As Marcus Colbert stripped Austin McBroom in the lane, Tyler Hall secured possession. As Hall dribbled up the court, Quinton Everett threw both hands in the air, egging on the crowd of 2,362 at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse as the Montana State received a standing ovation. As the final seconds ticked away, a Montana State associate athletic director swiftly pumped his fist as the noise grew yet louder.
The Brick has not roared on a weeknight like it did on Thursday night for what seems like ages. Following Montana State’s 85-71 victory over reigning Big Sky Conference champion Eastern Washington, those in attendance had plenty to cheer about.
MSU guard Marcus Colbert
Behind 23 points and eight assists from unflappable senior point guard Marcus Colbert, 24 points from the smooth-shooting Hall and the most consistent, high-energy defensive effort of the season, the Bobcats snapped a three-game losing streak. MSU also notched the first signature Big Sky win of the Brian Fish era, although there has only been seven to choose from as Fish approaches the midpoint of his second season at the helm for MSU.
“We are coming off a couple of losses, coming back home for a three-game home streak so it’s huge to get the first one,” Colbert said following a night where he hit 9-of-16 from the floor in 35 minutes. “We were hungry for a win.”
Montana State built an early lead thanks to thunderous dunks from junior center Tyson Kanseyo and sophomore forward Zach Green. The Bobcats answered a 12-3 run that gave EWU its only lead thanks to 17 straight points from Colbert as the senior drilled five 3-pointers in a row. MSU answered an 11-0 Eastern run that cut the lead to 48-47 with less than 13 minutes to play with a spurt of its own to keep EWU down by double digits for the final seven minutes, 37 seconds of the contest.
It all amounted to a key victory as MSU moved to 3-4 in conference play, just half a game behind the Eagles, last year’s Big Sky Tournament champions. Montana won the regular season title before losing to EWU in Missoula in the tournament championship game. Montana State’s win Thursday night pushes the Bobcats to 8-11, pushing MSU past its win total in Fish’s first campaign last season.
MSU forward Zach Green
“The way coach challenged us this week affected us a lot,” Hall said. “One big thing was taking it from practice and actually playing in the game hard. We bring energy all the time but we don’t lock in and play defense. We did a good job of that tonight.”
After posting a school-record 26 wins last winter, EWU is now 9-9 overall, including 2-8 away from home. Montana State’s win Thursday night pushes the Bobcats to 8-11, pushing MSU past its win total in Fish’s first campaign last season.
“It’s a great win because I have so much respect for them,” Fish said. “But it’s still just a home win. My worry is we have chased four games we are going to regret all year. We maybe made up one of those four I feel we have given away. That was good because I think we are in the midst of a five-game stretch (Idaho on Saturday, Montana a week from Saturday, at Portland State and Sac State the following week) against some tough matchups.”
All week long, Fish pushed his team to its physical brink, emphasizing intense defense for nearly the duration of each practice. Eastern Washington entered the game with the highest scoring offense in the league. Jois, the Big Sky preseason Player of the Year, was averaging 19.2 points on 72 percent shooting in conference play. Montana State has struggled with skilled post players all season. It looked like a nightmare matchup.
MSU forward Tyson Kanseyo defending EWU forward Venky Jois
Instead, Montana State shadowed Jois face to face with a combination of junior Shy Blake, Kanseyo, and senior Danny Robison. Each time Jois caught and spun, if he created space, Montana State would inflict contact. Each Bobcat post doled out four fouls as Jois drew 14 total. The 6-foot-8 Australian hit just 3-of-10 free throws and finished with 11 points.
“Jois is one of the best big men in the league,” Colbert said. “To have those guys hold him to what they did, there’s no reason we can’t do them with everyone.”
Each time Montana State would help on Jois in the post, he would kick his array of 3-point shooters. The Eagles feature the league’s leading scorer in senior point guard Austin McBroom, a graduate transfer from Saint Louis who is averaging 19.4 points per game. He entered Thursday with a league-leading 60 3-pointers made on 45 percent shooting. Felix Van Hofe entered the game shooting 42 percent with 55 made 3s to his credit.
Montana State switched on every screen with every player except any switch onto Jois. EWU earned nary a clean look as a result. McBroom and Van Hofe combined to shoot 2-of-15 from beyond the 3-point line as EWU hit 7-of-25 from beyond the arc. EWU entered the game shooting a Big Sky-best 39.6 percent behind the line.
“We had a great scout from our coaches and they were spot on,” Colbert said. “We knew they shot a lot of 3s so we knew we had to be out on the catch and try to contest their shots. That’s what we did. Our big men did a really good job on Jois and that was key for our win.”
MSU forward Danny Robison defending EWU forward Venky Jois
Kanseyo converted a reverse layup with 7:28 to play to tie the score at 18. At that point, the junior college transfer had one more point than Jois. From there, Colbert took over.
The Post Falls, Idaho native hit 3-pointers on four of five MSU possessions, including a 25-footer with an Eagle in his face to put MSU up 32-25 with 1:26 to play in the first half. Colbert’s fifth assist of the first frame was a dish to Hall for a buzz-beating 3-pointer as MSU took a 38-30 lead to the break thanks to the star back court.
“Of that opening 14 minutes of the game, of our 20 misses, nine were layups and probably three or four of them were his and that’s what I love about Marcus,” Fish said. “Instead of going into a shell, he keeps coming out and fighting. Marcus never stops fighting. He just pinned his ears back until he found it.”
With Montana State closing out on shooters and pressuring Jois relentlessly, EWU sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk drew consistent isolation opportunities. The Ukrainian capitalized, scoring 22 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Last season’s Big Sky Freshman of the Year drilled 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, including one to spark the 11-0 run that helped EWU cut the MSU lead to one with 12:51 remaining. Van Hofe and Julian Harrell each hit their only triples during the stretch.
MSU guard Tyler Hall
Hall converted a 3-point play with 9:50 to go to the delight of Colbert as he took his lone rest of the evening. Hall scored 12 points thereafter, including a pull-up jump shot in Jois’s face to extend the lead to 10 with 8:37 left and a step-back jump shot to put MSU up 12 with two minutes left. Following Hall’s seventh and final made jump shot, he blew a kiss to the Montana State bench. Following the game, the star freshman deflected all the credit.
“Marcus and I score the ball but really the main key for us is our whole team talking and playing defense,” Hall said. “I think that leads to easier baskets for us.”
Junior Quinton Everett hit a corner 3-pointer to give MSU its first double-digit lead early in the second half and converted all six of his free throws down the stretch to help MSU seal the win. He also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Nahjee Matlock and Sarp Gobeloglu combined with Robison and Kanseyo for 18 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. MSU also benefited from six turnovers, a season low.
“Tonight was about the guys,” Fish said. “They were the key to our win. We had dropped three in a row and wanted to know if we were getting better as a program and we had to show some character. The guys just flat out fought tonight. I think they got sick of just being put in the corner they were in. We were here two weeks ago against Sac State. Now we have to understand what is coming down the line on Saturday because (Idaho head coach Don) Verlin is going to have his guys coming.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
