THE MATCHUP
In the first semifinal matchup of the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball tournament on Friday, the No. 1 seed Montana State Bobcats took on the fourth-seeded Weber State Wildcats. Montana State took care of business in their first contest of the tournament, routing Sacramento State 83-61 on Thursday, while Weber State eliminated the Montana Grizzlies 68-56, setting up Friday’s semifinal.
THE RESULT
Weber State pulled out to a 37-31 halftime lead, thanks to a balanced scoring effort from First-Team All-Big Sky guard Koby McEwen, Second-Team All-Big Sky forward Dillon Jones, and Third-Team All-Big Sky guard Seikou Sisoho Jawara. Jones dictated the physicality and McEwen runned and gunned, at one point dunking so hard and hanging on the rim so long, he kicked MSU senior guard Xavier Bishop.
The Wildcats held their lead until the 9:10 mark in the second half, when Bobcats freshman forward Great Osobor sunk a free throw to tie the game at 50. From there – it was the RaeQuan Battle show. Battle, a sophomore guard who recently took home co-honors for the Big Sky’s Top Reserve, put down 10 free throws in a row down the stretch, eventually leaving Weber State with two last-chance heaves from three to try to save their season; McEwen and Jones both missed on decent looks, and the Bobcats came away with the victory, 69-66.
THE STANDOUTS
Battle stole the show with his legendary performance from the free throw line in the second half, but super senior MSU point guard Xavier Bishop and fifth-year senior Amin Adamu each had excellent performances for the Bobcats. Bishop finished with 14 and carried the load offensively in the first half while Adamu was clutch in keeping the Bobcats close during the first 10 minutes of the second half. Adamu scored 10 of his 15 points in the first six minutes of the second half and 13 of his 15 after intermission.
For Weber State, freshman Dillon Jones, last season’s Freshman of the Year during a covid year, led all players with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Koby McEwen (a senior transfer from Marquette University who was an All-Mountain West performer at Utah State once upon a time) wasn’t far behind, finishing with 17 points.
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WHAT’S NEXT
On Saturday night, Montana State will take on third-seeded Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Tournament Championship. If MSU wins, the Bobcats will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996.
No. 3 Northern Colorado 86, No. 7 Portland State 79
BY ANDREW HOUGHTON
Portland State’s intense press has been the story of the tournament behind animated first-year head coach Jase Coburn and a bevy of long, hard-working, highlight-chasing athletes.
Northern Colorado finally solved the Vikings, but it took the Bears 25 full minutes and a torrid shooting night, featuring a 36-point performance from Daylen Kountz, to do so.
Portland State’s run-and-gun style translated to a double-digit lead at points in the first half, and an eight-point lead at the break as the Vikings forced 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
But Northern Colorado, which survived a furious Eastern Washington comeback for a 68-67 win in the quarterfinals on Thursday, drew from that same well of composure as the Vikings started to fade.
Kountz scored eight straight Northern Colorado points in just over a minute, sandwiched around a Khalid Thomas run-out dunk, to cut Portland State’s from seven points to one with just over 15 minutes to play.
Bodie Hume followed with a layup to give the Bears their first lead since the first few minutes, and Kountz went on another unconscious run, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers, to push the advantage to 10 with 9:49 to play.
Portland State’s press gave the Bears fits down the stretch, including forcing Steve Smiley to use his final two timeouts on back-to-back plays where they failed to inbound the ball, but the Vikings never drew back even.
Kountz took just 17 shots to get his 36 points, the seventh-best scoring performance in Big Sky tournament history. Dalton Knecht added 17 for the Bears.
Michael Carter III led Portland State with 22 points, and the Vikings had four other players in double digits. PSU forced 22 turnovers and attempted 22 more shots than Northern Colorado, but the Bears shot 54.2% from the field.
Northern Colorado plays Montana State in the title game Saturday at 6 p.m. The Bears last won the conference title in 2011.
