Bobcats Fall to Fresno in OT
12/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Moments away from turning the tables on a team that beat them by 39 points less than two weeks ago, Montana State fell 82-77 to Fresno State in overtime Saturday.
The 8-1 Bulldogs converted all eight of their overtime free throws and visited the charity stripe 15 times more than MSU. Fresno State led by as many as 10 points in the second half, and held a five-point cushion with 67 seconds to play before the Bobcats made a charge.
Fresno State beat the Bobcats 80-41 on November 29 in Fresno. "We're certainly not into moral victories," said Bobcat coach Brad Huse. "It's tough, because I thought we were in position to figure out how to win this. Our guys can take a lot of positives from this."
Danny Piepoli nailed a three-pointer to cut Fresno State's lead to 67-65 with 51 seconds left in regulation, and after a Bobcat stop Carlos Taylor hit a short second-chance jumper as time expired to send the game to overtime. "It was nice that (Taylor) was able to create some shots and do some things athletically," said Bobcat coach Brad Huse. "You can only run so many sets and plays until somebody's got to make a play."
The play made by Taylor, who came off the bench Saturday for the first time this season, at the end of regulation seemed overshadowed early in the overtime. With 3:09 to play Taylor sank two free throws to tie the score, and on MSU's next possession he hit a layup, was fouled, and converted the free throw to give MSU its first lead since midway through the first half.
Quinton Hosley, who scored a game-high 30 points, answered by hitting four straight free throws, but Taylor converted a short jumper to help MSU regain the lead with 18 seconds to play. Hector Hernandez hit a layup with 10 seconds to play on the other end, but Bobcat guard Casey Durham drew a foul on the ensuing possession give him two free throws.
Durham missed both free throws, and after Dominic McGuire was fouled and hit two charity tosses Durham again missed a pair of free throws as Fresno was able to seal the win. "I don't even think twice about that," Huse said of Durham's missed free throws. "We wouldn't have been in that situation if it weren't for how Casey had played all night. He played a ton of minutes, he's played a ton of minutes all fall. I know the next time he's in that spot they're dropping."
Huse was pleased with his team's steady performance throughout the game. "We talked a lot about trying to execute on every possession," he said. "When we look back at some runs teams have been making on us it's a function of what they're doing but it's a function of what we're not doing. I credit our guys for the focus they had tonight."
Carson Durr led the Bobcats with a career-high 19 points. Taylor added 14 points, while Dissly scored 12 and Mecklen Davis a career-high 11. Importantly, the Bobcats turned the ball over only 10 times after averaging 18 turnovers through the season's first nine games.
"If you look at the turnovers tonight I'm guessing a lot of them were forced rather than unforced turnovers," Huse said. "That's been our struggle. Without question we did a nicer job of execution (Saturday). Ten turnovers is a half for us, usually. I'm pretty impressed with how we handled the ball and handled ourselves against some of their pressure."
The 8-1 Bulldogs converted all eight of their overtime free throws and visited the charity stripe 15 times more than MSU. Fresno State led by as many as 10 points in the second half, and held a five-point cushion with 67 seconds to play before the Bobcats made a charge.
Fresno State beat the Bobcats 80-41 on November 29 in Fresno. "We're certainly not into moral victories," said Bobcat coach Brad Huse. "It's tough, because I thought we were in position to figure out how to win this. Our guys can take a lot of positives from this."
Danny Piepoli nailed a three-pointer to cut Fresno State's lead to 67-65 with 51 seconds left in regulation, and after a Bobcat stop Carlos Taylor hit a short second-chance jumper as time expired to send the game to overtime. "It was nice that (Taylor) was able to create some shots and do some things athletically," said Bobcat coach Brad Huse. "You can only run so many sets and plays until somebody's got to make a play."
The play made by Taylor, who came off the bench Saturday for the first time this season, at the end of regulation seemed overshadowed early in the overtime. With 3:09 to play Taylor sank two free throws to tie the score, and on MSU's next possession he hit a layup, was fouled, and converted the free throw to give MSU its first lead since midway through the first half.
Quinton Hosley, who scored a game-high 30 points, answered by hitting four straight free throws, but Taylor converted a short jumper to help MSU regain the lead with 18 seconds to play. Hector Hernandez hit a layup with 10 seconds to play on the other end, but Bobcat guard Casey Durham drew a foul on the ensuing possession give him two free throws.
Durham missed both free throws, and after Dominic McGuire was fouled and hit two charity tosses Durham again missed a pair of free throws as Fresno was able to seal the win. "I don't even think twice about that," Huse said of Durham's missed free throws. "We wouldn't have been in that situation if it weren't for how Casey had played all night. He played a ton of minutes, he's played a ton of minutes all fall. I know the next time he's in that spot they're dropping."
Huse was pleased with his team's steady performance throughout the game. "We talked a lot about trying to execute on every possession," he said. "When we look back at some runs teams have been making on us it's a function of what they're doing but it's a function of what we're not doing. I credit our guys for the focus they had tonight."
Carson Durr led the Bobcats with a career-high 19 points. Taylor added 14 points, while Dissly scored 12 and Mecklen Davis a career-high 11. Importantly, the Bobcats turned the ball over only 10 times after averaging 18 turnovers through the season's first nine games.
"If you look at the turnovers tonight I'm guessing a lot of them were forced rather than unforced turnovers," Huse said. "That's been our struggle. Without question we did a nicer job of execution (Saturday). Ten turnovers is a half for us, usually. I'm pretty impressed with how we handled the ball and handled ourselves against some of their pressure."
Wednesday, August 19
Wednesday, June 10
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
