Bears battle past Lights in overtime

The Montana State University-Northern Lights had a big game against the Rocky Mountain College Battlin' Bears Saturday in the Armory Gymnasium.

The game was intense and even went into an overtime period, but the No. 17 Lights were not able to hold on and fell to RMC 90-86 in a Frontier Conference showdown.

The game was the first loss of Northern's season and a tough game overall. The Bears had a lot of great shots and capitalized on turnovers. The Lights put forth a big effort, too, but unfortunately it was not enough to claim the win.

MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse was looking for a little more from his team but was happy to see the effort they put forth.

"Got to give Rocky a lot of credit for scrapping and climbing their way," said Huse. "Certainly made a lot of challenged shot form a far distance and that's tough to overcome. I thought our kids fought and fought and as many points as they put on the board, I feel like our offense let us down overall."

The first half saw seven lead changes, with Northern claiming the last one to stay on top. Great shots from Adam Huse, Kavon Bey and Gio Jackson helped give the Lights a push in the game, but Sam Vining and Clayton Ladine gave Northern a tough time with good shots, too.

RMC held the offense to a very close game, while the Bears' defense did tough work in keeping Northern from pulling ahead too far. The Lights led 44-40 at halftime.

The second half was a lot more intense than the first.

Vining and Ladine continued to make big plays, while Josh Eckmann and Grant Wallace put up some more big shots to keep it close.

Northern was down 77-75 with seconds left in the game, but Jackson put up two huge free throws to move it to overtime.

But RMC was too much in the overtime bout. Vining continued to make threes while Eckmann put in his fair share along with Ladine.

In the end, fouls shot the Lights down and two free throws by former Box Elder star Brandon The Boy sealed Rocky's victory over Northern.

Five Lights scored in double figures in the wild game, with Mascio McCadney scoring 17, and Jakcson and Jesse Keltner each adding 12. Cedric Crutch-field added 11 points and seven boards.

The Lights made 46.3-percent of their field goals, 25-percent of their three-pointers and 79.2-percent of their free throws throughout the game. RMC put up 53.2-percent of its field goals, 50-percent of its threes and 75-percent of its free throws. Needless to say, it was a tough game for Northern. The offense was contained at times, while the defense struggled to stop the Bears' three-point game.

"I'm at a loss," said Huse. "There were many easy shots we missed and it was hard for us when our leading scorer went down. But you got to respond to that somehow, which I think our kids did. I'm proud of the fight they had in them."

The Lights (6-1, 1-1), despite the difficult loss, are not done yet though, as they will look to get some more wins down in Phoenix, Arizona, in the Phoenix Frontier Challenge starting Saturday. Northern resumes Frontier Conference play in January.

Lights are 1-1 in Frontier: Next Up: at Arizona Tourney

Rocky Mountain 90, Lights 86

RMC - Clayton Ladine 7-16 3-7 21, Sam Vining 8-14 4-6 20, Kelson Eiselein 6-9 3-4 16, Grant Wallace 4-5 0-0 10, Lukas Vining 2-5 0-1 7, Brandon The Boy 2-8 0-4 6, Josh Eckmann 2-2 2-2 6, Christian Beeke 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 33-62 12-24.

MSU-N - Mascio McCadney 8-12 1-2 17, Cedric Crutchfield 4-8 0-0 11, Jesse Keltner 5-5 0-0 12, Gio Jackson 2-4 0-1 12, Devin Bray 4-11 2-8 10, Adam Huse 2-8 2-5 8, Kavon Bey 3-14 0-3 8, David Harris 3-5 0-1 8. Totals: 31-67 5-20.

3-pointers: RMC 12-24 (S. Vining 4, Ladine 3, Eiselein 3, Eckmann 2), MSU-N 5-20 (Bray 2, Huse 2, McCadney 1). Rebounds: RMC 35 (Ladine 8, S. Vining 8, Eiselein 4, Wallace 3, L. Vining 3, Beeke 3, Maxim Stephens 3, The Boy 1, Kalvin Bowen 1, Other 1), MSU-N 29 (Keltner 8, Crutchfield 7, Bray 4, Huse 4, Bey 3, Jackson 3). Fouls: RMC 24, MSU-N 16. Fouled out: none.