The MSU-Northern Lights basketball team was the first on court for the 2024 Frontier Conference Basketball Tournament in Great Falls on Thursday afternoon as the No. 5 seed. They were handed a (63-45) defeat to No. 4 seeded Montana Western and the season was officially over in this single-elimination format.
Northern had a (32-29) halftime lead after sophomore guard Dae’Kwon Watson hoisted a 3-pointer at the horn to come out with nine points in the first 20 minutes. The two teams battled back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but then the Lights went cold from the floor. Their final bucket came courtesy of Watson at the 7:43 mark of regulation. Western was able to take advantage of the misses and finished the contest on a (16-0) run.
In his final game as a Light, senior guard Zack Martinez had eight points, while Watson led the way for Northern with 16. Junior forward Xavier Bailey was the only other Northern player in double-figures, scoring 10 on 50 percent shooting. Abi Adedo was the overall scoring leader for the game, putting in 23 points for Western. The Bulldogs got 14 points each from Jalyn Stepney and Christian Pitcher.
The 2023-24 MSU-Northern Lights finished their season with an (11-18) overall record and will lose Martinez and Myles Dalton to graduation. Dalton actually got into the game for 10 minutes in the loss to Western in his first action since having knee surgery in December.
