Montana State shook off a cold shooting night and overcame a 19-point second-half deficit to turn a blowout into a nail-biter in Pullman on Friday night.
The MSU men’s basketball team shot just 22 percent in the first half, converting just 8-of-36 field goals to fall behind Pac 12 Washington State 31-21 at intermission. The margin swelled to 19 midway through the second half and the Bobcats looked like they might get blown out in the first game of Brian Fish’s third season at the helm.
But sophomore sensation Tyler Hall would not let the Bobcats go away easily. Hall scored 20 of his game-high 32 points after halftime. His seventh 3-pointer of the night cut the Washington State lead to 62-56 with 2:44 left. Hall assisted senior Quinton Everett’s corner 3-pointer cut the Washington State lead to 66-63 with 31 seconds left. His two free throws with 14 seconds left cut the Cougar lead to 68-65.
Washington State missed half of its eight free throw attempts in the final minute but still managed to hang on for a 69-65 win in the opener for both teams.
“I thought it would take 15 minutes for us to get through it but it really took about 26,” Fish said following the loss. “It kind of collapsed on us. We miss our first six, seven, eight shots and we were out of it. We fought threw it later on but it was too late.”
Derrien King scored 22 points, including the game-sealing free throws in the final 14 seconds, to lead Washington State. The Cougs were shooting 51 percent at the time of their 19-point lead. WSU finished 20-of-46 from the floor (42.6 percent), including 5-of-14 from beyond the arc. King hit three of WSU’s five 3s. Josh Hawkinson scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as WSU built a 48-38 advantage on the boards.
“We played good defense throughout and we only turned the ball over eight times, so we took care of the ball,” Fish said. “Tyler got hot late, Sarp (Gobeloglu) gave us a spark (14 points, 3-of-5 from 3). But at the same time, we had to get going and only two guys got going.”
Montana State’s roster has five new players vying for time in the rotation. Freshman point guard Harald Frey missed all five of his first-half 3-point attempts and six of seven overall. He finished 3-of-12 from the floor and finished with seven points and four assists in 32 minutes.
Frey, forward Joe Mvuezolo and guard Devonte Klines finished the first half 1-of-16 in their Division I debuts. The trio combine to shot 4-of-27 for the night as Montana State made just 22-of-75 shots, including 12-of-39 3-pointers. Newcomer big men junior Benson Osayande and freshman Devin Kirby combined for two points, seven rebounds and five founds in 27 total minutes.
Montana State’s returners, outside of Hall, did not contribute. Junior Zach Green battled foul trouble al night and finished with three points on 0-of-5 shooting and four rebounds in 16 minutes. Everett vanished with five points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. Sophomore forward Sam Neumann missed both his shots and managed just two rebounds in 18 minutes of his first career start.
“Now I think we put the pedal to the medal, show them the tape, get away from your feelings, flush them and get better,” Fish said. “We shot shots we didn’t want to soot. We have to build trust between us as coaches and them as players. This is the last time Harald takes the court for the first time as a Division I point guard. Devonte, his last first Division I game, same with Joe.
“But you have to have guys step up and drag the young guys, the new guys through. Tyler did. No one else did. We got a couple looks late, we had a chance, but we have to fight it throughout. We did late but that’s not good enough.”
Montana State has its home opener against Louisiana-Lafayette on Monday.
