It wasn't as easy as some might of thought, but the second-seeded Montana State University-Northern Lights are in to the Frontier Conference semifinals for the third straight season. On Wednesday afternoon at the Maroon activity Center in Butte, the Lights outlasted seventh-seeded the University of Great Falls 65-54 to advance to Friday's semifinal round. Northern started slow, falling behind the Argos 6-0, before the first half turned into a seesaw affair. But when MSU-N senior Drew Pettersen drilled a 10-foot jumper, one of his game-high 25 points, the Lights led 29-27 and never trailed again. MSU-N went on to lead 37-31 at halftime, and an eight-minute scoring drought by UGF at the beginning of the second half helped propel the Lights into the semifinals where they'll play either Carroll College or UM-Western. Those two teams square off today at 4. Pettersen sparked the Lights (21-8) by scoring 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. He also went 7-of-9 from the free-throw-line, and pulled down eight rebounds. The Lights, who beat UGF (9-19) for the third time this season, also got 16 points and nine rebounds by senior Delvaughn Tinned, while Derek Trembley and Shaun Tatarka gave them a spark off the bench. Trembley scored eight points and Tatarka chipped in with seven. UGF, which season ended with the loss to Northern, got 15 points by junior Keithan Gregg and 10 points from Rayshaun Ames. The Lights will next play at 4 p.m. on Friday against either the Saints or Bulldogs. In other first-round action Wednesday, No. 1 LC State cruised to a 76-58 win over Montana Tech. The Warriors will play either Westminster or Rocky Mountain College at 8 p.m. on Friday. Those two teams play tonight at 8 in the final first-round game in Butte.
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