Bobcats Secure Season Sweep of Northern Colorado with 73-68 Win in Greeley

Monday, January 19

Greeley, Colo.

6 p.m.

Montana State University

11-8,5-1Big Sky

Northern Colorado

11-9,1-6Big Sky

Montana St.

Northern Colo.

Photo by: Noah Syverson

Bobcats Secure Season Sweep of Northern Colorado with 73-68 Win in Greeley

1/19/2026 9:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Montana State holds off UNC’s comeback to move to 5-1 in Big Sky play

By: Pershelle Rohrer

GREELEY, Colo. – Davian Brown led Montana State in scoring for the second-straight game with 16 points, and all eight Bobcats who touched the floor contributed to MSU's scoring effort as the Cats earned a 73-68 victory over Northern Colorado on Monday night in Greeley.

The Bobcats picked up their second win in three days and collected the season sweep of the Bears with the road triumph. The Bobcats are now 11-8 on the season and 5-1 in conference play while Northern Colorado falls to 11-9 overall with a 1-6 Big Sky record.

"Really proud of our guys' process over the last 48 hours to move forward from an emotional victory Saturday and refocus for a tough road game today," head coach Matt Logie said. "Our preparation yesterday and shootaround today were dialed, and it showed in our defensive field goal percentage today. Our bench was critical for us today. Jaden Steppe gave us great minutes, and Seth Amunrud was +19 without even taking a shot. Just a really gritty team win."

The Bears took an early 8-3 lead heading into the first media timeout and extended that lead to nine points, 14-5, with 13:29 left in the first half. The Bobcats then fought back to take their first lead of the game, 17-16, at the 8:53 mark thanks to a 12-2 run. Jaden Steppe sparked the run with a pair of threes, Jeremiah Davis sunk a pair of free throws, and Christian King closed the run with a three and a free throw to put the Cats in front for the first time.

After some back-and-forth scoring over the next two minutes, Montana State tallied five-straight points to extend their lead to six points, 26-20. From there, the Bears used a 7-0 run to put themselves back in front, 27-26, and force a Montana State timeout with 3:19 left in the half. From there, Montana State held the Bears scoreless for the remainder of the half, using a 10-0 run to give itself a 36-27 cushion heading into halftime.

Montana State shot 46.4% from the field in the first half to Northern Colorado's 40.6%. The Cats held the Bears to just 1-of-8 (12.5%) from three. The Cats forced eight first-half turnovers, tallying nine points off those giveaways, and posted six steals while giving up zero. King and Davian Brown led the Cats in scoring with eight points each in the opening 20 minutes, and Davis and Jed Miller led Montana State on defense with three steals apiece.

The Bears attempted to cut into the Bobcats' lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Cats responded to the Bears' blows to maintain their nine-point advantage, 44-35, through the first two and a half minutes of action. Northern Colorado found its groove following a Ring Nyeri dunk at the 17:25 mark, using a 9-3 run to cut the Bobcats' lead to three points, 47-44, with 14:03 to play. Montana State immediately responded with 10-straight points of its own to increase its advantage to 13 points, 57-44, following a Brown three at the 10:55 mark. The Cats reached their largest lead of the game, 61-46 just over 90 seconds later as Patrick McMahon and Brown sunk back-to-back buckets.

Northern Colorado's comeback attempt began with just under nine minutes to play as UNC's Vincent Delano knocked down a three, sparking an 11-5 run as the Bears chipped away at the Bobcats' lead. The Bears held the Bobcats without a field goal starting at the 4:48 mark in the half and trimmed Montana State's lead to seven points, 67-60, with 2:26 left in regulation with a pair of buckets. Still holding the Bobcats scoreless from the floor, Delano cut Montana State's lead to three points, 71-68, with a three-point shot with 31 seconds to play. After an MSU turnover, the Bears had a chance at a game-tying shot in the closing seconds, but the Cats' defense forced a pair of UNC misses as Northern Colorado sent Seth Amunrud to the line with a second on the clock. The Bobcat junior sunk both of his free throws, and the Cats secured the season sweep of the Bears, 73-68.

The Bobcats shot 42.6% from the floor in the contest and took advantage of their free-throw opportunities, making 16 of 21 shots (76.2%) from the stripe while limiting the Bears to just 1-of-3 from the line and 42.9% from the field. The Cats' bench tallied 23 points and limited Northern Colorado's reserves to just eight points. Montana State tied its season low with just seven turnovers, matching its total from the Cats' first matchup with the Bears on Jan. 1. The Cats tallied nine steals to UNC's two and scored 13 points off 12 Northern Colorado turnovers.

Brown led the Cats in scoring for the second-straight game with 16 points, making six of 11 shots and four of six from three. King and Miller tallied 11 points apiece, with King leading the Bobcats in rebounds with seven and Miller snagging four steals, matching the most by a Bobcat this season. All eight Montana State players who saw action scored at least four points in a balanced team effort in Greeley.

The Bobcats return home for a pair of home games against Idaho State on Thursday at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) and Weber State on Saturday at 6 p.m. (Scripps Sports/ESPN+). Montana State enters the weekend seeking to extend its five-game home winning streak.

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