 4). Rebounds: 39 (Straughter 8). Fouls: 21, Fouled out: Rech.

Lights 73, The King's 43

MSU-N – Trevail Lee 3-6 1-2 9, David Straughter 1-3 6-6 8, Warren Edmonson 7-13 1-2 20, Tyler Chandler 2-9 0-0 5, K.J. Rech 3-10 2-2 8, Badhasa Margarsa 0-1 0-0 0, Kevin Oberweiser 1-3 0-0 3, Dylan Tatarka 1-2 0-0 2, Justin Dunsmore 2-5 0-0 6, William Walker 3-8 0-0 6, Brett Thompson 0-3 0-0 0, Ryan Reeves 2-7 2-3 6. Totals: 25-70 12-16 73.

3-pointers: 11-33 (Lee 2, Edmonson 5, Chandler 1, Oberweiser 1, Dunsmore 2). Rebounds: 42 (Straughter 11). Fouls: 16; Fouled out: None.