With three starters on the bench after fouling out, a freshman point guard with shaken confidence after missing three of four free throws down the stretch and all the momentum in the world favoring Louisiana Lafayette, Brian Fish did what he almost always thinks is the best thing for his Bobcats.
Montana State’s head men’s basketball coach gave the ball to Tyler Hall.
The Ragin’ Cajuns jumped all over MSU early, went into a second-half lull then reawakened to go on a 20-4 tear to turn a 16-point deficit into a one-point lead with 28 seconds to play. Jonathan Stove’s second straight layup gave Louisiana Lafayette an 83-82 lead but MSU had one last chance.
With 15.4 seconds left on the clock, Fish called a timeout and drew up an isolation play to get Hall a jump shot going to his right. Hall, last year’s Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year and one of the premier mid-major talents in the country, took a contested 3-pointer that missed with six seconds to play.
After a scramble for possession, lanky Montana State junior Joe Mvuezolo ended up with the ball in his hands. His attempt with 2.1 seconds left missed but the 6-foot-6 transfer from Miami Dade drew a foul. With nerves painting his face, Mvuezolo stepped to the line and swished two free throws.
ULL’s Frank Bartley heaved a 30-footer at the buzzer that hit nothing but the court as it bounced into the student section and Montana State held on for an 84-83 win in front of 2,395 in its home opener.
Montana State junior Joe Mvuezolo hit two free throws to boost MSU/ By Brooks Nuanez
“Watch those people shoot those free throws at halftime and you realize it’s not as easy as it sounds,”Fish said following his 22nd career victory in the first home game of his third season. . “You can shoot 1,000 of them but that basket is about the size of a Catholic commune cup when you are by yourself. Those are big and you have to have those moments as a new player that pushes you to another level.”
Louisiana Lafayette endured a streak of eight minutes 53 seconds without converting a field goal but stayed in the game because of a seemingly endless parade to the free throw line. The Ragin’ Cajuns shot 31 free throws after halftime, converting just 18 (58.1 percent). ULL made 34-of-54 from the stripe overall (63 percent) including 8-of-16 by center Bryce Washington before the big man fouled out.
All told, the Bobcats were called for 36 personal fouls. Sophomore forward Sam Neumann fouled out with more than six minutes to play. Senior Quinton Everett fouled out with 3:31 to play and junior forward Zach Green was disqualified with less than two minutes to play, setting the stage for Mvuezolo’s game-sealing free throws.
“I had confidence in him,” Hall said. “He struggled a little bit but he didn’t let that affect him. You could tell he had confidence. I was just worried about hanging on to be honest.”
Montana State fell behind 12-2 in its home opener thanks to six fouls in the first four minutes and sloppy play on both sides of the court. But freshman Harald Frey sparked the Bobcats by getting into the lane and finishing twice to spark a run that helped MSU tie the game 21-21 with 8:31 left in the first half. The spurt also included senior Sarp Gobeloglu’s only 3-pointer of the night as well as the first of four triples for Hall.
Bartley drilled five of six 3-point attempts in the first half and finished the night with six triples. His 3-pointer with 6:47 left in the first half sparked an 11-0 ULL run. But Hall’s newfound ability to get to the free throw line helped the Bobcats close the gap again. Hall hit five straight free throws in the span of two possessions, Frey showed his speed in the open court in converting in transition and Green’s old-fashioned 3-point play punctuated MSU’s 13-0 run to take a 34-31 advantage. After another ULL run, Frey’s sweet backside bounce pass to his freshman roommate Devin Kirby led to a layup that knotted the game 41-41 at halftime.
“It was hard to get into a flow at first,” Hall said. “That was the case for both teams. We found our rhythm, went on a run, they found theirs. It was a game of runs.”
Montana State freshman point guard Harald Frey/ by Brooks Nuanez
Frey finished with 16 points despite shooting 4-of-12 from the floor and 1-of-7 from beyond the arc. He hit 7-of-10 free throws but all three of his misses came in the game’s final 86 seconds. The rookie from Oslo, Norway finished with seven rebounds and seven assists in 32 minutes of action.
”We want him to shoot whenever he is open,” Green said. “We call him Norway Curry because he shoots like Steph Curry. He’s nice. He’s going to be really good.”
Green dominated the beginning of the second half, converting an old-fashioned 3-point play right out of the locker room to give MSU the lead. He finished strong in traffic and had another 3-point play as MSU pushed the lead to 10 in the first four minutes after halftime. A game after struggling in MSU’s 67-63 loss at Washington State, Green regained his form despite battling foul trouble the entire first half. He converted all six of his field goals and all three of his free throws in scoring 16 points. He also had a game-high eight rebounds.
“That was the Zach I know,” Fish said. “He was a man in there. He was a man on the boards and he was going to the basket.”
Montana State junior forward Zach Green/ by Brooks Nuanez
Green’s final bucket, a layup with 11:54 left, put MSU up 60-59. Then the Bobcats pressed on the gas. Frey converted a four-point play on his only 3-pointer made before Hall scored eight straight, putting his full skill stet on display. Hall had an and-1, drilled a 3-pointer, then crossed over two defenders to hit a 19-foot baseline fade away. He finished with 28 points on 8-of-15 shooting, hit half of his eight 3-point attempts and all eight of his free throws.
“It makes our plays look pretty good when he does that,” Fish said. “…There’s guys who are really good who want to be challenged and guys who are really good where it’s easy for them. Tyler wants to be challenged. He scored 28 points and he’ll see the six in the turnovers and he will be in tomorrow morning watching film.”
Neumann, who scored all seven of his points after halftime, hit a corner 3-pointer to put MSU up 76-60, its biggest lead, with 7:17 left. But the fouls caught up to the Bobcats as the Ragin’ Cajuns came storming back. Bartley scored 12 of his game-high 29 points as ULL went on a 17-2 run before Hall’s 3-pointer with 2:13 left, MSU’s last field goal, stopped the bleeding for a moment.
Everett’s fifth foul drew a reaction from the gritty senior, enough to earn him a technical foul. With MSU in the double bonus, Bartley hit four free throws to cut the Bobcat lead to 78-76. Hall’s triple pushed the lead to 81-77 before Stove drove right at Gobeloglu, who had four fouls, twice in a row to give Lafayette the lead.
“We got ourselves in foul trouble and when we had the lead, we had our main guys on the floor but then I had to put some guys in that don’t have that experience,” Fish said. “But Harald got some experience, Joe got some experience, Devonte (Klines) got some experience against a press. It hurt us but we found away to win and guys walked away with playing a lot of minutes against a team that got after them a little bit.”
But Mzuezolo’s free throws helped MSU earn its first home victory in the debut game of a schedule that includes 17 home games. Montana State plays at home twice more this week, hosting Rocky Mountain College (Billings) on Wednesday and James Madison on Saturday.
“We trying to win all our home games, flat out win all our home games,” Green said. “We have to take advantage of it.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
