Solid Effort by Bench, More Fireworks from Marcus Colbert Pushes Cats Past Sac State

Thursday, January 7

7:05 pm

Montana State University

2-17-8/ Big Sky

Sacramento State

0-27-6/ Big Sky

Sacramento State

Montana State

Marcus Colbert's 21 points and 5 assists paced MSU Thursday

Photo by: Sepp Jannotta

Solid Effort by Bench, More Fireworks from Marcus Colbert Pushes Cats Past Sac State

1/7/2016 10:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Colbert's 21 points, Sarp Gobeloglu's 20 pace Bobcats

By: Bill Lamberty

Montana State basketball coach Brian Fish knew it was coming, and it arrived just in time.

"Our bench was the best it's been all year," Fish said after Montana State's 71-64 win over Sacramento State in Bozeman on Thursday. "It's the start of January, so it's the time of the season when that happens."

The Cats benefited from a career-high 20 points from Sarp Gobeloglu and key contributions from Tyson Kanseyo and Nahjee Matlock in a game in which MSU led for over 32 minutes, but never by more than eight points. Senior guard Marcus Colbert led all players with 21 points, dishing out five assists. Tyler Hall scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds.

"We got really, really good point guard play from Marcus," Fish said. "He has 13 assists and four turnovers in the last two games. That's good point guard play."

Each team shot well in the first half, MSU hitting 54% of its shots and the Hornets converting half their field goal attempts. The teams traded runs throughout the period, and MSU held a slim 35-33 lead at the intermission. The second half brought more defensive intensity, with the Cats dipping to 36% while holding Sac State to 33%.

A layup by Sacramento State's Nick Hornsby drew the Hornets within 39-37 at the 17:58 mark, but neither team scored for the next 3:43. Treys by Tyler Hall and Gobeloglu, and a layup by Danny Robison helped MSU push its lead to five. Sac State tied the game with 5:12 left on a pair of free throws by Marcus Graves, and snagged its only lead of the second half when Jeff Wu drilled a three-pointer with 2:48 remaining.

But Tyler Hall's jumper put Montana State back into the lead, and when the Cats broke a Sacramento State press at 2:03 Zach Green found Robison alone under the basket for a layup. Gobeloglu followed with a three-pointer, and the Hornets wouldn't get within three again.

"I looked back at Marcus and he had two (defenders) on him, and I had two on me," Green said of Robison's crucial layup. "I looked up the court and found Danny underneath (the basket)."

The Bobcats battled a bigger Sac State squad with center Eric Stuteville, who Fish called "as good a big man as we play," by attacking the interior of the Hornets defense with penetration. Stuteville and Nick Hornsby, the Hornets' two big men, and Graves each fouled out. MSU took advantage by out-rebounding Sac State 36-30, and scoring 10 second-chance points to the Hornets' two. The Cats struggled from the charity stripe, hitting just 12 of 22 free throws while the Hornets were 14-17 from the line, but countered by turning the ball over just 10 times while forcing a dozen Hornets mistakes.

Montana State raised its season record to 7-8 with the win, matching the team's win total for all of 2014-15, while lifting its Big Sky mark to 2-1. Sac State falls to 7-6 overall, 0-2 in the league. The Cats host Portland State Saturday at 2 pm. Purchas tickets for that contest at http://ticketswest.com/events/msu-mens-basketball/15402/.