Montana State University
7-9,2-1Big Sky
Northern Arizona
7-9,0-2Big Sky
Bobcats Dominate Lumberjacks in 79-50 Win
1/11/2024 10:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Cats post best defensive effort of the season to secure lopsided Big Sky victory at The Brick on Thursday
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Montana State turned in arguably its most complete performance of the season in a 79-50 drubbing of Northern Arizona on Thursday night, as the Bobcats rolled to a dominant win in the first home Big Sky game of the season at Worthington Arena.
Montana State (7-9, 2-1 Big Sky) secured its 11th straight victory in the series over Northern Arizona (7-9, 0-2 Big Sky) and did so in convincing fashion, never trailing in a wire-to-wire win.
The Bobcats entered Thursday on a three-game skid in which they had allowed at least 82 points in each loss, but stifled the Lumberjacks to just 50 points on 15-of-51 (29.4%) shooting. Both marks were season-lows for Northern Arizona.
"I'm proud of our group," Logie said. "We had a lot of things to address after we got back from South Dakota State, and some of those messages aren't easy to hear as young people when we call you to be more committed and more accountable, and the guys stepped up and responded. I knew that they had that in them, it was just a matter of being consistent enough to execute the gameplan like we did tonight."
Robert Ford III tallied his fourth double-double of the season, recording 15 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
Brandon Walker scored a game-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, adding six rebounds.
Possession to possession, Montana State consistently created great shots and connected, shooting a season-best 55.3% from the floor, including going 8-of-20 from deep (40.0%).
Tyler Patterson finished with 12 points, and Brian Goracke chipped in 14, going a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line. On the season, Goracke is now 47-of-50 at the free throw line (94.0%).
"Our team is starting to figure out who they are offensively," Logie said, "And our percentages have been pretty consistently solid, our assist-to-turnover ratio has typically been positive, and our guys have been getting more comfortable in the system. But defensively was obviously where we needed to grow the most, and you just saw a further commitment to what we set out to do. There's a lot of ways to take the shortcut, take the easy way and it might look good and feel good at the time, but we watch a lot of film for a reason, and our guys executed tonight."
Montana State locked in defensively, giving Northern Arizona its toughest offensive night of the season. The Lumberjacks shot just 4-of-24 from beyond the three-point line, and had just one player reach double-figures.
The Cats tallied 11 steals and forced 16 turnovers, both above their season averages, and scored 12 fastbreak points.
Montana State set the tone from the jump, jumping out to a 10-3 lead on three Walker buckets in the paint and four points from Ford.
Montana State led 20-10 at the under-12 timeout in the first half on a Sam Lecholat layup off a beautiful assist from Chika Nduka, and would not let the Lumberjacks get closer than six points the rest of the way.
At the break, Montana State led 37-28. Ford poured in 12 first-half points, with Walker right behind with 11 points. The duo combined for eight of the 11 made field goals for MSU in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half saw the Cats flex their muscles in pulling away with a 15-3 run from the 19:27 mark to the 12:52 point and never look back. Montana State held Northern Arizona to just 22 points in the second half on 6-of-27 shooting (22.2%), and out-rebounded the Lumberjacks, 34-24, for the game.
UP NEXT
Montana State welcomes Northern Colorado to Worthington Arena on Saturday night.
Tip is set for 6 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live audio play-by-play airing on the Bobcat Sports Radio Network.
The game will continue the "Pack the Place in Pink" tradition, with the Cats wearing special jerseys to raise awareness for breast cancer.
Fans can get in for $5 to Saturday's game by wearing pink.
Northern Colorado defeated Montana on Thursday night in Missoula, 98-92 in overtime.
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