Lights hope to hit stride at Tech, LC State

It's been a tough Frontier Conference season so far the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team. And, a tough six-game road trip continues this weekend.

Tonight, the Lights (3-7, 14-8) are in Butte for a battle with the Montana Tech Orediggers (1-9, 6-16), and Saturday, MSU-N travels to fifth-ranked Lewis-Clark State (8-2, 20-2) for a showdown with the high-powered Warriors.

Both games are rematches from games in Havre three weeks ago, where the Lights throttled the Orediggers, but came up short in what was then part of a 10-game LC State winning streak.

While the Lights know they have it tough again this weekend, Northern head coach Shawn Huse also feels like his team is really starting to come around, especially after a solid win last Thursday night at UGF.

"Overall, last weekend was a good weekend for us and we are definitely coming on. Our full stride is not far away. I really feel that."

If the Lights are going to find their full stride, and make a run at the top half of the Frontier standings, they'll have to do two things in the next two weeks: win on the road, and shoot better than they have. In conference play, Northern is shooting just 41 percent from the field and is well below their season average from the 3-point-line.

The Lights are getting 13 points per game from Warren Edmondson. Fellow senior K.J. Rech and sophomore Ryan Reeves have both been playing well in the paint. But to be successful this weekend, the Lights will need more games like David Straughter and Badhasa Margarsa had last weekend, as well as better outside shooting as a team.

Of course, that will be easier said than done. Though the Orediggers have won just once in league play, with the likes of talented scorers Jalen Coates and Paul Engstrom, they won't be a pushover for Northern tonight.

And then there's LC State. The Warriors are clearly one of the best teams in the NAIA, and they showed why last month in Havre. LC State is led by Jake Wiley, Nick Emerson and Doug McDaniel, but what makes the Warriors so dangerous is their explosive depth. Cammie Lewis and a host of others help the Warriors lead the league in scoring at 91 points per game, but on the flip side, they also lead the Frontier in scoring defense too.

"Tech has shown they can play with anybody in this league," Huse said. We need to be well-prepped heading to Butte. They have shown a little bit of everything on both ends of the floor so we need to expect anything on Thursday night.

"LC State has set themselves apart from the pack a little this year, so it definitely does not get any easier on Saturday," he continued. "I like how we are playing right now overall, but we need to continue to tighten some bolts on our engine for the these two road challenges."

And both games, indeed, are road challenges.

With trips to UM-Western and Rocky Mountain College still looming, Northern is definitely in need of wins over the next two weeks if it wants to fully jump back into the top half of the league standings, and make a late-season charge into the Frontier playoffs.

Tonight's game between Northern and Montana Tech tips at 7:30 in Butte. Saturday night's game at Lewis-Clark State will tip at 8:30 p.m. are right back on the road next week, with games at UM-Western and Rocky Mountain College.