Lights silence the Thunder in the Armory

The Montana State University-Northern Lights had a long holiday break, going nearly a month without a game. But, with Frontier Conference play looming, the Lights have made up for lost time.

The No. 25 Lights closed out non-conference play over the weekend with two convincing wins of Concordia-Edmonton inside the Armory Gymnasium, and head coach Shawn Huse says his team feels good about where it’s heading into league play.

“I’m pretty satisfied with how we played this weekend,” Huse said. “We needed some games to help us shake off the cobwebs from Christmas break, and these two games were good for that. And we won both, so I think we’re ready for conference play. I like where our team is at right now.”

If Northern keeps shooting the ball the way it did Saturday night against Concordia, the rest of the Frontier should be worried. In a 122-61 win over the Eagles, the Thunder, the Lights nailed 23 3-pointers, and they scored a whopping 63 points in the first half alone.

Brett Thompson, K.J. Rech and Tyler Chandler all knocked down long-range shots in the first five minutes, as the Lights out-scored Concordia 19-2 to start the game. And from there, it just got worse for the Thunder, who were without two of their top three scorers.

Leading 63-27 at halftime, it didn’t matter what lineup was on the floor for Northern, the Lights just kept making shots, on their way to their highest offensive output of the season.

All 13 Lights scored in the blowout win, with seven different Lights making at least one 3-pointer. Trevail Lee hit five shots from deep and scored 15 points, while Chandler and Thompson each scored 14 points, and combined for eight triples. Kevin Oberweiser hit three bombs and scored 13, while Ryan Reeves had a strong game with nine points.

And though Northern made it look easy Saturday night, a rematch with the Thunder Sunday afternoon didn’t start out that way. In a 92-54 Lights win, the Thunder stayed close for much of the first half, and trailed MSU-N just 39-28 at the break.

However, the second half was much more like Saturday night’s game. Rech buried back-to-back triples, and Dylan Tatarka hit one as well, and in the first six minutes of the second stanza, Northern out-scored the Thunder 19-0. A bomb by Chandler with 13:15 left in the game put the Lights up 64-34, and they never looked back, improving to 12-2 on the season.

“Everybody got to play quality minutes this weekend, and they did a good job with those minutes,” Huse said. “That’s something I really like about this team. We have weapons and we have depth, but everybody puts the team first, and I thought that really showed with how balanced we were in these last two games.”

In Sunday’s rout, 12 different Lights scored, with Chandler’s 16 points leading the way. Rech hit three triples and scored 13, while Thompson had 11 and Lee chipped in with 10. Northern was also dominant on the boards, as the Lights out-rebounded the scrappy Thunder 40-22. MSU-N also hit 11 more threes, giving the Lights a whopping 34 in two games.

And while both games were blowouts this weekend, things will get decidedly more difficult when MSU-N resumes league play Thursday night against UGF and Friday night against nationally ranked Carroll College. Still, Huse says he feels confident his team is ready for what it will face in the Frontier over the next two months.

“I like our chemistry right now,” Huse said. “We have a very unselfish team, and they play very hard. That will certainly go a long way for us as we get into conference play. I think the non-conference season has been really good for us, and we feel very ready for what we’ll be facing next.”

Lights 122, Concordia 61

CE – B. Purnell 2-6 1-2 5, B. Jakubek 1-5 0-0 3, N. Wojcicki 3-8 2-3 9, B. Grimsrud 2-8 0-0 4, M. Malin 1-5 2-2 4, T. Solts 4-11 0-0 11, E. Pemberton 2-5 2-2 7, R. McLaron 1-4 8-8 10, G. McKie 3-8 2-2 8. Totals: 19-60 16-17 61.

MSU-N – Tyler Chandler 5-9 0-0 14, K.J. Rech 2-4 2-2 7, Ryan Reeves 4-6 1-1 9, Dylan Tatarka 2-5 2-2 8, Brett Thompson 5-7 0-0 14, Trevail Lee 5-6 0-0 15, Badhasa Margarsa 1-1 2-2 4, David Straughter 3-6 2-3 8, Kevin Oberweiser 3-6 4-4 13, Warren Edmondson 3-6 0-0 8, Justin Dunsmore 1-5 2-2 5, Nikola Ivanovic 3-5 0-0 7, William Walker 5-6 0-0 10. Totals: 42-72 15-16 122.

Halftime: Northern 63-37. 3-pointers: CE 7-18 (Purnell 1, Jakubek 1, Wojcicki 1, Solts 3, Pemberton 1), MSU-N 23-39 (Chandler 4, Rech 1, Tatarka 2, Thompson 4, Lee 5, Oberweiser 3, Edmondson 2, Dunsmore 1, Ivanovic 1); Rebounds: CE 22 (McLaron 5), MSU-N 34 (Chandler 7); Fouls: CE 12, MSU-N 14. Fouled out: None; Technical Fouls: CE 1.

Lights 92, Concordia 54

CE – E. Pemberton 2-9 0-2 4, B. Jakubec 3-6 3-6 10, N. Wojcicki 5-9 1-4 11, B. Grimsrud 3-6 0-2 7, M. Malin 4-5 0-0 8, T. Solts 0-2 2-2 2, B. Purnell 2-6 0-0 4, R. McLaron 3-5 0-0 8, G. McKie 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 22-52 6-16 54.

MSU-N – David Straughter 1-6 6-6 8, KJ Rech 5-6 0-0 13, Trevail Lee 4-8 1-1 10, Warren Edmondson 2-7 2-2 6, Dylan Tatarka 1-3 2-2 5, Badhasa Margarsa 0-3 0-0 0, Kevin Oberweiser 2-5 0-0 6, Justin Dunsmore 1-1 1-2 3, Brett Thompson 4-5 1-1 11, Tyler Chandler 6-12 2-2 16, Nikola Ivanovic 3-5 0-0 6, William Walker 2-3 0-0 4, Ryan Reeves 1-1 2-3 4. Totals: 32-65 17-19 92.

Halftime: Northern 39-28. 3-pointers: CE 4-10 (Jakubec 1, Grimsrud 1, McLaron 2), MSU-N 11-30 (Rech 3, Lee 1, Tatarka 1, Oberwesier 2, Thompson 2, Chandler 2); Rebounds: CE 19 (Pemberton 3), MSU-N 40 (Straughter 8, Chandler 8); Fouls: CE 17, MSU-N 17; Fouled out: None.