Lights lose scrapes with Dawgs, Bears

A win over the UM-Western Bulldogs probably wouldn’t have changed the MSU-Northern Lights’ position in the final Frontier Conference standings. But, it would have certainly helped the Lights in the race to secure an at-large berth to the NAIA national tournament.

And, Northern knew, having beaten the Bulldogs in Dillon just three weeks ago, the Lights could do it again. But, on the strength of 10 Bulldogs 3-pointers and 31 points by little giant Dom Robinson, the Bulldogs turned the Lights away 76-66 Friday night inside the Armory Gymnasium.

“It’s disappointing, because the things we did so well against them down there, we didn’t do tonight,” Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. “I thought our guards did not shoot the ball as well as they had been shooting it on the road. And I thought we didn’t take care of the ball very well at all in the first half and that put us in a tough spot. Those are things we did really well the last time we played them.”

While Northern may have had some miscues Friday night, the Bulldogs seemed like they couldn’t miss. Shyke Small, Robinson and Zach Darko-Kelly all nailed 3-pointers in the first six minutes as part of a 16-4 Western run to start the game. Ryan Reeves and Justin Dunsmore though, gave the Lights a big spark in the first stanza, and by the time halftime rolled around, Northern trailed by just nine at 42-41 and had weathered a big Bulldogs storm.

Then it was Western’s turn to weather the storm. The Lights opened the second half on a 10-0 run, on the strength of the inside play of Ryan Reeves. The run lifted MSU-N to a 43-43 lead, and Devin Bray buried a three shortly after to keep the Lights going.

From there, however, Western stormed right back. Robinson nailed two more threes in the final five minutes, and Marcus Payne scored eight points as part of a 9-2 spurt by the Bulldogs, which put them ahead 59-52 with 8 minutes to go. The Lights kept it close down the stretch, but never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Robinson, who scored a game-high 31 points, also lit up the Lights in Havre for 25 points last month. Reeves and David Straughter paced the Lights with 19 and 16 points, respectively, each also grabbing seven rebounds.

“I thought we did a good job of staying in it, our effort was great again,” Huse said. “And credit Western, they came in here and shot it really well tonight. But we just didn’t make enough shots at the critical points in the game, and that’s tough because that’s something I thought we had done over the last three weeks. And, against a really good team like Western, we needed to do tonight, and we just didn’t get the ball to go in the hole.”

Third time not a charm

The Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears proved just how hard it is to beat a Frontier Conference rival three times in one season. That’s what the MSU-Northern Lights were trying to do to the Bears on senior night, Saturday inside the Armory.

Rocky, though, wasn’t about to be swept. In a game that couldn’t change the Frontier standings, the Bears roared to a 75-58 win over the Lights, and forged a tie with Northern for fourth place in the final Frontier standings. But while both teams ended the regular season at 9-9, it’s the Lights who will host the Bears in a Frontier playoff game Wednesday night, because of the 2-1 edge in the season series.

However, it was Rocky which certainly had the edge Saturday night.

The two teams traded the lead 11 times in the first 10 minutes of the game, but 3-pointers from Riley Bradshaw, Taylor Longo and Zach Hinton sent the Bears on an 11-0 run, and while Justin Dunsmore hit a three of his own, the Lights trailed the Bears 42-29 at half.

Badhasa Margarsa opened the second half with a triple, but Rocky would have all the answers. Bradshaw ignited a 13-1 run with a bomb, and by the team Ryan Reeves slammed home an ally-oop dunk, the Lights were down by 18 points and they never recovered.

It was the second-straight tough shooting night for the Lights, who made just six three s, just as they did Friday night. David Straughter was the only Light to reach double figures with 13 points, while four Bears got into double-digits, led by Bradshaw’s 17.

Still, Northern (20-10) will get the chance to redeem itself, and that will come quickly as the Lights and Bears look to extend their season when they meet for a fourth time Wednesday night. Tipoff for the Frontier quarterfinal is set for 7 p.m. in the Armory. Lewis-Clark State plays UGF in the other quarterfinal, while Carroll and UM-Western have byes.

Lights are 9-9, 4th in Frontier, 22-10 overall; Next Up: vs RMC

Wednesday

Western 76, Lights 66

UM-W - Shyke Smalls 6-12 1-2 15, Zaccheus Darko-Kelly 3-6 0-0 7, Riley King 0-0 0-2 0, Dom Robinson 7-17 12-15 31, Troy Scott 1-1 1-1 3, Chase Haack 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Payne 2-2 4-4 8, Kooper Kidgell 3-6 0-0 8, Cameron Evans 1-3 2-2 4. Totals 23-47 20-26 76.

MSU-N - Cameron Epps 1-5 0-0 2, Adam Huse 0-3 0-0 0, Badhasa Margarsa 1-3 0-0 2, Kevin Oberweiser 0-1 0-0 0, Devin Bray 1-1 0-0 3, David Straughter 7-12 2-2 16, Dylan Tatarka 1-4 1-1 3, Justin Dunsmore 5-6 3-3 15, Charles Porter 2-4 0-1 4, Tyler Chandler 0-7 0-0 0, Ryan Reeves 7-12 5-9 19, William Walker 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 25-58 13-18 66.

Halftime: Western 41-32. -pt FG:Montana Western 10-19 (Smalls 2-3, Darko-Kelly 1-2, Robinson 5-11, Kidgell 2-3), MSU-Northern 3-20 (Epps 0-3, Huse 0-3, Oberweiser 0-1, Bray 1-1, Straughter 0-1, Tatarka 0-1, Dunsmore 2-3, Porter 0-1, Chandler 0-6). Rebounds: Montana Western 25 (King 8), MSU-Northern 38 (Straughter 7, Reeves 7). Fouls Montana Western 17, MSU-Northern 15. Fouled out: none.

Rocky Mountain 75, Lights 58

RMC - Derek Graves 3-5 0-0 6, Taylor Longo 4-8 3-3 11, Zach Hinton 6-14 0-0 12, Chad Kananen 5-9 0-0 13, Danny Betcher 0-0 0-0 0, Riley Bradshaw 6-15 0-0 17, Grant Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Craig Wilmore 4-6 0-1 8, Trey Larson 0-0 0-0 0, Isaac Martel 0-0 0-0 0, Danny Betcher 4-8 0-0 8. Totals 32-65 3-4 75.

MSU-N - Cameron Epps 3-6 1-2 8, Adam Huse 2-2 0-0 5, Badhasa Margarsa 3-6 0-1 8, Kevin Oberweiser 0-2 0-0 0, Devin Bray 2-5 0-0 5, David Straughter 5-9 3-6 13, Dylan Tatarka 0-3 0-0 0, Justin Dunsmore 1-4 0-0 3, Charles Porter 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Chandler 1-11 1-3 3, Seth Christiaens 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Reeves 4-8 3-7 11, William Walker 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 22-60 8-19 58.

Halftime: Rocky 42-29. 3-pt FG:Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 8-17 (Graves 0-1, Longo 0-1, Hinton 0-3, Kananen 3-4, Bradshaw 5-8), MSU-Northern 6-22 (Epps 1-4, Huse 1-1, Margarsa 2-4, Oberweiser 0-1, Bray 1-1, Straughter 0-1, Tatarka 0-1, Dunsmore 1-3, Chandler 0-6). Rebounds: Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 38 (Longo 13), MSU-Northern 36 (Reeves 11). Fouls Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 16, MSU-Northern 13. Fouled out: none.