Bobcats Suffer Heartbreaking Loss to Middle Tennessee State

Sunday, November 27

Montreal, Canada

11:30 a.m.

Montana State University

3-5,0-0Big Sky

Middle Tennessee

-52,10 CUSA

Montana St.

Middle Tenn.

Darius Brown II

Photo by: Thomas Anderson

Bobcats Suffer Heartbreaking Loss to Middle Tennessee State

11/27/2022 4:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Despite 24 points from RaeQuan Battle, 16 from Jubrile Belo and a school-record-tying 16 assists from Darius Brown II, the Bobcats’ attempt at a game-winner fell short.

MONTREAL – The Montana State men's basketball team clawed all the way back from a seven-point deficit and had a one-point lead with less than a minute to go, yet the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders escaped with a 72-71 win in the final game of the Northern Classic, held in Montreal, Canada on Sunday afternoon.

The Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (5-2) led by seven points with 3:13 to go, yet the Montana State Bobcats (3-5) stormed back with a three-point play from Patrick McMahon and nine points from RaeQuan Battle. After taking a 71-69 lead, three points from Blue Raiders' Elias King put MSU behind 72-71 with 13 seconds to go. Jubrile Belo had a chance at a game-winning layup on the final possession, yet his attempt through heavy contact was no good as time expired.

"We got the ball exactly where we wanted it," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle told Bobcat Sports Radio Network. "I think that everybody saw the game knew exactly what happened after that."

Battle led the way with 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting while adding a team-high four steals. Belo added 16 points and four rebounds for his third double-figure outing in the Northern Classic, while Darius Brown II had two points but dished out a career-high 16 assists, which also ties the program record for most assists in a single game.

"Darius did a great job of getting the ball to Jubrile and he had great passes to our shooters," Sprinkle said. "I thought he controlled the game even thought Middle Tennessee State hounded him all game. MTSU is really athletic and long, and I'm proud of the way Darius played against them."

Playing in an uptempo, physical game, the Bobcats outshot the Blue Raiders in all three phases, connecting on 56.5% from the field, 35.7% (5-for-14) from three and 87.5% (14-for-16) from the charity stripe. Yet 23 costly turnovers hurt the Bobcats against MTSU's quick, athletic defense.

At first, Montana State was the aggressor on defense. The Bobcats forced four turnovers in the first four minutes that led to a 7-4 lead. But Tyler Patterson's three that capped off the 5-0 run would be MSU's last points for four minutes and 43 seconds; the Blue Raiders inched ahead 12-7 until two free throws from Belo made it a 12-9 game with 11:51 left in the half.

MSU worked it inside for its next three field goals, as Belo, Fuller and Great Osobor battled down low to make it a 17-15 game in favor of Middle Tennessee State, then Battle picked off a MTSU pass, dribbled the length of the floor and finished a difficult reverse layup through contact to tie the game at 17. He completed the three-point play to give MSU the lead, which sparked a 9-0 Bobcat run. Lecholat made a layup to extend MSU's lead to three, then Battle deflected a bad pass to Patterson, who helped kickstart a fast break that led to a dunk from Belo.

MSU's 24-19 lead with 5:53 left in the first would be its largest of the game, but MTSU's Jared Coleman-Jones rattled off four unanswered points that led to a 9-0 MTSU run.

Showing improvements over the last two games in the Northern Classic, the Bobcats closed the half going 6-for-6 from the charity stripe and took a 32-31 lead off a Lecholat layup with 59 seconds left in the half. Yet Middle Tennessee would enter the locker room with a 33-32 advantage.

Battle came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders for MSU, scoring the Bobcats first nine points of the half in a myriad of ways. The junior hit a corner three to start things off, skied in for a layup off an out-of-bounds play on the next possession, then pulled up at the left elbow for a midrange jumper to give MSU a 39-38 lead. Then Brown II threw a cross-court pass over MTSU's defense into the waiting arms of Battle, who threw down a dunk to put the Bobcats up 41-38.

Montana State would take a 50-46 lead — its largest lead of the half — off a layup from Caleb Fuller with 12:55 to go. Then the game unwraveled.

Middle Tennessee State took back the lead off three-consecutive MSU turnovers. After the third, Robert Ford III committed a common foul, then a double-technical on Battle and MTSU's Camryn Weston not only rose the tension in the game, but also sent Battle to the bench with his fourth foul. The Blue Raiders would take a brief 51-50 lead off free throws before Brown II sank his first field goal of the night to take back the lead.

Back-to-back turnovers snowballed into a 62-56 lead for the Blue Raiders, while the Bobcats would go nearly two minutes without a field goal. MSU would snap out of its scoring drought and kick off its final rally when Brown II found a streaking Patrick McMahon in transition, who got fouled on his dunk and made the bonus to make it a 66-62 game with 3:10 remaining.

Then Battle nearly willed the Bobcats back in the game, first with a deep three on the right wing to cut the deficit to one. The Blue Raiders split a pair of free throws on the other end, then Battle drew contact on an NBA-range three and sank all three free throws to give MSU a one-point lead. A corner three right in front of the MSU bench gave the Bobcats a 71-69 advantage, yet the Bobcats couldn't hold on for the win.

"It was a really physical game and I'm really proud of how our guys competed," Sprinkle said. "We played hard. We told them before the game that no matter what happened, we wanted them to play hard."

The Bobcats return stateside to play former Big Sky foe Southern Utah on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. MSU's next home game is against St. Thomas on Thursday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.

Single-game tickets for all remaining home games can be found on msubobcats.com/tickets, and all home games — with the exception of the Cat/Griz matchup — are buy one, get one free with promo code BOGO until Monday at 11:59 p.m.