Bobcats Fall at Home to Northern Colorado

Saturday, February 9

Bozeman, MT

7:05 p.m.

Montana State University

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NORTHERN COLORADO

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Northern Colorado

Montana State

Antonio Biglow's 15 points led the Bobcats

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

2/9/2013 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Hot shooting leads Bears to road win

By: Bill Lamberty

Northern Colorado followed a 9-2 run to close the first half, capped by a running three-point bomb at the buzzer, with the first four points of the second half to grab am 85-72 road win over Montana State on Saturday.

“That's happened to us too many times this year,” MSU head coach Brad Huse said of Northern Colorado's run before halftime. “The kid (Tevin Svihovec) made the (last-second) shot, you have to give him credit for that.”

The Bears shot 61.7% from the floor, the best mark by an opponent since Weber State shot 62% in 2009, taking advantage of the absence of MSU's starting frontcourt (center Paul Egwuonwu and power forward Flavien Davis each missed both games this weekend). NC also out-rebounded the Bobcats 29-to-23.

With its inside presence decimated, Montana State struggled with Northern Colorado's high ball screen series. “Tevin was hitting jump shots, and we were having trouble dealing with their on-ball (screens),” Huse said. “They're a good-shooting ball club and they didn't shoot well against Montana, so you knew it was going to come back around. This is not the kind of team that's going to shoot poorly in back-to-back games.”

Northern Colorado built its lead to 15 early in the second half, but an Xavier Blount three-pointer started the Bobcats on a 13-2 run that pulled MSU within four at 58-54 with 10:51 to play. But after an exchange of baskets the Bears pushed the lead back to double-digits when Svihovec hit back-to-back jumpers.

Northern Colorado's 21-for-25 effort from the free throw line gave the Bears a combined 50-for-72 (69.4%) shooting night on all attempts. Montana State's second-half spurt was fueled by improved shooting, as the Bobcats hit 53% of their attempts after the intermission. But Northern Colorado shot 72.2% from the field in the second half, and 16-for-17 from the line.