Saturday, February 7
2:35 pm
Montana State University
1-104-19/ BSC
51
vs
61
Eastern Washington
9-118-5/ BSC
1st half1
2nd half2
FinalF
Eastern Washington
35
26
61
Montana State
34
17
51
Blake Brumwell
Photo by: Ruth Shellenberg
Bobcats Follow Familiar Script, Fall to League-Leading Eastern Washington
2/7/2015 6:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Eagles pull away late from MSU
The storyline was familiar.
Montana State hung tough for 39 minutes before a lack of offensive firepower undermined an upset bid, as the Cats fell to Big Sky co-leader Eastern Washington in Bozeman on Saturday. The Bobcats trailed by one possession in the game's final 150 seconds and by six with under a minute left in the game, but good EWU free throw shooting and an un-defended, salt-in-the-wound dunk as the clock was about to expire pushed the margin of victory to double-digits.
"Our guys played hard," Bobcat coach Brian Fish said after his squad suffocated Eastern's offensive attack, which was without its leading scorer. MSU held the Eagles to 35% shooting and just 61 points, 22 below its season average and their lowest output in a Big Sky game this season. "I love our guys to death. But it's a struggle to score."
MSU held to much the same script as Thursday, when the Cats held a double-digit lead over Idaho early in the second half. In fact, Montana State has led after halftime in seven of the team's 10 league losses.
That offensive struggle always seems punctuated stretches of effective offense. The most pronounced such period Saturday came at the start of the second half Saturday, when MSU scored eight straight points to jump to a 42-35 lead. From that point on, however, the offense ground to a halt. In the next 31 possessions, Montana State scored just three baskets and turned the ball over 11 times. Eastern closed the game with a 26-9 run over the game's final 18 minutes.
Montana State's ability to stay in the game was a marvel in itself. Eastern's 35.1% shooting marked its worst game of the season. The Cats out-rebounded EWU 44-40, but aided the Eagles' cause greatly by turning the ball over 20 times, MSU's most since the Kentucky game in November, and hitting just 3-of-9 from the free throw line.
Marcus Colbert led the Cats with 15 points and Danny Robison added 14, both off the bench. Eric Norman's career-high 15 rebounds was the most by a Bobcat since Marvin Moss grabbed that many against Idaho State in 2006, and he dished out seven assists. Drew Brandon scored 15 points and grabbed a dozen boards.
The Bobcats fall to 4-19 overall, 1-10 in Big Sky play, while Eastern is now 18-5, 9-1. MSU visits Northern Colorado on Thursday at 7 pm.
Montana State hung tough for 39 minutes before a lack of offensive firepower undermined an upset bid, as the Cats fell to Big Sky co-leader Eastern Washington in Bozeman on Saturday. The Bobcats trailed by one possession in the game's final 150 seconds and by six with under a minute left in the game, but good EWU free throw shooting and an un-defended, salt-in-the-wound dunk as the clock was about to expire pushed the margin of victory to double-digits.
"Our guys played hard," Bobcat coach Brian Fish said after his squad suffocated Eastern's offensive attack, which was without its leading scorer. MSU held the Eagles to 35% shooting and just 61 points, 22 below its season average and their lowest output in a Big Sky game this season. "I love our guys to death. But it's a struggle to score."
MSU held to much the same script as Thursday, when the Cats held a double-digit lead over Idaho early in the second half. In fact, Montana State has led after halftime in seven of the team's 10 league losses.
That offensive struggle always seems punctuated stretches of effective offense. The most pronounced such period Saturday came at the start of the second half Saturday, when MSU scored eight straight points to jump to a 42-35 lead. From that point on, however, the offense ground to a halt. In the next 31 possessions, Montana State scored just three baskets and turned the ball over 11 times. Eastern closed the game with a 26-9 run over the game's final 18 minutes.
Montana State's ability to stay in the game was a marvel in itself. Eastern's 35.1% shooting marked its worst game of the season. The Cats out-rebounded EWU 44-40, but aided the Eagles' cause greatly by turning the ball over 20 times, MSU's most since the Kentucky game in November, and hitting just 3-of-9 from the free throw line.
Marcus Colbert led the Cats with 15 points and Danny Robison added 14, both off the bench. Eric Norman's career-high 15 rebounds was the most by a Bobcat since Marvin Moss grabbed that many against Idaho State in 2006, and he dished out seven assists. Drew Brandon scored 15 points and grabbed a dozen boards.
The Bobcats fall to 4-19 overall, 1-10 in Big Sky play, while Eastern is now 18-5, 9-1. MSU visits Northern Colorado on Thursday at 7 pm.
Team Stats
EWU
MSU
FG%
.351
.328
3FG%
.267
.345
FT%
.586
.333
RB
40
44
TO
10
20
STL
10
2
Game Leaders
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
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