Lights moving on with tough road games at Carroll and Rocky

With what happened to the Montana State University-Northern Lights last Saturday night inside the Armory Gymnasium, it would be easy for them to dwell on it. It would even be understandable. But this is Frontier Conference basketball, and the Lights can't afford to look back.

With road games awaiting the Lights against Carroll College and Rocky Mountain College this weekend, the Lights don't have any choice but to move on.

Following their devastating and controversial loss to Lewis-Clark State last Saturday in Havre, as well as a two-game sweep at home, the Lights (0-2, 11-7) will take on red-hot Carroll College (1-1, 12-4) tonight in Helena, then travel to play RMC (0-2, 11-5) Saturday night in Billings.

Tonight, the Lights will be in search of their first conference win of the season, and Northern head coach Shawn Huse is confident his team is ready to focus solely on the Fighting Saints, and not dwell on last Saturday's disappointment.

"In about 20 years of coaching, I've learned that kids the age of our guys are a lot better at putting things like last Saturday behind them than us coaches do," Huse said. "And they came right back in Monday, and it was business as usual. We've had a good week of practice and our only focus has been Carroll and Rocky, as it should be."

And the Lights need to be focused on the Saints. Carroll is playing like anything but the team that was picked to finish last in the Frontier. The Saints knocked off Westminster last Thursday night in Salt Lake City, and it's clear they're back to the type of program that Carroll fans have come to expect after they finished last in the Frontier the last two seasons.

Led by sophomore guard Zach Taylor's 18 points per game, the Saints are an efficient offensive team. Carroll averages 74 points per game and shoots better than 45 percent from the floor. Taylor has help, too. Freshman Oliver Carr is averaging 15 points and five rebounds per night, while the Saints have a strong inside presence around Carr with veterans Jake Hollifeld and Zane Kirkendol.

"Carroll has shown they are a team to be reckoned with," Huse said. "They do a lot of different things really well. They have a great point guard who is playing as well as anybody in our league right now, but they also have a lot of weapons around him. They can beat you in a lot of different ways, so we're going to have to establish ourselves on the defensive end right away. Playing solid defense is going to be very big for us in that game."

Northern can be a solid defensive team. But, the Lights also must be balanced. They got a huge 32-point effort from Trevail Lee in their 80-76 loss to LC State last weekend, but the Lights certainly want to be more consistent on the offensive end. So look for a big bounce-back weekend from senior Corbin Pearson, who struggled at home last week. Warren Edmonson and Nick Blount also combine to average 22 points per night, while the Lights will continue to look at the 3-point shot as a weapon. MSU-N leads the Frontier at 41 percent shooting from beyond the arc.

And while the Lights will need to be sharp on both ends of the floor tonight in Helena, they'll likely need to be even better Saturday night in Billings. Like Northern, RMC was stunned with back-to-back losses on the opening weekend of league play, but the Battlin' Bears are as potent an offensive team as there is in the country, as they average a whopping 90 points per game. And after two losses last weekend, they'll certainly be hungry to right the ship at home.

"Rocky does a great job of striking quick," Huse said. "They're just so dangerous in transition. So that will be the big key for us. We've got to get back and play good transition defense, and play well in our own transition game. But yes, they (Bears) are a very dangerous offensive team with a lot of weapons."

Indeed. The Bears are dangerous because they have 6-3 senior guard Tyree Anderson. Anderson was touted as the Frontier Preseason Player of the Year, and while his scoring is down this season, he's capable of torching even the best of defenses. RMC is also much more balanced, and the Bears' depth will be a factor. Malachi Roberts and Zach Hinton average 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Sian Lane scores another 11. The Bears also have four more players who average between nine and seven points per game.

So, with two tough road games, the Lights are certainly painted into an early-season corner. An 0-4 start in conference play would be a disaster for Northern, so it's imperative the Lights find some success on this weekend's road trip.

"It's not unlike any other weekend in our league," Huse said "Every game is going to be a huge challenge and these two games will be no different. We need to really establish ourselves on defense in both games, and then make sure we play smart, tough Northern basketball. If we do that, we'll be fine."

Tonight's game between the Lights and Saints will tip at 7:30 in Helena. The Lights and Bears will tip at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night in Billings. Northern is back home to host UM-Western and Westminster next weekend.