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MSU-N Daily Diary: Skylights Faupel, Filius honored at NAIA banquet

The Montana State University-Northern Skylights are working hard on getting ready for their NAIA national tournament, first-round game Thursday night.

But the Skylights still had a busy day away from the basketball court as well.

On Tuesday, the Skylights' third day in Billings, Northern got the morning started with business.

MSU-N practiced at the Alterowitz Gymnasium Tuesday, on the campus of MSU-Billings. The 11th-ranked Skylights are hard at working preparing to face the Loyola Wolfpack, a quick, athletic team from New Orleans Thursday night.

(For more on the Wolfpack, see Page A7).

But while the Wolfpack are indeed talented, MSU-N head coach Chris Mouat said his team's identity cannot change once the ball is tipped Thursday night.

"We have to be who we are," Mouat said. "They (Wolfpack) are a very athletic team, that presents all kinds of challenges for us. But we still have to do the things that got us here. We have to play our style."

While MSU-N had an excellent practice at MSU-B Tuesday, the Skylights also had a busy day and night.

Tuesday was team photo day inside the Rimrock Auto Arena, and Tuesday night was the annual NAIA Champions of Character Banquet, and that turned out to be a successful night for MSU-N all the way around.

Northern senior Natalee Faupel was named NAIA WBCA All-American for the second straight year. Faupel earned First-Team honors last season, and received Honorable Mention this year.

MSU-N sophomore Peyton Filius was also given the NAIA Champions of Character Award at the banquet. Filius is a guard for the Skylights, majoring in elementary education.

Speaking of education, eight Northern players received NAIA Academic All-American honors Tuesday night as well. According to assistant coach Kristie Pullin, that was the most of any team in the 32-team national tournament.

While the Skylights are just one day away from finally playing in the tourney, the NAIA's Big Dance starts today with eight first-round games. Northern has a busy day scheduled with practice, a community service outing and watching fellow Frontier Conference members UM-Western and Rocky Mountain College play their opening-round games.

 

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