Bobcats Battle Through Rocky Start to Beat Battlin' Bears on Wednesday

Wednesday, November 16

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

2-1

Rocky Mountain

4-1Exh.

Rocky Mountain

Montana State

Harald Frey

Photo by: Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez

Bobcats Battle Through Rocky Start to Beat Battlin' Bears on Wednesday

11/16/2016 10:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MSU tops Rocky Mountain for second straight win

By: Bill Lamberty

For the record, Rocky Mountain's hot three-point shooting didn't catch Montana State by surprise on Wednesday.

"We knew they would come out and get their shots up and make shots," Bobcat senior Quinton Everett said after leading his team to a 93-76 win over the NAIA Bears in Worthington Arena. "We just had to weather the storm."

The storm came early. The Battling Bears hit seven of their first nine three-pointers and held a 25-17 lead on Chad Kananen's long-range shot eight-and-a-half minutes into the game, but the shooting cooled and the Bobcats bounced back. Back-to-back Tyler Hall three-pointers started MSU on the road back and by the end of the first half Montana State held a 49-36 lead. The Bears wouldn't get within single-digits again.

"We just had to get our energy up," Everett said. "We played a little slow to start. We played at their pace."

Cold shooting wasn't part of Montana State's problem. The Cats shot 60% from the floor and 44% from the arc before halftime, and followed that with 55% shooting (46% from the circle) after intermission. Scoring came from across the board, with six Bobcats hitting double-digits. Tyler Hall led the way with 16 points, while Zach Green, Everett and Benson Osayande adding a dozen each. Harald Frey and Joe Mvuezolo Jr. each scored 11.

"We have a lot of guys that can contribute," Frey said. "Of course Tyler leads us, but the more contributions we can get the better."

The Battlin' Bears remained part of the game throughout, even after beating in-city rival MSU-Billings on Tuesday. Riley Bradshaw led RMC with 20 points, and Kananen, who once led Roy-Winifred to a Class C State Championship in the Fieldhouse, poured in 17.

Montana State closes its three-game homestand on Friday, welcoming James Madison of the Colonial Athletic Association to Worthington Arena for the second game of the Pepsi Classic Presented by Town & Country Foods. Tipoff is 7 pm. Purchase tickets at msubobcats.com.