DILLON -- The Montana Western men's and women's basketball teams earned a Frontier Conference doubleheader sweep over Montana State-Northern on Saturday at Straugh Gymnasium. The Bulldog men improved to 3-2 on the season (2-2 Frontier) with an 89-73 win, while the Western women notched an 83-69 win to get to 6-1 overall (4-1 Frontier).
The teams meet again on Sunday with the women set to tip off at 2 p.m. and the men to follow at 4 p.m.
Montana Western men 89, Montana State-Northern 73
Montana Western cruised to a wire-to-wire 89-73 win over MSU-Northern behind a game-high 25 points from Jalen Hodges. The Bulldogs never trailed in the game, building a 47-41 halftime lead en route to the win. The final 16-point margin was their largest lead of the game.
Hodges made 10 of 13 field goal attempts in just 15 minutes of time on the court. Jamal Stephenson added 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, and Jok Jok had 14 points. The Bulldogs shot 64% for the game and 7 of 15 from 3-point range, with Stephenson, Jok and Tanner Haverfield each sinking two triples. Max Clark dished out five assists and Jok added four, as the Bulldogs totaled 17 assists as a team.
David Harris led MSU-Northern with 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting, but the Lights finished with just seven assists. Northern fell to 1-3 on the season (0-3 Frontier).
Montana Western women 83, Montana State-Northern 69
Shainy Mack scored a game-high 23 points, making five 3-pointers, to help Montana Western to an 83-69 win over visiting MSU-Northern.
Mack, a Three Forks native, made 9 of 12 shots in the game and was 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Brynley Fitzgerald (15 points) and Mesa King (10) also finished in double figures for the Bulldogs, who shot 51.6% in the game.
Western built a 21-16 lead at the end of the first quarter and led 44-35 at halftime. After outscoring the Skylights 23-18 in the third quarter, the Bulldogs pushed the lead to as many as 21 points midway through the fourth quarter before MSUN closed the deficit to the final 83-69 margin.
Peyton Kehr had a team-high 20 points for the Skylights, who fell to 1-6 overall (0-3 Frontier).
