Seven MSU-Northern basketball players were honored during Senior Day from the Armory Gym on Saturday. Dulci SkunkCap, Ryley Kehr, Jalen Callender, Sydney Hanson, ShaAnn Danelson, Myles Dalton, and Zack Martinez were all hailed for their contributions to MSU-Northern basketball.
Before the ceremony, the MSU-Northern Skylights secured a much-needed victory over Rocky Mountain College, (71-62). Northern came out firing, outscoring Rocky, (24-10) after the first quarter. They then let the Lady Bears back in the game, only scoring one field goal in the next eight minutes. The Skylights were able to keep the game close in third before ending the contest on a (9-1) run to close out their home season. Kehr led all scorers with 14 points in her final home game, while junior forward Savannah Toms went for 13 and sophomore guard Taya Trottier finished with 10.
After the ceremony, the Lights came back from 11 points down but ultimately fell to the Battlin’ Bears, (77-75). Fast forward to the fourth quarter and junior forward Xavier Bailey sank a jumper to give the Lights a (74-72) edge with 1:14 to go, the first time since the last half of the first half that they led. Luca Brooks ended up answering with a 3-pointer in the corner to give the Bears their lead back. Redshirt freshman forward Oskar Pula tied the game at 75 with a free throw and coming down the other end, Rocky was bailed out by a foul and the Lights were over the limit. A.J. Wilson drained the free throws for the Bears and Martinez had a chance to win it at the horn, but his heave came up short. In his final home game, Martinez was the leading scorer with 17. He was joined by Bailey, who also had 17. 2nd year guards Rogan Barnwell and Dae’Kwon Watson were the last in double-figures with 10 for Northern.
The Skylights (11-15, 5-8) and Lights (11-15, 3-10) will close out regular season play on the road starting Thursday night when they head to Providence. Ladies are up first at 5pm, followed by the men around 7pm.
