Earlier this season the Montana State University-Northern
men's basketball team probably would have lost this game.
Well, that's unfair. But to say that the Lights of the past
week are a little better than the Lights of a month and a
half ago would be cutting this current version of Northern
basketball credit it is seriously due.
Keith Carothers capped Northern's six-point rally in the
final 100 seconds with a game-winning jumper against Rocky
Mountain College as the Lights won their final regular
season game, 96-94, in a Frontier Conference game at
Northern Gym.
The win improved Northern's record to 7-7 in conference
play and 13-15 overall. Rocky Mountain fell to 3-11 and
8-21.
Northern, which also defeated 14th-ranked Carroll last
Thursday, will be the fifth seed at the conference
tournament, set for March 1-3 at Westminster College in Salt
Lake City. The Lights will square off against Western
Montana in the first round.
The Lights had six players score in double figures led by
David Sawyer's team-high 28 points to overcome a great
individual effort by Rocky's Beau McFadyean, who fired in 29
points.
The Bears led 91-85 with 1:40 left to play before Northern
scored 11 of the game's final 14 points to come back and
win.
Sawyer made 8 of 10 shots from the field and earned another
12 points from the foul line to pace the Lights offensively.
The 6-foot-6 forward also grabbed 11 rebounds.
Northern needed that kind of production to offset the
effort of McFadyean, who made 12 of 22 attempts from the
floor and also snared seven rebounds.
Also for the Lights, Carothers finished with 19 points,
Josh Hays had 14, Mel Stubblefield chipped in with 12 points
and seven assists, and Da'Vion Famber and Bruce Stacy added
11 and 10 points, respectively.
Northern finished the game 34-for-67 (50.7 percent) from
the field, slightly better than the Bears' 34-for-69 (49.3
percent) effort.
The Lights also helped themselves with 20 second-chance
points off 14 offensive rebounds. Rocky finished with 12
offensive boards, but those translated into just six points.
Josh Allen and Steve Johnson each scored 14 points for
Rocky Mountain, which committed 18 turnovers compared to the
Lights' 14.
MSU-NORTHERN 96, ROCKY MOUNTAIN 94
ROCKY MOUNTAIN (94) Sanderson 1-3 2-2 5, Robbins 1-2 2-2
5, Allen 6-13 1-2 14, Wilson 1-1 1-2 3, Bantz 0-2 1-2 1,
Eklund 3-8 2-2 9, McFadyean 12-22 5-6 29, Johnson 4-7 3-4
14, Roberts 0-0 1-2 1, Prinkki 4-6 1-1 9, Saunders 2-5 0-2
4. Totals 34-69 19-27 94.
MSU-NORTHERN (96) Famber 5-10 1-5 11, Larson 0-1 0-0 0,
Stacy 3-7 2-2 10, Stubblefield 6-12 0-0 12, Renee 1-2 0-0 2,
Griffin 0-0 0-0 0, Moultrie 0-6 0-0 0, Sawyer 8-10 12-21 28,
Carothers 6-12 5-6 19, Hays 5-7 4-4 14. Totals 34-67 24-38
96.
Rocky Mou
