The Montana State University-Northern Lights men's basketball team delivered an impressive performance Wednesday evening, cruising to an 82-44 victory over Westcliff University at the Armory Gymnasium.
Northern controlled the contest from the opening minutes, putting together a strong first-half effort to take a 45-23 lead into halftime. The Lights continued to build on their advantage after the break, outscoring Westcliff 37-21 in the second half to secure the 38-point victory.
Luke Holecek led the offensive attack for Northern with a game-high 23 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the field and connecting on four three-pointers. He also added three rebounds and two assists.
Austin Ramos turned in another strong performance, finishing with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including three three-pointers.
Claysen Delp contributed 10 points, shooting an efficient 4-of-5 from the floor and knocking down two shots from beyond the arc.
Tracen Jilot also reached double figures, adding 10 points off the bench while collecting five rebounds and dishing out two assists.
Cinque Maxwell chipped in eight points, two rebounds and two assists.
Northern received valuable contributions throughout the lineup.
Jeffrey Tjelde added four points and six rebounds, while
Shay Brannon finished with four points and four rebounds.
Jonny Gasologa contributed three points and six rebounds, and
Arthur Grady Jr. added three assists.
The Lights were efficient offensively throughout the evening, shooting 58.9 percent (33-of-56) from the field and 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from three-point range. Northern also held a 40-29 advantage in rebounding and recorded 20 assists as a team.
Defensively, the Lights limited Westcliff to just 27.4 percent shooting from the floor and 10 percent from beyond the arc. Northern built its largest lead of 43 points late in the second half.
With the victory, Northern moves to 1-0 on the season.
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