Lights begin Frontier playoff march at Montana Tech

Jan. 23, the Montana State University-Northern Lights were 2-7 in the Frontier Conference. Needless to say, with the season halfway gone, the Lights were in tough shape.

But, Northern head coach Shawn Huse never wavered on his belief that his team was still destined to be a force in the Frontier. And, eventually, his Lights proved him right.

The Lights finished the regular season by going 7-2, knocking off a plethora of NAIA and Frontier powers, and getting to .500 in the league at 9-9. It wasn't quite enough to catch Montana Tech for fourth in the final league standings, so the Lights (19-11) will play the Orediggers (18-11) in the first round of the conference playoffs tonight in Butte.

But, no matter where the Lights ended up, Huse was just proud of the way they stayed the course.

"We have played a great back half of conference," Huse said. "We are now going on the road for round one and I really like how we have been playing, as of late."

Northern has been playing exceptionally well, and the Lights finished with a bang, beating No. 10 Providence Saturday night in Great Falls. That meant MSU-N beat everybody but regular season champion LC State this season, and the Lights were 2-1 against the Orediggers this season.

Still, Tech will present plenty of challenges, as Sindou Diallo and Taylor England combine for 34 points per game, while Troy Owens Jr. and Wyatt Pannebacker both average 10 points per game for the Orediggers, who have been the biggest turnaround story in the Frontier this season.

Northern, though, just beat Tech in Butte on Feb. 13, and the Lights have really been on fire ever since. They are shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc, with Adam Huse, Mascio McCadney, Devin Bray, Kavon Bey and Anthony Harris all very dangerous from downtown. MSU-N also makes plenty of hay on defense, as the Lights led the Frontier in scoring defense at just 64 points per night allowed.

Now though, no matter what happened in the regular season, the goal will be to win a Frontier title and go to the national tournament. In order to the latter, the Lights must cut down the nets at the end of the playoffs. And so, that's what Huse and company will try and do over the next week.

"Now we will have to go out and earn it if we are going to get it," Huse said. "We know, everyone in this league is tough."

Tonight's Frontier Conference playoff game between Northern and Montana Tech tips off at 6 in Butte. The winner will travel to Lewis-Clark State for the semifinals Friday night.