Bobcats Avenge Loss with Win of SJSU
12/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Junior guard Ja'Ron Jefferson scored in double-digits for the fourth straight game and Al Beye had eight points and six rebounds in his Bobcat regular-season debut, leading Montana State to a 72-59 win over San Jose State in Bozeman on Tuesday.
MSU's win avenged an earlier loss to the Spartans, in which SJSU's Marquin Chandler hit a game-winner with one second left. Chandler scored 22 on Tuesday, but the Bobcats countered that effort by out-rebounding San Jose State 34-to-33 and forcing 16 Spartan turnovers. "Our rotations are better," Jefferson said of MSU's trapping defense. "Coach Durham shows us what we're doing wrong on film, and when we go back out on the court we make those corrections."
The Bobcats built an 11-point lead late in the first half, but back-to-back MSU turnovers allowed San Jose State to trim the lead to seven at halftime and five a minute into the second half. The Spartans were within four points at the 12:39 mark when Eric Bloom hit an intermediate-range jumper, but Jefferson triggered a 12-2 run with a free throw and a three-pointer, and Beye got a slam from a Nick Dissly feed to stretch the lead back to 10. The Spartans would get no closer.
"In both halves I thought there were a couple of possessions where we turned it over a couple times in a row," Durham said. "If we hadn't turned it over there in the second half we might have had it pretty well in hand."
Montana State's third straight win is a season high, and came in a span of five days. "I thought our guards played kind of tired," Durham said. "They had to battle through that. And we have one more to go."
The Bobcats' last game before Christmas comes Thursday in Orem, Utah, against red-hot Utah Valley State.
MSU's win avenged an earlier loss to the Spartans, in which SJSU's Marquin Chandler hit a game-winner with one second left. Chandler scored 22 on Tuesday, but the Bobcats countered that effort by out-rebounding San Jose State 34-to-33 and forcing 16 Spartan turnovers. "Our rotations are better," Jefferson said of MSU's trapping defense. "Coach Durham shows us what we're doing wrong on film, and when we go back out on the court we make those corrections."
The Bobcats built an 11-point lead late in the first half, but back-to-back MSU turnovers allowed San Jose State to trim the lead to seven at halftime and five a minute into the second half. The Spartans were within four points at the 12:39 mark when Eric Bloom hit an intermediate-range jumper, but Jefferson triggered a 12-2 run with a free throw and a three-pointer, and Beye got a slam from a Nick Dissly feed to stretch the lead back to 10. The Spartans would get no closer.
"In both halves I thought there were a couple of possessions where we turned it over a couple times in a row," Durham said. "If we hadn't turned it over there in the second half we might have had it pretty well in hand."
Montana State's third straight win is a season high, and came in a span of five days. "I thought our guards played kind of tired," Durham said. "They had to battle through that. And we have one more to go."
The Bobcats' last game before Christmas comes Thursday in Orem, Utah, against red-hot Utah Valley State.
Wednesday, June 10
Friday, March 27
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