Montana State Holds Off Late NAU Rally to Earn Victory in Flagstaff

Thursday, January 20

Flagstaff, AZ

6 p.m.

Montana State University

13-5,5-2Big Sky

Northern Arizona

6-10,2-3Big Sky

Montana St.

Northern Ariz.

RaeQuan Battle with a block

Photo by: Northern Arizona Sports Information

Montana State Holds Off Late NAU Rally to Earn Victory in Flagstaff

1/20/2022 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Nick Gazelas scored six straight points to halt a comeback bid late and help lead Montana State to an 89-84 victory over Northern Arizona on Thursday, Jan. 20, in the Walkup Skydome

By: Andrew Pedersen

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Nick Gazelas scored six straight points to halt a comeback bid late and help lead Montana State to an 89-84 victory over Northern Arizona on Thursday, Jan. 20, in the Walkup Skydome.

Montana State led by as many as 17 in the second half after holding a 50-35 advantage at halftime. NAU slowly trimmed into the Bobcat lead. A field goal-less span of nearly seven minutes for the Bobcats, and an 11-1 run for the Lumberjacks in a less than two-minute span, resulted in a 79-all score with 1:35 remaining in the contest.

That's when Gazelas stepped up on the Bobcats' next two possessions.

The sophomore guard for MSU drove the lane and converted on a layup in the paint which drew a foul on NAU's Jalen Cone. Gazelas put MSU ahead 82-79 on the following free throw attempt while the foul on Cone – who was the Jacks' leading scorer with 26 points – was his fifth.

Keith Haymon missed a jumper for NAU and the Bobcats came back down the floor and put the game out of reach. Abdul Mohamed found Gazeles extended out on the wing and he drained a 3-pointer to put MSU ahead 85-79 with 28 seconds remaining.

"Just proud of him," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said of Gazelas. "He's a tough kid. That's what he does, he makes big shots, he's not scared of the moment. He can put the ball on the floor which he did on that drive. We tried running that play before, tried to get him a 3, but he made a great decision driving that thing."

NAU's next trip down saw Jay Green miss a free throw and MSU's Xavier Bishop followed with two free throws to extend the lead to 87-79. The Lumberjacks cut the deficit to 87-84, but Bishop hit another two free throws to increase his point total to a season-high 26 points as he closed out an MSU victory.

"What a gusty win," Sprinkle said. "Talk about adversity and fighting through stuff. We've been talking about if you're going to be a championship team, you have to be able to battle through things like today.

"The percentages we shot, it showed our aggressiveness. I thought the keys of the game were Tyler (Patterson) played great for us in the first half, Nick hit some huge 3s, and Xavier controlled the entire game for us."

Both teams shot nearly 50% from the field as NAU finished with a 53.6% clip and MSU closed out going 27-for-55 (49.1%). The Lumberjacks went 12-for-21 (57.1%) from 3-point range while MSU hit nine of its 19 attempts. The Bobcats took advantage at the free throw line and handling the ball.

MSU went 26 of 31 (83.9%) from the free throw line while NAU was just 12 of 18 (66.7%). The 'Cats finished with a season-low six turnovers which is the lowest total for an MSU team since the 2013-14 season.

The two point guards in the game shined in the contest. Bishop went 7 of 14 from the field and was 11 of 12 at the charity stripe. He also had a team-high six assists. NAU's Cone was 8-for-15 shooting and had two steals for the Jacks.

"Those two small point guards were fun to watch tonight," Sprinkle said. "If (Cone) didn't foul out, they're a totally different team. He puts a lot of pressure on your defense."

Montana State had five double-digit scorers. Patterson scored 14 points with all 14 coming in the first half. Jubrile Belo finished with his second consecutive double-double recording 14 points and 11 rebounds. Gazelas registered 12 points and had four assists, while RaeQuan Battle had 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting. The Bobcats improved to 13-5 overall and 5-2 in Big Sky Conference play despite missing Amin Adamu and Borja Fernandez as each didn't travel with the team due to health and safety protocols.

Cone was joined in double digits scoring by Nik Mains (13), Haymon (12) and Carson Towt (10), who also led the Jacks with nine rebounds and three blocks. Northern Arizona fell to 6-10 overall and 2-3 in league action.

The Bobcats continue their journey on the road as Montana State travels to face Portland State in Viking Pavilion on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. MT.