Big Sky Conference

Bobcats outlast EWU in overtime to earn sweep

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The ice baths are sure to feel better than ever for the Montana State Bobcats on Saturday evening.

From Tyler Hall’s 87 minutes over the last three days to Quinton Everett gutting out 57 minutes despite an ailing knee to Sam Neumann battling on the glass with several centers several inches taller than him, the Bobcats are officially the hottest team in the Big Sky Conference after a clutch sweep of Idaho and Eastern Washington that took 95 minutes and three overtime periods.

Montana State capped a strenuous, intense and rewarding weekend of crucial conference homestand by emerging with a 91-90 overtime win over Eastern Washington on Saturday afternoon in Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in front of 2,951 raucous fans.

Montana State celebrates its fifth straight win

Montana State celebrates its fifth straight win

“I thought our guys had every chance for an excuse after Thursday night (a 94-92 win over Idaho in double overtime),” MSU third-year head coach Brian Fish said. “I thought the guys played incredibly hard. I thought we competed. I thought if we lost on Thursday night, it would break us.

“I thought it showed incredible heart by our team and our team is growing up a little bit.”

The win stretches Montana State’s winning streak to five games, its longest since 2010. MSU’s five straight victories in league play matches the longest BSC streak since 2005. Montana State is now 11-12 with a matchup against arch rival Montana looming in Missoula on Saturday. The Eagles fell to 6-3 in Big Sky play, 14-8 overall two days after posting a big 72-60 victory over Montana in Missoula.

“It’s been crazy, for sure,” MSU true freshman point guard Harald Frey said of the weekend after finishing with 19 points in more than 40 minutes of action. “We have grown this weekend. We are way more confident now in what we can do. We are definitely heading in the right direction and we definitely caught up the ground we lost at the beginning of conference play.”

Montana State sophomore Sam Neumann tries to hold his ground against EWU senior Jake Wiley

Montana State sophomore Sam Neumann tries to hold his ground against EWU senior Jake Wiley

Eastern Washington senior center Jacob Wiley looked like a man amongst boys from the moment Saturday afternoon’s matinee tipped. He hit 8-of-10 shots in the first half in scoring 21 points. But Neumann’s crafty skills and clutch plays coupled with Everett’s noticeable toughness helped off-set Wiley’s 34 points and nine rebounds by forcing the 6-foot-7 jumping jack to turn the ball over eight times in the post.

“We made him work before he caught ball,” Everett, MSU’s lone senior, said. “If we make him keep working, he’s going to get tired and once he started to get tired, he started putting the ball low and he started stripping it.

“We have matured a lot, especially on the defensive end. We are spending a lot more energy on the defensive side than offense. Now that we are starting to win games by playing defense, we are starting to realize we are a good defensive team if we stick to it.”

Meanwhile, Montana State’s suddenly deep backcourt helped MSU overcome a sluggish first 10 minutes — MSU trailed 28-14 halfway through the first half —to dictate the tempo for the final 35 minutes. Frey (19), Hall (19), Everett (15), sophomore Devonte Klines (11) and junior Joe Mvuezolo Jr. (10) all scored in double figures. The Bobcats finished with 20 assists and just four turnovers.

“Don’t think I’ll see that much in my career,” Fish said. “I don’t know how long I’ll coach but not sure you’ll see five to one in any game. That’s phenomenal.”

EWU senior Jake Wiley shoots through contact

EWU senior Jake Wiley shoots through contact

Neumann — who battled underneath and grabbed 11 rebounds to cap a weekend in which he snared 23 total boards — missed his first five shots, but his 3-pointer with four minutes left gave MSU its largest lead of regulation, 71-66. Neumann’s bucket underneath with 2:43 left helped keep MSU up two and his assist to a slashing Hall for a layup gave MSU a 78-75 lead with 1:52 left.

It gave us a big boost,” Everett said. “Sam is a hard-nosed player. We know he is going to go out there and give us everything he’s got. Once he starts making shots and starts getting his confidence up, it makes everything much easier on both ends.”

Everett, who guarded Wiley in the post for most of the second half, rejected EWU’s leading scorer Bogdan Bliznyuk moments before the junior fouled out to earn MSU a possession it could not capitalize on. Neumann stripped Wiley moments later to set up an MSU possession with 48 seconds left in regulation.

Hall was able to dribble the shot clock under 10 before finding Frey. With the shot clock under five seconds and the game clock ticking under 20, Frey slashed into the lane and converted a one-handed running bank shot off the glass with 18 seconds left.

The conversion received a resounding ovation from one of the best crowds of the Fish era and seemed to sew up a victory for the hosts. Then Sir Washington conjured up some late-game heroics.

Sir Washington

Sir Washington

The fourth-year junior drilled an off-balance 3-pointer to cut the MSU lead to 80-78 with seven seconds remaining. EWU fouled Klines with 5.5 seconds left. Klines hit the first free throw to stretch the advantage to three and Fish called a timeout. He instructed his players to foul if Klines missed the second.

Klines did miss the game-sealing free throw try and Bliznyuk rebounded the ball. Klines could not make contact with the point forward, instead letting him outlet the ball to Washington, who drilled a running 24-footer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

“This is conference basketball; you have to be ready for anything,” Frey said. “But that was definitely a big shot. A lot of credit to (Washington). We had to refocus going into overtime. We were tied. They were not ahead at all.”

Neumann, who finished with seven points in 32 minutes, gave MSU the lead on two free throws to begin overtime and the Bobcats never trailed again. Hall’s third 3-pointer pushed the lead to three and Everett hit four straight free throws down the stretch to keep EWU at bay.

Wiley hit a bucket with 1:18 left to tie the game at 90 but Klines hit the second of two free throws with 28 seconds left for a one-point advantage.

MSU sophomore Tyler Hall

MSU sophomore Tyler Hall

EWU had two more chances. Senior Felix Van Hofe air balled a mid-range jump shot with two seconds left but the ball landed on Everett, who lay on the baseline out of bounds. EWU had one last chance and ran an inbounds play for Wiley, but Neumann and Everett denied the two-time reigning Big Sky Player of the Week the ball, instead forcing the Eagles to inbound to sophomore Ty Gibson, who missed a last-chance heave at the buzzer went long.

As the final buzzer sounded, the Bobcats celebrated in well-earned elation, first at center court of the Brick, then with the student section under the south basket.

“That felt great because we are winning games and we giving them something to cheer for,” Everett said after finishing with 15 points in 27 minutes off the bench. “There’s nothing better than seeing the fans happy and happy with the way we are competing.”

Montana State will now try to take the momentum of the best stretch of the Fish era to Dahlberg Arena. MSU has not defeated the Griz since 2010.

=“It’s going to be a tough battle when we go into Missoula,” Everett said. “We just have to go in there with all the confidence we have now. We’ve won five straight, we have the confidence, we know we can compete with every team in the conference. We have to go out there, play team ball, play team defense and we will be ok.”

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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