Taylor Leads Bobcats Past UM in League Opener
1/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Senior guard Carlos Taylor scored a career-high 34 points, including 21 in the second half, to lead Montana State to a 74-58 win over Montana in both teams' league-opener Saturday.
Taylor scored in every way imaginable, getting nine points on three-pointers, nine from the line, and the remaining 16 on a variety of layups and leaners and short jumpers. According to the Memphis native, that was by design.
"I just wanted to take what they gave me," Taylor said. "If it was a pull-up jumper I'd take that, if it was a layup I'd take that."
Taylor said Saturday's stunning performance broke up a short slump. "I've been struggling for a little while now," Taylor said. "I sat down with Coach (Huse) and watched some film, and picked out some things I could make improvements on."
The game played as a back-and-forth affair for the first 25 minutes, and led by six with 14:28 to play after an Andrew Strait layup. Freshman Bobby Howard scored back-to-back layups to cut into the Grizzly lead, then after a Phil Friesen layup Howard drilled a long three-pointer to give MSU a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Taylor converted a layup with 8:47 to play to cap MSU's game-changing 13-2 run. From that point on Taylor took the game over, scoring 20 of Montana State's final 23 points.
"It feels great," Taylor said of the zone he occupied on Saturday. "More importantly, I'm happy we got the 'W'."
The importance of jumping out of the gates with a home league win was not lost on MSU coach Brad Huse. "This was an important game," he said, "at home, playing a team that's battling for the top of the conference, the first game of the conference (season). But what it means is that we have one win in the league. That's the way we have to take a look at it."
Taylor's 34 points was the third-highest total ever by a Bobcat against Montana, and the most since Jack Gillespie scored 40 in 1968. It was the most points scored by a Bobcat in any game since Tom Domako scored 37 against Weber State in 1988.
Montana State, now 9-5 overall and 1-0 in Big Sky play, travels to Sacramento Sate for a Thursday night game. Montana slipped to 6-8 Saturday, including 0-1 in Big Sky play.
Taylor scored in every way imaginable, getting nine points on three-pointers, nine from the line, and the remaining 16 on a variety of layups and leaners and short jumpers. According to the Memphis native, that was by design.
"I just wanted to take what they gave me," Taylor said. "If it was a pull-up jumper I'd take that, if it was a layup I'd take that."
Taylor said Saturday's stunning performance broke up a short slump. "I've been struggling for a little while now," Taylor said. "I sat down with Coach (Huse) and watched some film, and picked out some things I could make improvements on."
The game played as a back-and-forth affair for the first 25 minutes, and led by six with 14:28 to play after an Andrew Strait layup. Freshman Bobby Howard scored back-to-back layups to cut into the Grizzly lead, then after a Phil Friesen layup Howard drilled a long three-pointer to give MSU a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Taylor converted a layup with 8:47 to play to cap MSU's game-changing 13-2 run. From that point on Taylor took the game over, scoring 20 of Montana State's final 23 points.
"It feels great," Taylor said of the zone he occupied on Saturday. "More importantly, I'm happy we got the 'W'."
The importance of jumping out of the gates with a home league win was not lost on MSU coach Brad Huse. "This was an important game," he said, "at home, playing a team that's battling for the top of the conference, the first game of the conference (season). But what it means is that we have one win in the league. That's the way we have to take a look at it."
Taylor's 34 points was the third-highest total ever by a Bobcat against Montana, and the most since Jack Gillespie scored 40 in 1968. It was the most points scored by a Bobcat in any game since Tom Domako scored 37 against Weber State in 1988.
Montana State, now 9-5 overall and 1-0 in Big Sky play, travels to Sacramento Sate for a Thursday night game. Montana slipped to 6-8 Saturday, including 0-1 in Big Sky play.
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