New Conference for Blue Hawks | Video

Lee Timmerman | 1/29/2013

It will take the entire school year before the Frontier Conference ceases to be new for Dickinson State. The fall sports made their first run through the league and now the winter sports are doing the same. The men`s basketball team picked up its third conference win last weekend.

It was the Blue Hawks` seventh league game, and despite only being a game under 500, they`re sitting eighth in a nine team conference.

"It`s our first year in the Frontier, which is one of the top conferences in the nation. Everybody keeps saying that and saying our schedule is one of the toughest ones around and I think our kids are really stepping up to the occasion but every game is a new game and it`s not like it was 20 years ago where you could get on a run and really start beating people. Now everybody has every asset in the world at their fingertips and they can get in there an know exactly what you`re doing," said coach Ty Orton.

Four Frontier teams are ranked or receiving votes in the latest NAIA national poll. It`s the second time through the conference for some teams which will help the Hawks prepare for their opponents.

"Now that we got a chance to see everybody and we got a chance to scout some different teams hopefully we`ll be more consistent and we know what we need to work on against each specific team and what not and just try to get better and better every day," said senior Jarek Hansen.

"It`s definitely a grind. It`s tough competition every night and you got to be ready to play every night if you take a night off you`re going to get beat so you definitely got to come ready to play," said junior Robbie Morey.

The Blue Hawks beat Montana-Western last time out and their next time out is on Saturday at home against Montana Tech.

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