MSU Grinds Out Win over Utah Valley

Saturday, December 6

7:35 pm

Montana State University

3-5

Utah Valley

3-4

Utah Valley

Montana State

Danny Robison penetrates against Utah Valley Saturday

Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson

12/6/2014 10:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Bobcats finish strong in each half to capture hard-fought win

By: Bill Lamberty

Marcus Colbert boiled it down to a simple formula.

"The only way to win (any) game is to play defense, get stops, and when you get a stop make sure you limit them to one shot," Montana State's junior guard said after leading his team to a 68-60 win over Utah Valley on Saturday in Worthington Arena. "That's what we did."

Colbert led all players with a season-high 20 points, also collecting seven rebounds, six assists a steal. His jumper with 5:19 to play gave the Cats a 53-52 lead, which they never surrendered. After Eric Norman's triple pushed the Bobcat lead to four, Colbert capped the decisive 9-0 run with a layup and a jumper to push the lead to 60-51.

Bobcat coach Brian Fish noted his point guard's sterling play. "Marcus Colbert is a good player," Fish said. "I ride him a little more than I do the other guys, but the point guard is the most important position in our program. He stayed in there and battled. He was in the fight for all 40 minutes."

The Bobcats overcame UVU leads in each half, and fighting through trouble pleased Fish as much as anything he saw Saturday. "This was a conference-type game," he said. "This was a grind-it-out kind of game. I thought tonight we played in a special way in that this game had ebbs and flows, and we fought through that."

While the victory gave the Bobcats three wins on the just-completed four-game homestand, it appeared in danger of slipping away early. Utah Valley took advantage of a cold-shooting Bobcat start, pushing an early lead to 21-13 midway through the first half. The Cats whittled away at the margin, tying the game with layups by Danny Robison and Michael Dison, then taking the lead on back-to-back Norman jumpers.

Fish said that moment marked a key turning point. "The game was teetering there, and then we started getting to the basket and driving," he said. "It was nice to fight through that and get (the score) flipped at halftime."

Dison continued his run of good offensive play with 11 points, but contributed significantly on the other end of the floor. The senior guard grabbed seven boards and came up with four steals. Norman poured in 15 points off the bench, nailing three three-pointers, and grabbed five rebounds. Danny Robison rounded out MSU's double-digit scorers, adding 10.

Rebounding was central to the issue on Saturday. When Utah Valley took its eight-point lead, the Wolverines held an 8-7 edge on the boards. Montana State out-rebounded UVU 29-18 the rest of the way, en route to a 36-to-26 margin on the glass. Both teams handled the ball with care – MSU turning it over 12 times and the Wolverines 13 – but the home team converted 14 of its 17 free throws while UVU was 12-for-20.

Montana State raised its record to 3-5 with the win, while Utah Valley dropped to 3-4. The Cats take this week off for final exams, opening a three-game road trip next Sunday at Wyoming. The team's final home game before the opening of conference play is Dec. 23, also against the Cowboys.