Bobcats Fall in Nailbiter to Eastern Washington, 72-71

Saturday, February 7

Bozeman, Mont.

6 p.m.

Montana State University

14-11,8-4Big Sky

Eastern Washington

7-17,5-6Big Sky

Eastern Wash.

Montana St.

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

2/7/2026 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bobcats’ eight-game home winning streak comes to an end

By: Pershelle Rohrer

BOZEMAN, Mont. – The Montana State men's basketball team came just inches away from victory on Saturday in Worthington Arena, but a pair of buzzer-beating efforts fell off the rim in a 72-71 loss to Eastern Washington in Bozeman.

The Bobcats, who had not lost at home since a two-point loss to Denver on Nov. 9, saw their eight-game home winning streak come to an end. All eight players who touched the floor scored points for the Cats in a strong team effort as Montana State moved to 14-11 (8-4 Big Sky) on the season.

"We had a play that we work on drawn up, we bobbled the pass, and that kind of took us out of the second layer of it," head coach Matt Logie said. "We still got the ball right to the rim, had two shots at it – I mean, that was really the story of the game for us on offense. We couldn't make layups and couldn't make free throws.But defensively, we allowed them to get confident early with 52% in the first half, and then down the stretch, they scored six times in a row and had two offensive rebounds. We didn't play well enough to win, and the margins are small. You've got to make all those micro-plays to get yourself over the hump."

The two teams played a tight first half as the Eagles led, 37-34, after 20 minutes of play. Jed Miller came out firing in the opening 10 minutes of play for the Bobcats, scoring 11 of Montana State's first 15 points as the Cats and Eagles traded blows early. Neither team led by more than three points until Eastern Washington made back-to-back buckets to take a 16-10 advantage at the 12:54 mark. Montana State responded with a pair of Christian King free throws and a Miller three, his fourth-straight made bucket to open the game, to cut the Eagles' lead to 16-15 with 11:57 on the clock. Eastern Washington then tallied five-straight points to push their lead to 21-15 and went on lead, 29-20, by the 5:16 mark. Chris Hodges posted three-straight points, and Patrick McMahon added a dunk to cut the deficit to 29-25 and force an Eastern Washington timeout at the 4:07 mark. Eastern Washington responded with six-straight points out of the timeout to take its first double-digit lead, 35-25, with 2:22 left in the half, but the Bobcats went on a 9-2 tear over the remainder of the half to trail by just three points, 37-34, at halftime. The Cats capitalized off turnovers in the half, tallying nine points off six Eastern Washington giveaways, posting five steals to none for the Eagles, and racking up 12 fast-break points to Eastern Washington's two.

The Bobcats trimmed the deficit to one point, 39-38, just 1:19 into the second half before the Eagles used an 11-4 swing to push their lead to eight, 50-42, with 14:14 left in regulation. Howie Keene knocked down a three to kill the Eagles' run while sparking an eight-point outburst for Montana State. Following Keene's bucket, King tallied five-straight points to tie the game at 50 points apiece with 10:36 to go. After a pair of Eastern Washington free throws, Jaden Steppe sunk three from the charity stripe to give the Cats their first lead since the game's opening minutes, 53-52, at the 9:12 mark. Those three points came as part of a 10-2 run to give Montana State a six-point lead, 60-54, with 6:33 to play. The Cats' largest advantage came nearly two minutes later on a Seth Amunrud three to put the Bobcats ahead, 65-58. Eastern Washington then stormed back using a 12-3 run to take a two-point lead, 70-68, with 47 seconds on the clock. Amunrud drained a clutch three on the other end to put the Cats up, 71-70, with 27 seconds remaining before Eastern Washington's Jojo Anderson sunk a layup with 18 seconds left to help the Eagles retake the lead, 72-71. The Bobcats, who held the final possession of the game, brought the ball back the other way looking for a game-winning shot, but a Davis driving layup and subsequent Hodges putback attempt both rimmed out at the buzzer as the Bobcats' eight-game home winning streak came to an end. Montana State has lost by a combined three points in its two losses in Worthington Arena this season.

Montana State shot 41.4% from the floor to Eastern Washington's 48.3%. The Bobcats won the turnover battle with a season-low five giveaways to the Eagles' 11 while scoring 13 points off those turnovers. The Bobcats tallied eight steals to Eastern Washington's one along with 15 fast-break points to the Eagles' seven.

Davis and King led the Bobcats in scoring with 14 points each while Miller added 13. Chris Hodges led the team in rebounds with six, and McMahon posted eight points, five boards, and a career-high six assists. Davis and Keene shared the team lead in steals with two while Miller and Amunrud tallied a block each.

The Bobcats make the trip to Missoula for an in-state battle with Montana on Saturday, Feb. 14, as the second part of a Cat-Griz doubleheader with the women's team. The men's game will tip off at 7 p.m. at Dahlberg Arena, and the game will air live on Scripps Sports/ESPN+.

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