DILLON -- The Montana State-Northern men and Montana Western women each recorded Frontier Conference basketball wins on Thursday. The MSUN men eked out a 59-54 win over Western, while the Bulldog women ran away from Northern for a 58-45 victory.
Montana State-Northern men 59, Montana Western 54
Adam Huse scored a team-high 13 points and Jesse Keltner added a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds to help lift the Montana State-Northern men's basketball team to a 59-54 Frontier Conference win over Montana Western on Thursday.
The Bulldogs took a 29-25 lead into halftime, but the Lights used a second-half surge to lead by as many as nine points late in the game before holding on for the five-point win. MSUN got 20 points from its bench, including the 10 from Keltner. Reserves Devin Bray and Gio Jackson added six and four points, respectively, to a balanced scoring attack.
James Jones poured in a game-high 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting for Western, but the Bulldogs made just 6 of 26 3-point attempts in the game and only attempted four free throws. Northern, meanwhile, was 4 of 11 on 3s and 9 of 13 from the charity stripe.
Northern (14-9 overall, 4-7 Frontier Conference) is next at Rocky Mountain College on Saturday, while Western (10-12, 3-8) next plays at No. 11 Providence the same day.
Montana Western women 58, Montana State-Northern 45
Montana Western used a 17-6 third-quarter advantage to notch a 58-45 Frontier Conference women's basketball win over Montana State-Northern on Thursday.
The reigning national champion Bulldogs held a 30-27 halftime lead but dominated the second half, opening a lead as large as 24 points midway through the fourth quarter. Western utitlized a balanced offensive attack, getting 11 points from Paige Holmes, 10 from Savanna Bignell and nine each from Gracey Meyer and Mesa King. As a team, Western made 23 of 56 field goal attempts during the game.
Northern was just 19-of-54 shooting, with McKenzie Gunter (16 points) and Tiara Gilham (12) leading the way.
Western (15-7 overall, 8-3 Frontier Conference) will travel to Providence on Saturday looking to maintain its position at the top of the league standings, while Northern (15-8, 4-7) will play at Rocky Mountain College the same day.
