Bobcats Fall in Close Battle with Stanford, 77-68

Wednesday, November 12

Stanford, Calif.

8 p.m.

Montana State University

1-3,0-0Big Sky

Stanford

3-0,0-0ACC

Montana St.

Stanford

Photo by: Kaimei Gescuk/Stanford Athletics

11/12/2025 11:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

King, Hodges lead Montana State with career-high points totals as Cats open road slate in California

By: Pershelle Rohrer

STANFORD, Calif. – Montana State rallied to take a six-point lead over (RV) Stanford midway through the second half on Wednesday, but the Bobcats ultimately fell, 77-68, in a tight contest against the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion.

The Bobcats hung tight with undefeated Stanford in MSU's second road contest of the year, taking a 61-55 lead with 8:20 remaining in the second half after trailing, 36-31, at halftime. However, a late surge from the Cardinal powered by freshman Ebuka Okorie allowed Stanford to close the game on a 22-7 run to seal the win on its home court. Christian King (14 points) and Chris Hodges (11) both posted career highs in scoring while Jed Miller was just one rebound shy of a double-double with his 10-point, nine-rebound effort for the Bobcats.

"Boy, that one was something," Montana State head coach Matt Logie said. "We were playing our best basketball today. We were aggressive, fundamentally sound. When the game got away from us at the end, we had a couple of turnovers and run outs, which Stanford took advantage of. We don't have everybody playing well at the same time yet. A lot of meat was left on that bone. So we've just gotta support those guys, and when we get everybody playing well at the same time we'll be fine. I've got a lot of faith in this group.

"Obviously, they're (Stanford) a big physical team. They really work hard to get the ball to the rim. That shows up at the free throw line. We've had two performances on the road at a Big 12 and ACC school. I think we can be proud of the process. We obviously want to get the result. But now it's on us to make sure that we do our best every single night, and it's not dependent on who that opponent is. We still had a chance to win in the last four minutes."

Stanford made its first two buckets of the game to take a 5-0 lead, but a pair of Patrick McMahon free throws and a Christian King layup quickly cut the Cardinal's lead to 5-4 just under two minutes into the game. Montana State remained within five points of Stanford for the next six minutes of play before the Cardinal used a 6-0 run to widen the gap to nine points, 22-13, at the 9:14 mark in the first half. The Bobcats, who scored 13 of their first 17 points in the paint, responded with buckets from Cavin Holden and Hodges to trim Stanford's lead to 22-17 with 8:23 on the clock. Stanford's lead grew to as much as 10 points with 1:12 left in the period, but Montana State scored the final five points of the half to trim the Cardinal's lead to 36-31 at halftime. Davian Brown led the Cats in the first half with eight points off the bench while King added seven points and four rebounds. Montana State outshot Stanford, 44.8% to 42.9%, from the field in the first half while tallying 20 paint points to the Cardinal's 18.

Both teams opened the second half strong as Montana State made four of its first six shots while Stanford shot 5-of-8 from the floor in the first four minutes out of the break. The Bobcats then began their comeback as Stanford made just one of its next nine buckets over the next five minutes, allowing Montana State to take its first lead of the game, 49-48, on a Cavin Holden layup with 12:55 remaining in regulation. That bucket came as part of an 8-0 Bobcat run, which was capped off by a Patrick McMahon three-point play to give the Cats a 52-48 lead with 11:53 left in the second half. Montana State extended the gap to six points, 61-55, with 8:20 to play on a Jeremiah Davis layup before Stanford's Okorie scored nine points as part of a 14-2 run to help the Cardinal regain the lead for good, 69-63, with 3:57 to play. Cavin Holden trimmed the lead to four points with 2:18 remaining, but Stanford closed on an 8-3 run to seal the 77-68 win and move to 3-0 on the season. Montana State dropped to 1-3 after taking its second Power Four school down to the wire in four games to open the year.

Montana State posted a 46.6% clip from the field to Stanford's 45.2% while limiting the Cardinal to 5-of-19 (26.3%) from three-point range. The Cats held the Cardinal to just four bench points while Brown scored eight of Montana State's 12 off the bench. Both teams combined for 84 points in the paint as Stanford tallied 46 and Montana State added 38.

The Bobcats continued their perfect streak of four or more players scoring in double figures in each game to open the season thus far as King (14), McMahon (12), Hodges (11), and Miller (10) led the Bobcats in scoring. Miller (9) and King (7) combined for 16 of the Cats' 33 rebounds in all-around efforts for the Bobcats on Wednesday.

The Bobcats will continue their road trip in Boise, Idaho, on Saturday, Nov. 15, when they face the Boise State Broncos at Extra Mile Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. with the game set to air on the Mountain West Network.

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