Monday, February 27
Bozeman, MT
7:00 PM
Montana State University
79
vs
60
NORTHERN ARIZONA
Shawn Reid scored 23 points to lead MSU past NAU
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Bobcats Race Past Lumberjacks
2/27/2012 9:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MSU snaps skid by extending NAU's skein
The ball moved, the emotions stayed in check, the shots fell, and the result was Montana State's first win in nine games, a 79-60 decision over Northern Arizona in each team's last regular season game in Worthington Arena on Monday.
“It's been an emotional stretch, coming off an emotional stretch of games and playing your rival 48 hours ago, turning around for Senior Night, it was pretty emotional,” said MSU coach Brad Huse. “I was proud of how we competed. I knew we'd play hard, but wasn't sure mentally where we'd be at. But I thought our guys did a really good job staying in the moment tonight.”
The moment started early, with MSU scoring on eight of its first 11 possessions. Even so, NAU led 19-17 after a three-pointer by Durrell Norman at around the 12 minute mark. But Tre Johnson's short jumper and a three-pointer by Christian Moon wrested the lead away from the Lumberjacks, who closed the season with 16 straight losses, and the Bobcats never trailed again.
Huse credited crisp ball movement as the engine of his team's offense Monday. “We just kept moving the ball and when we had open shots we knocked them down,” Huse said. “I thought we were patient, we didn't force a bunch of shots. We let the offense come to us, so that was good. We handled their pressure really well and made them pay on the back side. I thought it was a good effort for us offensively.”
Shawn Reid paced MSU offensively, scoring a game-high 23 points and connecting on six three-pointers. Point guards Rod Singleton (six) and Mike Dison (seven) combined for 13 assists against only five turnovers (four by Singleton) to fuel the offense, and MSU's 50% shooting night marked its first making at least half its shots since the win over NAU in Flagstaff 12 games ago.
The Bobcats dominated essentially every statistical category. MSU turned the ball over only 10 times (to NAU's 12), out-rebounded the visitors 37-to-28, and out-shot the Lumberjacks 50% to 39.6%.
The Bobcats raised their record to 12-16 overall and 7-9 in Big Sky play, and ready themselves for a first round Big Sky Tournament matchup at Portland State on Saturday. Tipoff at the Peter W. Stott Center is 8:05 pm MT. Northern Arizona closes its season 5-24, 1-15 in Big Sky play.
“It's been an emotional stretch, coming off an emotional stretch of games and playing your rival 48 hours ago, turning around for Senior Night, it was pretty emotional,” said MSU coach Brad Huse. “I was proud of how we competed. I knew we'd play hard, but wasn't sure mentally where we'd be at. But I thought our guys did a really good job staying in the moment tonight.”
The moment started early, with MSU scoring on eight of its first 11 possessions. Even so, NAU led 19-17 after a three-pointer by Durrell Norman at around the 12 minute mark. But Tre Johnson's short jumper and a three-pointer by Christian Moon wrested the lead away from the Lumberjacks, who closed the season with 16 straight losses, and the Bobcats never trailed again.
Huse credited crisp ball movement as the engine of his team's offense Monday. “We just kept moving the ball and when we had open shots we knocked them down,” Huse said. “I thought we were patient, we didn't force a bunch of shots. We let the offense come to us, so that was good. We handled their pressure really well and made them pay on the back side. I thought it was a good effort for us offensively.”
Shawn Reid paced MSU offensively, scoring a game-high 23 points and connecting on six three-pointers. Point guards Rod Singleton (six) and Mike Dison (seven) combined for 13 assists against only five turnovers (four by Singleton) to fuel the offense, and MSU's 50% shooting night marked its first making at least half its shots since the win over NAU in Flagstaff 12 games ago.
The Bobcats dominated essentially every statistical category. MSU turned the ball over only 10 times (to NAU's 12), out-rebounded the visitors 37-to-28, and out-shot the Lumberjacks 50% to 39.6%.
The Bobcats raised their record to 12-16 overall and 7-9 in Big Sky play, and ready themselves for a first round Big Sky Tournament matchup at Portland State on Saturday. Tipoff at the Peter W. Stott Center is 8:05 pm MT. Northern Arizona closes its season 5-24, 1-15 in Big Sky play.
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