Lights blast Bison in opener

Ahead of Saturday night's season-opening game, Montana State University-Northern head coach Shawn Huse wasn't about to let his Lights look past Salish Kootenai College, not after seeing how many points the Bison had been putting up against some of Northern's Frontier brethern.

Therefore, Northern was well-prepared, and in many ways, the Lights looked like a team in mid-season form in their 111-58 pounding of the Bison inside the Armory Gymnasium.

"I was pleased that our guys were able to come out and play good basketball right away," Huse said. "We were really focused on getting off to a good start and making sure we could play as good as possible, and our guys did that tonight. It's early, and we have plenty to learn and plenty to work on, but I thought we took a step forward tonight."

The Lights needed little time taking that step.

Newcomer Mascio McCadney got the season started with a 3-pointer, and just two minutes into the new year, the Lights led 7-0. Adam Huse hit a triple of his own, and that started a 17-0 run that staked Northern to a 22-3 lead jusy seven minutes into the contest. And the hits kept coming.

Devin Bray hit two triples, McCadney nailed two more, and Cedric Crutchfield was nearly unstoppable in the paint, as the Lights raced to a 59-23 lead at halftime.

"Defensively, I thought we did a really good job tonight," Huse said. "I thought our guys were very well prepared. Salish came in scoring a lot of points. They have a lot of really good shooters, and I thought we did an excellent job defending them."

Indeed. The Lights held SKC to 39 percent shooting for the game, and a mere 27 percent from beyond the arc. They also held the Bison to just 58 points, one week after they nearly knocked off UM-Western in Dillon.

On the other end of the floor, Northern shot 56 percent from the field, 39 percent from three, and out-rebounded the Bison 46-20. In the second half, the Lights continued their onslaught, too, with James Fry hitting a three with nine minutes left to put them ahead 89-43. Bray buried his fourth trey of the game to put Northern over the century mark with 3:11 left, and Dunsmore capped the nighty with a trey to give the Lights 111 points.

In all, Northern hit 13 triples, with McCadney making four on his way to a game-high 24 points in his MSU-N debut. Bray hit four bombs as well, scoring 17 points, while Crutchfield had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Dunsmore finished with 12 points and 11 points and 12 boards, giving Northern two double-doubles, while Huse and Caulin Bakalarski both reached double figures, too.

"Overall, I'm really pleased," coach Huse said. "Our effort, our execution and our focus was really good. It was really nice to get the season off to a really good start."

Northern will have some more time off before it heads to Lewiston, Idaho, for games against New Hope Christian Nov. 9 and College of Idaho Nov. 10.

Lights 111, SKC 58

MSU-N - Justin Dunsmore 5-7 0-0 11, Cedric Crutchfield 8-9 2-2 18, Adam Huse 4-8 0-0 10, Caulin Bakalarski 5-12 0-0 11, Mascio McCadney 9-13 2-2 24, Kamari Burnside 2-3 1-1 5, Kavon Bay 2-6 0-0 4, Devin Bray 6-14 1-1 17, James Fry 3-5 0-0 7, Joe Fons 2-5 0-0 4. Totals: 46-82 6-6 111.

Halftime: Northern 59-23. 3-pointers: MSU-N 13-36 (Dunsmore 1, Huse 2, Bakalarski 1, McCadney 4, Bray 4). Rebounds: MSU-N 46 (Dunsmore 12, Crutchfield 10). Fouls: MSU-N 12, SKC 11; Fouled out: None.