Montana State University
3-3,0-0Big Sky
Long Beach State
4-4,0-0Big West
Late Cats' Lead Disappears in 75-69 Loss to Long Beach State
11/26/2023 4:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Long Beach State erases 13-point Montana State advantage in final five minutes to hand Bobcats their second home defeat
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- A late Bobcat lead slipped away as Montana State fell to Long Beach State, 75-69, in a Sunday afternoon thriller at Worthington Arena.
Montana State (3-3) led by 13 points at the under-8 media timeout in the second half, but Long Beach State (4-4) ripped off a 20-2 run across the final 5:07 of the contest to secure the win.
"I thought the last five minutes, we just got away from the fundamentals and the habits that helped us build the lead," head coach Matt Logie said. "We made some plays that were out of character, maybe because we were getting worn down. We've just got to tighten things up and kind of stick to the script. I thought we were well prepared. We executed really well for 35 minutes and didn't quite finish the job."
Tyler Patterson notched his second straight 20-point game in the loss, going 6-of-11 from behind the three-point line while also tallying seven rebounds. Brian Goracke dropped a season-high 19 points, nailing five triples.
For the first time this season, the Bobcats lost the turnover battle, 16-4. Coming into Sunday, MSU had ranked fifth in the country in turnover margin (+9.2).
The Bobcats were 13-of-26 from deep before missing their final four attempts, but still finished with a 43.3% mark from deep, thanks mostly to the efforts of Patterson and Goracke, who combined to go 11-for-20 from distance. Montana State made extra pass after extra pass to find open shooters on the wings and corners.
Robert Ford III finished with a balanced stat line of nine points, eight rebounds, and six assists. Brandon Walker added ten points and five boards.
Long Beach State got 19 second-half points from Marcus Tsohonis, and implemented a full-court press that bothered the Bobcat backcourt and sprung the comeback, leading to 21 fast break points for the visitors to just two for Montana State.
A topsy-turvy first half featured eight lead changes and ended with Montana State holding a 34-30 advantage at the break.
Long Beach State shot just 1-of-7 from three in the opening half and finished the game only 3-of-13 from deep, but were able to create good looks in the key, outscoring Montana State 42-24 in the paint.
The Bobcats had not out-rebounded a Division I opponent coming into Sunday, but they cleared the Beach, 32-31. Ford, Patterson, Walker, and Sam Lecholat combined for 25 boards.
"[Our guys] responded to our challenge on the glass," Logie said. "Obviously Long Beach State is a very athletic team and prides themselves on second-chance points, points off turnovers, and fastbreak points. I thought we did a tremendous job on the glass tonight, that was the best we rebounded all year. We saw some good things in transition and on offense, but we turned the ball over a little too much and didn't convert opportunities that were right there for us."
UP NEXT
Montana State will wrap up the homestand on Thursday evening, welcoming Rocky Mountain College to Worthington Arena at 7 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live radio play-by-play airing on the Bobcat Sports Radio Network.
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