Cats Earn Eighth-Straight Home Win, Top Vandals, 73-66

Thursday, February 5

Bozeman, Mont.

7 p.m.

Montana State University

14-10,8-3Big Sky

Idaho

13-10,5-5Big Sky

Idaho

Montana St.

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

2/5/2026 11:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bobcats snap two-game losing streak, take sole possession of second place in the Big Sky

By: Pershelle Rohrer

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State continued its impressive run at home, earning its eighth-straight win inside Worthington Arena with a 73-66 bounce-back victory over Idaho on Thursday.

After falling in back-to-back contests on the road, the Bobcats got back in the winning column while taking sole possession of second place in the Big Sky Conference with Montana's loss to Eastern Washington. The Cats (14-10, 8-3 Big Sky) led for nearly 36 minutes against the Vandals (13-10, 5-5 Big Sky) and limited a strong three-point-shooting Idaho team to just 4-of-19 (21.1%) from behind the arc.

"I thought we were really active," head coach Matt Logie said of the Bobcats' defensive effort. "We were aggressive without fouling but were able to get a lot of deflections and create some turnovers, which led to 17 points on our part."

The Bobcats' defense showed up early and often as the Cats tallied four blocks in just over four of play to start the game, three of which came from Chris Hodges. The Bobcats led, 6-4, at the opening media timeout and grew that advantage to 15-8 by the 10:24 mark as Patrick McMahon led a 7-2 Montana State run with six-straight Bobcat points in a two-minute span. Idaho's Isaiah Brickner broke up that run with a jumper at the 9:33 mark before the Cats broke it open with 11-straight points to increase their lead to 26-10 with 5:18 on the clock. Montana State's largest lead of the half came with 2:31 left in the half as Jeremiah Davis sunk a layup to increase the Bobcats' advantage to 17 points, 34-17. Idaho closed the half on a 9-2 run to trim the Cats' lead to 10 points, 36-26, at halftime. The Bobcats forced eight Vandal turnovers in the opening 20 minutes while limiting Idaho, who leads the Big Sky in three pointers made and attempted per game, to just one make on 10 tries in the first half. Twenty-two of Idaho's 26 first-half points came in the paint while Montana State posted six blocks and five steals in an impressive opening frame.

The Bobcats maintained a consistent double-digit lead for much of the second half as the game remained in Montana State's control. A 6-0 run capped off by a McMahon layup with 16:41 left in regulation helped Montana State push its lead back to 14 points, 44-30, and the Cats reached that threshold twice more in the second half on a Hodges layup at the 15:13 mark as the score reached 46-32 and following a pair of Jed Miller free throws with 7:56 on the clock. With the Cats up, 59-45, the two teams traded buckets over the next few possessions before Idaho tallied five-straight points to cut the Bobcats' lead to eight points, 63-55, with 4:16 remaining. Idaho chipped into that lead in the closing minutes and came within three points, 67-64, following a Seth Joba three and Brickner layup with 1:02 and 0:38 on the clock, respectively. The Bobcats came in clutch at the free-throw line in the final seconds as Davis and Miller combined for 6-of-6 from the stripe down the stretch, helping the Bobcats hold off the Vandals, 73-66, to split the season series between the two teams.

The Bobcats capitalized off Idaho turnovers in Thursday's contest. After recording a season-low five turnovers in their 92-89 loss to the Vandals on Jan. 10, the Cats forced 14 Idaho turnovers on Thursday while scoring 17 points off those takeaways. The Vandals only led for 1:05 of game play and never held more than a two-point lead as Montana State controlled the game nearly from start to finish. The Cats tallied 10 total steals to the Vandals' four and posted a season-high seven blocks to Idaho's one.

Miller led the Bobcats in scoring with 16 points while chipping in six rebounds, two assists, and one steal. McMahon stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, six boards, one assist, two steals, and one block. Hodges led the team in rebounds and blocks with an impressive stat line of eight points, seven rebounds, one assist, and three blocks. Davis and Seth Amunrud tallied 11 points as Amunrud shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor and Davis added a team-high three steals, a number he shared with Christian King. King tallied nine points in the contest, and Jaden Steppe posted five. Howie Keene contributed two rebounds and a block that led to an emphatic McMahon steal and dunk as all eight active Bobcats recorded stats in multiple categories.

Montana State will look to secure a season sweep of Eastern Washington when they face the Eagles in Worthington Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

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