Lights hoping to turn the tables on UGF and Carroll

When the Montana State University-Northern men’s basketball team traveled to UGF and Carroll College earlier this month, the Lights were off to an unbeaten start in Frontier Conference play. But that road trip ended with back-to-back defeats.

Now, the Lights (4-4, 15-5) are hoping to flip the script on the Argos and Fighting Saints.

Northern wraps up a six-game home stand, starting tonight with a showdown with UGF inside the Armory Gymnasium. The Lights then play No. 13 Carroll Friday night. Both games tip at 8 p.m.

And make no mistake, both games are huge for the Lights. When they lost to UGF and Carroll on the road, they knew they were coming home for six in a row. Now however, when the Lights are done with the Argos and Saints, they’ll have to go out on the road for six straight league games, not returning to the Armory until Feb. 23-24.

“I feel we have come a long ways since the first go-round with these two and need to keep improving as we close in on the last round of conference action,” Northern head coach Shawn Huse said.

But while the Lights may have come a long way, they have hit some speed bumps too. Northern is 2-4 in its last four league games, and in those four losses, shooting has been an issue. In last Saturday’s loss to Lewis-Clark State, the Lights, who lead the NAIA in scoring defense, and field goal percentage defense, shot an abysmal 29 percent from the field. So, the formula for the Lights is simple, they need to shoot the ball better to go along with their tremendous defense.

“Bottom line is we have to make shots and not squander possessions,” Huse said. “I feel we have not done a very good job of getting the looks we wanted,”

When the Lights are shooting it well, they are a force to be reckoned with. Despite their recent struggles, the Lights are still sixth in the NAIA in 3-point shooting and sixth in field goal percentage. So when Northern’s deep roster of guards, including Tyler Chandler, the steadily-emerging Devin Bray, Cameron Epps, Charles Porter, Dylan Tatarka and Kevin Oberwesier, are knocking down good looks, it opens things up inside for leading scorer Ryan Reeves and star senior David Straughter.

And that’s what the Lights will need to do over the next two nights, because both of their opponents can put points on the board, even against a great defense like Northern’s.

UGF (2-6, 10-9), which beat MSU-N earlier this month in Great Falls has a host of athletic scoring threats, led by point guard Connor Brooks-McGregor (5-8), Sergio Berkley (6-3) and Isaac Howard (6-6), as well as tenacious forward Sigman Farmer III (6-1). That foursome combines for 42 of UGF’s 78 points per game.

And then there’s Carroll. The Fighting Saints (7-1, 17-3) will bring a six-game winning streak into the Armory Friday night, including a thrashing of the talented UM-Western Bulldogs last Thursday. Offensively, Carroll is as good as it gets, averaging 85 points per game, shooting an NAIA-best 42 percent from three and a sizzling 54 percent from the field. Defensively, Carroll’s numbers aren’t quite as good, but the Saints did hold the Lights to 51 points in a 63-51 win back on Jan. 7.

No, offense is where Carroll gets the job done, and it’s because the Saints don’t just have weapons, they have experienced weapons. Senior All-Americans Ryan Imhoff (6-6) and Zach Taylor (6-0) average 17 and 16 points, respectively. Sophomores Match Burnham (6-8) and Matt Wyman (6-7) also may be young by grade, but they started as a freshman, and junior big man Oliver Carr (6-6) has a boatload of experience as well. Carroll also has a deep and talented bench that includes former Havre Blue Pony Dane Warp.

So with very good teams coming into the Armory, including perhaps the hottest team in the NAIA right now in Carroll, it’s no doubt a big weekend for the Lights, who are trying to stay in the top half of the Frontier standings.

“Both teams have proven they can put a plethora of points on the scoreboard in many different ways,” Huse said. “We need to get off to a better start than last time as it seemed UGF made no mistakes and made every shot. With Carroll, we need to finish better down the stretch as we had our chances but had some panic possessions that really hurt us in the end.

“But we feel like we’ve continued to improve,” he added. “And that’s been the goal all along with this team. And we’re excited to once again be on our home floor for two more Frontier Conference games.”

Tonight’s game between Northern and UGF tips at 8 in the Armory, as does Friday’s bout between MSU-N and Carroll. The Lights then head to Rocky Mountain College next Thursday and UM-Western next Saturday.