Old and Young Alike Lead Cats in Meaningful Win
11/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
You don't have to tell Casey Durham how important a basketball game against Boise State is to the Bobcat basketball program. The last time the Broncos visited Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, he was a Bobcat ball boy. On Friday, he hit the game-winning jumper to beat the Broncos.
You don't have to tell Bobby Howard how rare it is for a freshman to score 25-plus points for the Bobcats. He scored 27 points Friday. The last man to do that as a freshman for MSU, current assistant coach Danny Sprinkle, helped recruit him to Bozeman, and another, Howard's mother Kathleen, sat right behind the Bobcat bench.
You didn't need to tell any of the nearly 5,000 fans that streamed into the Fieldhouse for an 8 pm Friday night tilt on Cat-Griz weekend that it was a meaningful game. MSU scored an 86-84 win over Boise State, who has long since bolted the Big Sky for the greener pastures of Bowl Subdivision football and the Western Athletic Conference, but Friday's game felt for all the world like a conference clash.
And especially, you don't have to tell Brad Huse how far his team has come since last year. In Huse's first year as MSU's head coach, the Bobcats didn't post a win until the team's fourth game (against Idaho, another school that left the Big Sky in 1996). In addition, Boise State humbled the Cats 94-69 in Taco Bell Arena less than a year ago.
The path the Bobcats travel as 2007 remains uncertain. Much of the team's depth is young and unproven. The team's perimeter shooting is somewhat inconsistent. And no one can ever predict what happens when the rigors of conference play arrives.
But for one beautiful non-conference night in Worthington Arena, the students were out in full throat. The gym had an undeniable big-game flavor. And a pair of Bobcats who know exactly what Montana State basketball is all about led the way to a thrilling win.
You don't have to tell Bobby Howard how rare it is for a freshman to score 25-plus points for the Bobcats. He scored 27 points Friday. The last man to do that as a freshman for MSU, current assistant coach Danny Sprinkle, helped recruit him to Bozeman, and another, Howard's mother Kathleen, sat right behind the Bobcat bench.
You didn't need to tell any of the nearly 5,000 fans that streamed into the Fieldhouse for an 8 pm Friday night tilt on Cat-Griz weekend that it was a meaningful game. MSU scored an 86-84 win over Boise State, who has long since bolted the Big Sky for the greener pastures of Bowl Subdivision football and the Western Athletic Conference, but Friday's game felt for all the world like a conference clash.
And especially, you don't have to tell Brad Huse how far his team has come since last year. In Huse's first year as MSU's head coach, the Bobcats didn't post a win until the team's fourth game (against Idaho, another school that left the Big Sky in 1996). In addition, Boise State humbled the Cats 94-69 in Taco Bell Arena less than a year ago.
The path the Bobcats travel as 2007 remains uncertain. Much of the team's depth is young and unproven. The team's perimeter shooting is somewhat inconsistent. And no one can ever predict what happens when the rigors of conference play arrives.
But for one beautiful non-conference night in Worthington Arena, the students were out in full throat. The gym had an undeniable big-game flavor. And a pair of Bobcats who know exactly what Montana State basketball is all about led the way to a thrilling win.
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