BOBCATS TAKE THE SKY! Montana State Tops Northern Colorado to Win Third Big Sky Tournament

Saturday, March 12

Boise ID (Idaho Centrral Arena

6 p.m.

Montana State University

27-7,16-4Big Sky

Northern Colorado

20-15,13-7Big Sky

Northern Colo.

Montana St.

BOBCATS TAKE THE SKY! Montana State Tops Northern Colorado to Win Third Big Sky Tournament

3/12/2022 11:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Xavier Bishop earns tournament MVP honors and Danny Sprinkle leads MSU back to NCAA Tournament

By: Bill Lamberty

BOISE, Idaho – Danny Sprinkle settled into his seat above the Idaho Central Arena and began his first post-game interview session as head coach of a conference championship team.

It was the same team he'd led to a Big Sky title 26 years earlier as a sharp-shooting Montana State freshman, the program he came back to his home state to revive three years ago. The Bobcats' dominating 87-66 win over Northern Colorado capped a dream-like weekend for MSU, whose women's team won the conference title on the same court one day earlier.

Sprinkle sat down and started talking about chicken wings.

"It was our best game of the year," he said, "and I just told (MSU Athletic Director) Leon (Costello), at shootaround this morning I'm going through everything, I'm stressed out, and I heard a couple guys whispering to each other, 'Can you smell the wings? Can you smell the chicken wings?' And it comes back to Fran Frischella talking to us at Colorado at our shootaround. He said, 'There's going to come sometime in January and February when you hit some adversity. And you've got to remind these guys, can you smell the chicken wings? Because everybody on selection Sunday has chicken wings at their party. You have to fight through adversity. You have to see past the moment.'"

The Bobcats saw past all the tough moments on Saturday night and enjoyed the ultimate one when confetti rained and the nets came down. "It was our best game of the year," Sprinkle said, "and I knew this morning, these guys were locked in."

As always, Sprinkle said defense was at the heart of MSU's performance. "It took our best effort," Sprinkle said. "They missed some shots, I think their legs were a little heavy, but I do think our defense had a lot to do with it. It came down to getting stops. To hold them to 66 points in a pretty high-paced game is a credit to our guys."

Xavier Bishop was locked in, scoring 19 points while dishing out eight assists. His three-game performance led to Big Sky Tournament MVP honors. All-Tournament team selection Amin Adamu scored 16 points and grabbed four boards. Tyler Patterson scored 14 points, Nick Gazelas 15.

Offensively we were tremendous. Nick and Tyler in the first half making those threes. X has been tremendous the entire year. As much as I've put the ball in his hands and he has to create for everybody, he's just a warrior. What I've said about Jubrile (Belo), what he's fought through with his injury, it shows how important his teammates are to him.

It started early, and it never stopped. Amin Adamu hit a short jumper put the Bobcats up 2-0. After Northern Colorado answered Adamu hit a three, Xavier Bishop nailed a floater in the paint, and Tyler Patterson nailed a short jumper. The Bobcats led 9-2, and never trailed.

The lead stretched to 10 at 24-14 with midway through the first half and was 40-28 at the intermission. MSU shot 50% in the first half, holding Northern Colorado to 29.6%, while outrebounding the Bears 19-14.

MSU's lead hovered between 10 and 15 through the first five minutes of the second half, then Adamu hit a three and Gazelas made two free throws, and when Bishop hit a layup and followed that with a triple with just under nine minutes to play, the Cats led by 24. And the game had turned into a coronation.

Montana State's win advances the Bobcats to the program's first NCAA Tournament since 1996. The Bobcats finish the schedules portion of their schedule at 27-7, the most wins in school history other than the two Golden Bobcat teams (1927-28 and 1928-29).

The NCAA unveils each qualifying team's tournament fate on Sunday at 4 pm MT. Bobcat fans are invited to Worthington Arena to watch the selection show with MSU players and coaches.

#GoCatsGo