Bobcats Top Oregon State in Thriller
12/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
On a night when Carlos Taylor didn’t have his offensive ‘A’ game, Carlos Taylor hit the contest’s biggest shot, a 15-footer that gave Montana State a 60-59 win against Pac 10 foe Oregon State in Gill Coliseum on Sunday.
The Bobcats gave Taylor his opportunity for the game-winner with two tremendous defensive stops. First, Taylor and Casey Durham hounded Josh Tarver into taking an off-balance three-pointer. After Taylor’s fifth turnover, MSU forced a shot clock violation with 21 seconds left. The Bobcats ran a play giving Taylor the option to take the shot or feed Divaldo Mbunga inside.
“I didn’t do a good job reading (screens) all night, but I adjusted,” he said.
MSU coach Brad Huse opted not to call a time out on MSU’s game-winning possession. “I didn’t want to let them set a defense,” he said. “There were a couple of options on that play, we were looking for Divaldo down low or for Carlos to take the shot if (Mbunga) didn’t. We just wanted to let guys make a play.”
Taylor’s shot culminated a see-saw affair in which Divaldo Mbunga carried much of the load. The junior forward scored 23 points to match his career high, and grabbed six boards. None of Mbunga’s shots were bigger than his putback layup on a Phil Friesen miss that drew MSU to within one at 59-58 with just under two minutes to play.
Huse was quick to credit his team for its work mentally as well as physically after MSU’s first win over a Pac 10 squad since 2002, when Mick Durham’s squad upended Washington in Seattle. “I thought we showed good resolve tonight,” he said. “The guys played mentally tough.”
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, in which both squads enjoyed a long scoring run and suffered through a long drought. MSU’s run came first, with the ‘Cats scoring on six of seven possessions midway through the first half and jumping to a 27-18 lead. From that point, OSU held Montana State without a basket for five-and-a-half minutes, eventually claiming a 33-27 lead. The half ended with the teams tied 33-33, and the stats were as even as the score. MSU shot 51.7% in the first half, OSU 48.1%, and the teams each had 16 rebounds.
Oregon State opened up a seven point lead early in the second half, but layups by Casey Durham and Mbunga and a jumper by Friesen pulled the team to within one. Neither team led by more than four after that.
While Huse was pleased with the win, he was quick to point out that a new season begins with Saturday’s Big Sky-opening Cat-Griz game in Worthington Arena. “We’ll see what it does for us. It certainly won’t change our approach.”
The Bobcats gave Taylor his opportunity for the game-winner with two tremendous defensive stops. First, Taylor and Casey Durham hounded Josh Tarver into taking an off-balance three-pointer. After Taylor’s fifth turnover, MSU forced a shot clock violation with 21 seconds left. The Bobcats ran a play giving Taylor the option to take the shot or feed Divaldo Mbunga inside.
“I didn’t do a good job reading (screens) all night, but I adjusted,” he said.
MSU coach Brad Huse opted not to call a time out on MSU’s game-winning possession. “I didn’t want to let them set a defense,” he said. “There were a couple of options on that play, we were looking for Divaldo down low or for Carlos to take the shot if (Mbunga) didn’t. We just wanted to let guys make a play.”
Taylor’s shot culminated a see-saw affair in which Divaldo Mbunga carried much of the load. The junior forward scored 23 points to match his career high, and grabbed six boards. None of Mbunga’s shots were bigger than his putback layup on a Phil Friesen miss that drew MSU to within one at 59-58 with just under two minutes to play.
Huse was quick to credit his team for its work mentally as well as physically after MSU’s first win over a Pac 10 squad since 2002, when Mick Durham’s squad upended Washington in Seattle. “I thought we showed good resolve tonight,” he said. “The guys played mentally tough.”
The first half was a back-and-forth affair, in which both squads enjoyed a long scoring run and suffered through a long drought. MSU’s run came first, with the ‘Cats scoring on six of seven possessions midway through the first half and jumping to a 27-18 lead. From that point, OSU held Montana State without a basket for five-and-a-half minutes, eventually claiming a 33-27 lead. The half ended with the teams tied 33-33, and the stats were as even as the score. MSU shot 51.7% in the first half, OSU 48.1%, and the teams each had 16 rebounds.
Oregon State opened up a seven point lead early in the second half, but layups by Casey Durham and Mbunga and a jumper by Friesen pulled the team to within one. Neither team led by more than four after that.
While Huse was pleased with the win, he was quick to point out that a new season begins with Saturday’s Big Sky-opening Cat-Griz game in Worthington Arena. “We’ll see what it does for us. It certainly won’t change our approach.”
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