Lights take a trip to DII Chadron

The Montana State University-Northern Lights came home from Las Vegas last weekend with a big, big win. Northern knocked off fourth-ranked Arizona Christian in overtime last Saturday afternoon — which was certainly a statement victory for the unranked Lights.

However, as good as Arizona Christian is, the Lights (7-0) will step up in competition Monday when they travel to Nebraska to take on Chadron State, an NCAA Division II program. The Chadron game was a late addition to MSU-N’s schedule, and up to this point, Northern head coach Shawn Huse hasn’t decided if the game will be an official contest, or an exhibition.

But whichever way Huse goes with Monday night’s game, it will be a tough one nonetheless.

“Anytime you play up in levels on an opponent's home floor, you are in for a challenge,” Huse said. “Chadron State is very athletic and has good size. We know we will need to play good Northern basketball to go in there and be successful.”

Though the Eagles, of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Association, will present plenty of challenges to the Lights on Monday night, they are also a young team that is in somewhat of a rebuilding mode. Chadron is 0-1 this season heading into a Sunday night affair with the Dickinson State Blue Hawks, a team Northern already beat this season.

Chadron’s 6-0 guard Warren Gordon, as well 5-11 point guard Justin Anderson and is usually the case when the Lights go up in competition, the Eagles will have a distinct height advantage. Chadron plays four players who are 6-5 or taller, and they have a beast in the middle in 6-10 senior Jay Felston.

Still, Northern is poised to give Chadron all it can handle. The Lights are deep and talented, led by the backcourt tandem of Trevail Lee and Warren Edmonson, and the steady play inside of K.J. Rech and David Straughter. All four have scored in double figures at least once this season, while Edmonson leads the Lights with his 13 points per game average.

Northern’s bench has been something special too thus far. Tyler Chandler is scoring 11 points per game off the pine, while Will Walker, Badhasa Margasa and Justin Dunsmore are giving MSU’s quality minutes. Freshman Ryan Reeves (6-10) is also improving with every game.

And as well as the Lights are playing right now, Huse would like to see his team keep improving, and playing an NCAA team like the Eagles gives his Lights a chance to do just that.

“I like where our team is at right now,” Huse said. “No matter what happens on this trip, it will once again provide more experience for us, which is a the main goal and a key to galvanizing further, as we enter the start to league season, which is now just two weeks away.”

The Lights will play at Chadron Monday night at 7 p.m. Northern will then have a break until it opens Frontier Conference play Dec. 3 at Rocky Mountain College. The Lights aren’t back at home until Jan. 2-3 games against Concordia-Alberta.