Lights visit Western, Tech to start long road trip

The Montana State University-Northern Lights just ended a four-game homestand. Now, they'll have to do the same on the road.

Tonight in Dillon, the Lights (4-4, 16-7) start a four-game road trip with their second visit to Montana Western this month. Northern also travels to Montana Tech Saturday afternoon, before playing two more games on the road next week.

It will be a tough stretch for the Lights, who are coming off a gut-wrenching, last-second loss to Rocky Mountain College Saturday at home.

"It felt good to play well last week," Northern head coach Shawn Huse said. "We just need to build on that and stay the course. No one ever wants to suffer a tough, close loss like Saturday's, but we prepped and played Northern basketball for the most part of 80 minutes last week ... against two tough conference opponents. Especially in our big win on Thursday. We know there is a lot of basketball left and need to just keep working hard, as we face two more staunch conference foes this week at Western and Tech."

Western and Tech will be tough.

The Lights edged the Bulldogs (2-6, 13-10) 68-65 earlier this month in Dillon, and now they have to make a return trip to Straugh Gymnasium. And despite Western's record, it won't be easy as the Dawgs are coming off a big win over Providence, and they have four players scoring in double figures, with Jalen Hodges averaging 15, Max Clark 14, Ky Kouba adding 11 and Jamal Stephenson chipping with 10 points each night.

Of course, life on the road will get even more difficult Saturday when Northern visits Tech. The Orediggers (7-1, 18-5) stand alone atop the Frontier standings and just beat the Lights 75-66 back on Jan. 13.

Tech has been a juggernaut so far this season, thanks in part to the experienced play of Sindou Diallo and Taylor England, who are a great inside-out combo. And the addition of Montana State transfer Caleb Belch, who averages 15 points and seven rebounds per night, to an already set team, has helped vault the Orediggers to the top of the Frontier.

Northern of course, is no pushover, though.

With the combined efforts of seniors Mascio McCadney and David Harris, who together average almost 40 points per game, as well as the inside presence of Jesse Keltner, the Lights are still very much in the thick of the Frontier Conference race, and two wins on the road this weekend would go a long way toward contending for the league title.

"A lot of basketball left," Huse said. "And we've already seen, anybody can beat anybody on a given night in this league. So we just have to keep getting better, and keep moving forward."

The Lights face off against Western tonight at 7 in Dillon. Northern takes on Montana Tech Saturday at 4 p.m. in Butte. The Lights also travel to Providence and Carroll next week.