Tyler Hall Reaches Milestones, but Turnovers and Foul Shooting Cost Cats

Thursday, January 12

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

1-46-12/ Big Sky

North Dakota

4-19-6/ Big Sky

North Dakota

Montana State

Joe Mvuezolo

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

Tyler Hall Reaches Milestones, but Turnovers and Foul Shooting Cost Cats

1/12/2017 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MSU struggled in a couple of areas that had been strengths on Thursday

By: Bill Lamberty

The plot took unexpected turns on Montana State Thursday.

One of the best free throw shooting teams in the Big Sky turned frigid, and one of the league's most cautious ballhandling units was suddenly slippery-fingered. The end result was a 90-85 North Dakota win over the Bobcats in Worthington Arena.

"That was a key stretch," MSU head coach Brian Fish said of a stretch of time midway through the second half. We had too many turnovers, and they turned them into layups. We put them on the foul line, and when we had free throws we didn't do a very good job. Those two areas hadn't been Achilles heel's for us, but they were tonight."

Montana State's 12.6 turnovers a game entering Thursday was in the Big Sky's top half, and its 74.2% success rate at the free throw line was among the league's top three. But UND turned the Bobcats' 15 turnovers into 23 points, the third-highest by an MSU opponent this season.

The Fighting Hawks out-scored MSU 22-to-13 from the free throw line, but unlike recent contest didn't do so with more opportunities. UND finished 22-of-26 from the line, while the Cats hit just 13 of their 25 charity tosses.

"Turnovers," MSU guard Tyler Hall said when asked what turned Thursday's game. "We turned the ball over a lot, and they weren't just turnovers. They were turnovers that led to layups."

North Dakota started down that road early, getting a Quinton Hooker layup off a steal less than a minute into the game to give the Fighting Hawks a 5-0 lead . Geno Crandall followed with a steal that set up Conner Avents for layup, and the lead was 7-0 without 90 seconds gone.

The Bobcats fought back. A 21-6 run late in the half gave the Cats a 42-35 lead, and MSU held a 42-38 advantage at the intermission.

Montana State maintained its lead for much of the second half, but troubling signs emerged. Leading by six with around 14 minutes to play, the Bobcats invited North Dakota back into the contest by turning the ball over five times and missing the front end of a one-on-one in a four minute span. While MSU scored just four points in five-and-a-half minutes, UND pulled even. The Fighting Hawks grabbed the lead on a layup by Corey Baldwin after Harald Frey's backcourt turnover, and never trailed again.

Preseason Big Sky MVP Quinton Hooker led all players with 24 points for North Dakota. Geno Crandall (22) and Conner Avants (20) each scored at least 20, as well.

The loss overshadowed a historic performance by Hall. The sophomore scored 23 points to pass the 1,000 point mark in his 49^th game as a Bobcat. He is the fastest Bobcat ever to reach that milestone, and is one of just five known players in Big Sky history to get there in less than 50 games. Hall also grabbed 11 rebounds, marking his first double-double of the season, and dished out four assists. Quinton Everett scored 13 points for MSU, and Zach Green added 10.

One of the night's major storylines was the return of junior forward Joe Mvuezolo after nearly a month on the sidelines while a cardiology issue was diagnosed. He showed little ill-effect from the time off, matching his season high with 15 points.

Montana State falls to 6-12 overall, 1-4 in the Big Sky, with the loss. North Dakota raised its record to 9-6, 4-1. MSU hosts Northern Colorado at 2 pm Saturday in Worthington Arena.