Lights add stellar new shooting guard

The Frontier Conference basketball season is a ways off, but Montana State University-Northern basketball players will be arriving on campus very soon.

And Northern head coach Shawn Huse recently announced a new addition to the MSU-N program.

Huse announced the signing of Nicholas Blount, a transfer from Los Medanos Community College in California. Blount, a 6-3 guard from Pittsburgh, Calif., comes to the Lights from the same community college which produced former MSU-N star Joe Simpson.

“Nick was one of the most prolific scorers in my 12 years of coaching at Los Medanos, averaging just under 24 points per game,” Los Medanos head coach Derek Domenichelli said. “But his hard work and rebounding will be tremendously missed in our program.”

As a sophomore at Los Medanos, Blount averaged a whopping 23.5 points per game to go along with seven rebounds. He exploded for a career-high 45 points against Cosumnes River in a 93-79 win last December. His 45-point night including making 11 3-pointers.

For his efforts, Blount was named First Team All Bay Valley Conference last season. And Huse says his scoring ability should fill help fill the void left by the graduation of All-American Devin Jackson.

“Nick has the capability to provide a key piece to helping replace the void left by Devin,” Huse said. “He is a very good shooter, has good size and rebounds very well from the guard spot. He understands the tradition of basketball that we have established here and is anxious to keep it going. And although he puts a great deal of points on the scoreboard, he also is very much a team player who I anticipate will fit in very well with the squad. We are very excited he chose to be a Light, and we look forward to watching him perform with our returners and newcomers.”

Blount plans on majoring in business administration at Northern. He’s the third addition to the Lights’ 2013 recruiting class, which also includes Montana prep standouts Brett Thompson of Laurel and Dylan Tatarka of Great Falls High. Last season’s Lights, graduated their one senior, Devin Jackson; finished 23-10 overall, 10-6, third place in League; and earned their third trip in a row, fourth in five years, to the NAIA National Tournament.