The Montana State University-Northern Lights had their winning streak snapped Saturday in Bozeman, which knocked them out of the top 25 teams in the national NAIA poll released Tuesday.
Down, but not out, the Lights hoped to regain a spot on the NAIA poll in Hawaii. The Lights would not have an easy task though, taking on BYU-Hawaii in their first game.
Northern (8-4) found themselves down by eight 58-50 at the half and were unable to make up any ground, falling to the NCAA Division II Seasiders 97-86.
Jermaine Walton led all scorers with 30 points. Walton also led both teams in assists with eight. Three other scorers also scored in double figures for Northern Jeff Graham (15), K.C. Moultrie (13), Uros Mirkovic (11). Spencer Lazosky led the Lights with seven rebounds, all of which were defensive.
Hot shooting was the key to this fast-paced game as Northern shot 47.7 percent from the field on the game and 50 percent from three-point range. The Lights also shot 73.7 percent from the free-throw line. BYU-Hawaii shot 54.9 percent from the field, 77.8 percent from three-point range and 63.2 percent from the free-throw line.
Scott Salisbury had a double-double for the Seasiders, scoring 21 points and adding 17 rebounds. Salisbury scored 13 of his 21 points and pulled down 10 of his 17 rebounds in the second half. Alexus Foyle led all scorers with 26 points, followed by 23 from Keli'i Naihe. Foyle also grabbed eight rebounds and Naihe six.
MSU-Northern
50
36
86
BYU-Hawaii
58
39
97
Northern Jermaine Walton 30, Spencer Lazosky 2, Uros Mirkovic 11, K.C. Moultrie 13, Josh Hays 2, Jeff Graham 15, Jared Moultrie 7, Faheem Nelson 6.
BYU-Hawaii Yuta Tabuse 3, Alexus Foyle 26, Tyree Gardner 6, Keli'i Naihe 23, Scott Salisbury 21, Beau Nobmann 2, Brian Skinner 8, Pablo Broering 8.
