Saints dim the Lights in first-place battle

With a homestand this weekend at the Armory Gymnasium, the Montana State University-Northern men's basketball team was looking to solidify its place in the Frontier Conference standings.

Heading into the weekend, the Lights were already 3-1 in conference play and were hoping to keep it up against the likes of Montana Tech and Carroll College.

But with little time to practice during the week, the Lights were already facing adversity before opening tip-off. After a loss to Tech on Thursday night, the Lights tried to rebound on Saturday against No. 6 Carroll College. But after a competitive first half, the Saints pulled away in the second half for a 61-45 win over the Lights.

"Got to give credit to Carroll. They went on a big stretch in the second half where they had a lot of guys stepping up and making shots and at the end of the day, we did not," MSU-N head coach Shawn Huse said. "At the end of the day, you just can't go through lulls like we did tonight against a team like that."

The Lights and Saints played a competitive first half on Saturday. Jesse Keltner scored a couple minutes into the game to give the Lights the lead. The Saints responded with a 6-0 run over the next few minutes. Ifeanyi Okeke started the run with a jump shot and Murat Guzelocak made a layup to cap it off and give Carroll a 6-2 lead with 14 and a half minutes left in the half.

The Lights and Saints exchanged field goals over the next few minutes. After a 3-pointer from Mascio McCadney, Gui Pedra made a bucket for the Saints. Keltner made a layup to again cut the deficit to one and Carroll swung back with a score from Garrett Long. A 3-pointer from Tanner McCliment-Call then tied the game, 10-10, with 12 and a half left in the half.

After a bucket from Shamrock Campbell, the Lights went on a 5-0 run to take a 15-12 lead. David Harris got the run started with a 3-pointer to take the lead and McCliment-Call made a basket to add to it. But the Saints swung back with a 6-0 run to retake the lead. Okeke was the driving force in the run with a pair of layups to give Carroll an 18-15 lead. McCadney responded with a 3-pointer to tie the game, 18-18, with just under six minutes left in the half.

The Saints scored a pair of buckets from Jovan Sljivancanin and Andrew Cook to take a 22-18 lead. But the Lights again responded to tie the game with a pair of baskets from Keltner and Immanuel Anderson.

In the final minutes of the half, the Lights and Saints continued to fight over the lead. McCadney made a layup to take the lead for the Lights but Campbell scored to tie the game again. With about half a minute left, T.J. Reynolds grabbed an offensive rebound and put it in for the score to give the Lights a 26-24 lead heading to the half. While the Lights squeaked out a halftime lead, Huse believes they left some points on the floor.

"We turned the ball over too much in the first half," Huse said. "It maybe could have been about a six or eight point halftime lead which may change everything as you head down the stretch."

The early minutes of the second half carried on like the first half with the teams going back and forth. Okeke made a basket to tie the game again and Harris scored to give the Lights the lead again. Okeke and Jonny Hillman then made back-to-back baskets to give the Saints the lead. The Lights again fought back with a McCadney bucket to tie the game, 30-30, with 17 and a half minutes left in the game.

But that was when the Saints finally put their stranglehold on the game with a 12-0 run. Campbell got the run started with a layup to give Carroll the lead and his teammates carried on that momentum. Sljivancanin had a pair of layups, his second giving Carroll a 42-30 lead with just under 14 minutes left in the game. Huse believes the Lights played with energy on defense, but the Saints just got their shots to go in.

"I thought we did a tremendous job with our energy with some of the wrinkles that we had on our defense," Huse said. "Yet, they still found a way to get that ball in the hole on offense."

The Lights tried to battle back into the game but they could not slow down the Saints. The Carroll offense continued to make plays as the Saints built a 53-37 lead with seven minutes left. Over the rest of the game, the Lights could get not much traction on offense and the Saints pulled away for the win. Sljivancanin scored 15 points for the Saints as he went 4-for-13 from the field and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Okeke also scored 15 points as he shot 7-for-10 from the field.

McCadney shot 5-for-12 from the field for 14 points to lead the Lights. As a team, the Lights shot 32.1 percent from the field and 24 percent from deep. Huse believes his team got some good looks, but they just were not able to connect.

"Against a defense like Carroll, you have to be able to knock down the good shots. When you get the great shots, you got to knock those in for sure. There's not a big margin of error against a team like that," Huse said.

The two-game losing streak dropped the Lights to 3-3 in conference play and they are 15-6 on the season. With hopefully a normal week of practice ahead of them, Huse hopes that he and his team can move past the loss and compete in the Frontier Conference.

"Everybody knows that we got to put it behind us and it's a very high-character group. I'm confident they'll be ready to go," Huse said. "I'm confident we'll be ready to go on Monday and start prepping for the weekend and start looking into what it's going to take against those next two opponents."

The Lights will try to rebound Thursday night at 7 p.m. when they host University of Providence.

Carroll College 61, Lights 45

CC - Jovan Sljivancanin 4-13 6-6 15, Ifeanyi Okeke 7-10 0-0 15, Shamrock Campbell 5-11 0-0 10, Jonny Hillman 3-4 0-0 6, Andrew Cook 2-3 0-0 5, Garrett Long 2-5 0-0 4, Brendan Temple 1-6 0-0 2, Murat Guzelocak 1-3 0-0 2, Gui Pedra 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 26-56 6-6 61.

MSU-N - Mascio McCadney 5-12 2-2 14, Jesse Keltner 4-8 0-0 8, Tanner McCliment-Call 2-8 2-2 7, David Harris 2-11 1-2 6, CJ Nelson 2-5 0-2 6, Immanuel Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, TJ Reynolds 1-2 0-0 2, Anthony Braggs Jr. 0-1 0-0 0, Micaiah Hauser 0-1 0-0 0, Zyare Ruffin 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 17-53 5-8.

Halftime: MSU-N 26-24. 3-pointers: CC 3-8 (Jovan Sljivancanin 1, Ifeanyi Okeke 1, Andrew Cook 1), MSU-N 6-25 (Mascio McCadney 2, CJ Nelson 2, Tanner McCliment-Call 1). Rebounds: CC 36, (Jovan Sljivancanin 13), MSU-N 25, (Jesse Keltner 6). Fouls: CC 9, MSU-N 7. Fouled out: None.