MSU-Northern Skylights basketball picked up their second win of the 2024 season, beating Dickinson State in the home opener on Monday night, (76-58). New Media Broadcasters was able to catch up with head coach Chris Mouat after the contest and he explained how being down (40-33) at the break led to key adjustments in turning the game around.
“To show the guts and courage to come back from down seven and not really look back, I’m just super proud,” Mouat said. “This was anybody’s game. In fact, it was probably (Dickinson State’s) game at halftime if I’m being honest.”
“They had momentum (and) they were playing better than us,” Mouat continued. “Beating us to the rim, doing good things.”
“In the second half, we just asserted ourselves on the defensive end and got ourselves going on offense,” Mouat said. “But that’s the greatest thing is all the contributions, one through 12 down the line. Everybody did something that came in.”
The celebrating lasted less than 24 hours as the Skylights hit the film room the very next day and have been working on a short week matchup. Mouat kept it real by detailing the last time his team met Embry-Riddle, which was a (63-56) Eagles win back in December of last year on a neutral court in Arizona.
“I have a bunch of returners that shouldn’t be reminded. They beat us in (a suburb of) Phoenix last year,” Mouat said. “I think that was a poor showing for us. I think we played very poorly.”
“I think our kids would agree with that. I probably coached poorly (too),” Mouat continued. “It was one of those nights where we were not good across the board.”
“Embry-Riddle ends up being a national tournament team last year,” Mouat said. “(We’ll watch) film at 3 o’clock, getting ready to go on those guys, really breaking our game down.”
Northern (2-2) will travel down to take on Embry-Riddle later today with tip-off scheduled for 5pm in Great Falls.
