Lights beat Battlin' Bears at the buzzer

Thursday night's Frontier Conference opener at the Fortin Center in Billings wasn't the first time the Montana State University-Northern Lights have had their backs to the wall this season. No, the Lights have been in plenty of battles.

But, when Rocky Mountain College's Taylor Longo had the ball with less than 15 seconds to go in overtime, and the game tied, it looked, for a moment, like the Lights might not escape Billings with a win.

However, things changed in the blink of an eye, as Northern's Trevail Lee stripped Longo in the key, threw a long pass to a wide-open Warren Edmondson, and, an easy layin gave Northern a thrilling 81-79 win over the Battlin' Bears. The win was MSU-N's first in Billings in three years and jump-started the Lights' Frontier season.

"I am extremely proud of the guys," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. "We just could not get over the hump all night but never gave up. Our resiliency definitely paid off in the end."

While Huse was excited about the way his team fought down the stretch, it was an uphill battle for sure. On 3-pointers by Edmondson early, the Lights built a steady first-half lead, only to find themselves trailing 34-32 at halftime.

Then, behind heady inside plays from William Walker, and triples from Tyler Chandler and Kevin Oberweiser, the Lights led by six points with under 10 minutes to play. But again, adversity crept in, as Rocky battled right back, and actually had two different chances to win the game in regulation. However, on both possessions, one following a game-tying layup by Walker, the Lights stood tall on defense, and they were able to force overtime.

In the extra frame, MSU-N fell behind right away, but clutch free throws by Lee, a big shot from Chandler and more heads up interior play from Walker helped Northern stay the course, and after a key defensive stop to keep the game tied, Lee made the biggest play of the night with the steal that sealed Northern's 1-0 start to league play.

The game was a barnburner throughout, with both teams shooting 43 percent from the field for the night. The trey was key for Northern however, as the Lights made 11-of-32 from beyond the arc, while the Bears made just five all night. The Lights were also big on the boards, out-rebounding the taller Bears 38-33.

Edmondson paced the Lights with 21 points and three bombs, while Straughter finished with 12 points and Walker gave the Lights an important 10 off the bench. Chandler also knocked in three bombs to score nine off the bench, as Northern's depth was a big factor in the extended contest.

"Once again we got great effort off the bench as well as from some key starters," Huse said. "This was a total team effort tonight and we can keep getting better if we all remain this tuned in."

Now, the Lights (8-1, 1-0) will look to build on Thursday night's success as they head to Dillon for a showdown with 23rd-ranked UM-Western on Saturday night.

Skylights fall in Billings

The Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team came into Thursday night's Frontier Conference opener having won some big road games, in tough places to play early in the season.

However, that mattered little to the red-hot Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears. In the first game of Frontier play for both teams, Rocky stunned the No. 6 Skylights 76-58 Thursday night at the Fortin Center in Billings.

The loss was Northern's first of the season, and while Northern got out-played by the Battlin' Bears from start to finish, it was the effort from the Skylights that had MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat frustrated after the contest.

"There wasn't a facet of the game where we were better than them (Bears)," Mouat said. "And a lot of that is because of what Rocky did. They played great. But, I just thought our effort wasn't close to what it should be, and that's disappointing. You can get beat, you can play poorly, but you can't have a lack of effort like that, not in this league. So that's a tough pill to swallow."

Northern wasn't up to its usual self on Thursday night, and the talented Bears took advantage. Rocky came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and led 21-11 after the first 10 minutes. And from there, things just got worse for the Skylights as RMC's Destiny Amezquita nailed three 3-pointers in a 17-6 run by RMC in the second quarter.

That run sent the Bears into halftime leading 38-17 and, despite a strong effort from Jacy Thompson and reserve Cydney Auzenne in the second half, the Skylights could never recover.

"Rocky had a great game plan for us," Mouat said. "They got great looks off some really good stuff. And they did some things defensively that created problems for us. So all the credit to them. They played great. They made shots, and just played great in every phase of the game."

Indeed. The Bears shot 50 percent from the field and Amezquita made five of the Bears' seven triples, while scoring a game-high 17 points. The Bears also dominated on the glass, out-rebounding Northern 40-31, while Northern shot just 32 percent from the field and went just 6-of-21 from three.

Thompson paced the Skylights (7-1, 0-1) with 16 points, while Auzenne scored 13 off the bench and Natalee Faupel chipped in with nine.

And while the loss was otugh for the nationally-ranked Skylights, it is only one, and with a long season still ahead, Mouat said he just hopes his team learns from Thursday night's game, and moves forward.

"We just got out-efforted," Mouat said. "And that can't happen and our kids know that. They have a lot of pride in this program and what they do, and they will look in the mirror and learn from this. But we have to do it quickly because we have another tough game on Saturday night."

That tough game will be the second half of Northern's Frontier road trip. The Skylights visit UM-Western on Saturday night in Dillon.

Lights 81, Rocky Mountain 79 OT

MSU-N - Trevail Lee 1-7 5-6 7, KJ Rech 4-12 2-2 12, Kevin Oberweiser 1-1 0-0 3, Brett Thompson 1-1 0-0 2, Dylan Tatarka 1-3 2-3 5, Warren Edmondson 9-12 0-0 21, William Walker 5-6 0-0 10, Tyler Chandler 3-6 0-0 9, Justin Dunsmore 0-3 0-0 0, David Straughter 2-7 3-4 8, Badhasa Margarsa 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 29-62 12-15 81.

RMC - Terrylee Wedgeworth 2-6 1-2 5, Chad Kananen 1-6 0-0 3, Derek Graves 3-7 0-2 7, Jelani Hardaway 3-7 2-2 8, Danny Betcher 0-1 1-3 1, Taylor Longo 9-19 6-8 25, Rob Nyby 7-10 2-2 17, Joe Stulc 2-2 0-0 5, Ben Moerkerke 3-4 2-2 8. Totals 30-62 14-21 79.

Halftime: Rocky 34-32. 3-pointers: MSU-N 11-32 (Straughter 1, Rech 2, Edmondson 3, Tatarka 1, Oberweiser 1, Chandler 3), RMC 5-14 (Nyby 1, Kananan 1, Graves 1, Longo 1, Stulc 1); Rebounds: MSU-N 38 (Straughter 6), RMC 33 (Moerkerke 8); Foulds: MSU-N 22, RMC 17; Fouled out: Margarsa.

Rocky Mountain 76, Skylights 58

Northern 11 6 22 19 – 58

Rocky Mountain 21 17 19 19 – 76

MSU-N – Rachelle Bennett 2-8 3-4 7, Natalee Faupel 3-13 2-2 9, Molly Kreycik 0-3 2-2 2, Sierra Richards 2-6 1-4 5, Jacy Thompson 4-15 5-6 16, Jessica Anderson 2-2 0-1 4, Cydney Auzenne 4-4 3-5 13, Makhayla Farmer 0-1 0-0 0, Kate Fetterer 0-0 0-0 0, Brandy Lambourne 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 18-57 16-24 58.

RMC – Bridger Rice 5-8 1-3 11, Tenika Capouch 5-8 1-3 11, Destiny Amezquita 6-9 0-2 17, Hailee Farstreet 3-6 2-2 8, Whitney Mitchell 3-10 4-4 10, Jayde LaFevre 3-4 0-0 8, Kara Gerke 1-2 0-0 2, Justyn Juhl 3-7 1-2 7, Sam Harper 0-0 2-4 2. Totals: 29-57 11-20 76.

3-pointers: MSU-N 6-21 (Thompson 3, Bennett 1, Auzenne 2), RMC 7-15 (Amezquita 5, LaFevre 2); Rebounds: MSU-N 31 (Faupel 5), RMC 40 (Capuch 9); Fouls: MSU-N 17, RMC 22; Fouled out: Kreycik.