Lights home for two more

After taking a break for Christmas, the Montana State University-Northern Lights will be back on the court today, taking on a rival from north of the border.

The Lights, who are 9-3 overall and 1-1 in the Frontier Conference, will close out non-conference play with consecutive home games against Concordia University of Edmonton. Northern will host the Thunder inside the Armory Gymnasium tonight at 7. The two teams will meet again Saturday at 3:30 p.m. as part of the Duck Inn Corporate Classic.

"They are a very good team," Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. "They have a very good record. They have some size and some guys that are very active. They can get to the rim and they can hit shots. It will be a very good test for us coming off the Christmas break and getting back into the swing of things. We will have to really play well if we want to be successful for them."

The first thing the Lights will need to do, is knock off the rust. Northern hasn't played a game since Dec. 15 and had 10 days off for the Christmas break.

"Yeah, we had 10 days off to go see the family and do those types of things," Huse said. "So it's been nice for them. They got done with finals and things and then we had that last game. It's been a good break for these guys. I think we got a good chance to recharge our batteries, and now we are ready to get back into the swing of things."

Early in the season, a big strength for Northern has been its ability to score the basketball. The Lights come in averaging 100 points a game and they have eclipsed the century mark six times this season. They have scored at least 90 points in three other games, giving them at least 90 points in nine of their 12 contests.

One thing that has made the Lights so hard to stop is the versatility of their offense. Northern has five different players who are currently averaging double figures in points, led by Ryan Reeves, who is averaging 16.8. Gabe Porter is right behind him with an average of 16.4 and Adam Huse is also right there scoring 16.1. The others are Justin Dunsmore (14.4 ppg) and Charles Porter (10.3 ppg).

A big reason for the Lights' ability to score is how well they shoot from deep. Northern is currently shooting 44 percent from 3-point range and the Lights are led by Adam Huse, who is one of the top perimeter shooters in the NAIA. Huse is making 57 percent of his shots from deep, good enough for third in the country.

Reeves, the reigning Frontier Conference Defensive Player of the Year, is also off to a tremendous start in 2017. Not only is the big man leading MSU-N in scoring, he is also the team's leading rebounder with 8.4 per game. While he is a consistent presence offensively, Reeves has been dominant on the defensive end, blocking four shots per game, which is tops in the NAIA.

Reeves is also connecting on 66 percent of his shots offensively but is also helping the defense limit opponents to just 39 percent from the field. Teams are also shooting just 29 percent from 3-point range against MSU-N.

"We are playing really good basketball," coach Huse said. "We are doing a good job of paying close attention to detail and we just need to get back into rhythm and also look to keep improving before getting back into conference play."

The Lights will play University of Providence Tuesday, but in Concordia, they will face a team that is also used to Frontier opponents. The Thunder played in Butte against Montana Tech Wednesday and Thursday, before making the trip to Havre to take on the Lights. Back-to-back games against the same team are unusual for the Lights, but Huse said it was necessary to fill out the schedule.

"It's not ideal, but sometimes it's what you have to do to fill your non-conference schedule," Huse said. "It is different. We might have to make some adjustments before that second game. It's kind of like the old days in the Frontier Conference."

The Lights and Thunder will play the first of back-to-back games tonight at 7.