By Jason Shoot
For a team that has had difficulty finding itself at times this year, perhaps last night's 74-70 win over Montana Tech will propel the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team to a successful run through the rest of the upcoming conference schedule.
Facing an 11-point deficit in the second half, Northern (2-2, 8-10) staged a furious comeback to earn its second straight win in the Frontier Conference.
"We've started something now," Northern guard Mel Stubblefield said.
It took some time for the Lights to start anything, however, against Montana Tech.
The Orediggers (1-4, 8-13) led for the entire first half, which concluded with Northern trailing 41-33.
Montana Tech took a 46-35 lead on Glen McCloud's 3-pointer early in the second half, but Northern responded by scoring 17 of the next 23 points to tie the score at 52-all with 12:25 left on the clock.
Northern finally clutched its first lead of the game when Josh Hays converted a three-point play for a 67-66 lead with 3:55 left.
Jason Murphy made two free throws to give the Orediggers a 68-67 lead, but David Sawyer's laying gave Northern control for the rest of the game.
With the Lights ahead 74-71 with five seconds left, Keith Carothers, who scored 21 points and had six assists, missed two free throws and a chance to seal the game.
McCloud, however, missed a wild three-point heave at the buzzer to give Northern the win.
Sawyer led Northern with 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four blocks. Hays added 11 points.
Northern hosts Western Montana on Saturday at 8 p.m.
MSU-Northern 74, Montana Tech 70
MONTANA TECH (70) Rudolph 4-6 2-3 11, Leland 5-7 3-4 15, McCloud 3-9 0-0 9, Woolley 1-3 1-1 4, Meredith 0-2 0-0 0, Allen 5-11 3-6 13, Wesselschmidt 1-1 0-0 2, Murphy 4-7 4-5 12, Tholen 4. Totals 25-49 13-19 70.
MSU-NORTHERN (74) Famber 0-1 2-2 2, Stacy 2-4 0-0 6, Stubblefield 3-5 1-2 7, Renee 2-3 0-0 4, Moultrie 1-7 0-0 2, Sawyer 8-16 5-12 21, Carothers 8-12 3-6 21, Hays 5-10 1-1 11. Totals 29-58 12-23 74.
Montana Tech
41
30
70
MSU-Northern
33
41
74
