MISSOULA, Montana — Valentine’s Day on Saturday at Dahlberg Arena marked a day of firsts for the Montana State Bobcats.
For the first time in their careers as MSU stalwarts, senior point guard Jed Miller and senior forward Patrick McMahon led the ‘Cats to rivalry victories in Missoula.
For the first time in his three seasons at the helm for Montana State men’s basketball, Matt Logie earned a win in Missoula and a sweep of the heralded rivals.
And for the first time since Danny Sprinkle bolted for the big leagues, the Bobcats definitively own the Grizzlies on the hardwood.
The Montana State men’s basketball team followed Saturday afternoons’ beatdown of the Lady Griz by the MSU women (72-55) by finishing off the sweep with an 82-71 win in front of more than 5,000 fans at Dahlberg Arena.
Montana held the upper hand in the rivalry with a seemingly unbreakable grip during most of the 21st century, particularly with Travis DeCuire at the helm. The former Montana point guard lost just once in his career against the Bobcats before Sprinkle took the helm for MSU. The beloved Bobcat coach helped Montana State win three times against the Griz, including twice in 2023, helping the MSU basketball programs earn their first season sweep of the bitter rival simultaneously in 24 seasons.
On Saturday, the Bobcats did it again. The MSU women have now beaten the Lady Griz five times in a row and 15 of the last 17 rivalry contests. Logie entered the game Saturday with one regular-season victory against UM so far, a 76-67 win in January in Bozeman. Logie, of course, also held the Big Sky Tournament championship game victory over the Griz, too, but a win in Missoula had eluded him.
Saturday night, Montana State went toe to toe in the first half, emerging with a 38-37 lead at the break before using its limited depth but superb balance and superior team continuity to rise up for the team’s 15th win of the season.
“This is a special place and a special time with special people,” Logie said. “One of the things that I appreciate the most about our athletic department is how everybody is rowing in the same direction. Everybody wants each other to succeed. We all recognize how hard it is to do this at an excellent level.
“We’ve got great support from our administration and our fan base. So, it makes you really proud to wear the blue and gold and to fight through some of the valleys that this group and our program has fought through over the last couple of years.”
Six Bobcat players scored in double figures, led by Miller’s 19. The senior point guard also dished out five of MSU’s 15 assists, helping Montana State shoot 51 percent from the floor and 46 percent from beyond the arc.
McMahon, who like Miller came to MSU to play for Sprinkle but stayed under Logie, went for 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Christian King, a former Washington transfers, also had 12 points and he led the team with 10 rebounds. Jaden Steppe came off the bench to score 15 points and chip in four rebounds.
Jeremiah Davis, who’s been struggling with an arm injury, hit two of MSU’s 10 3-pointers on the way to 10 points. Chris Hodges, a senior transfer from Wisconsin, helped boost the effort by going 5-of-5 from the floor, including a pair of momentum-carrying dunks. Reserve Jaden Steppe might’ve been the most pivotal contributor as he came off the bench to score 15 points in 16 minutes, finishing 7-of-10 from the floor.
“This team’s been thrown in the fire,” Miller said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries and we’ve gone through so much adversity this year. This team is still getting better every game and I’m excited for the future.”
DeCuire is 17-7 against the Cats, but has won just five times in 11 matchups over the last two head coaches. Montana has been dynamite at home under the former Griz assist king. Saturday marked UM’s sixth home loss this season, the most in a single campaign under DeCuire and a far cry from the home court dominance that has been the signature of his best teams. Last year, the Griz went 15-1 at home on the way to winning its third Big Sky regular-season title under DeCuire.
“They were just better tonight, top to bottom, from me all the way down to the end of the bench,” UM head coach Travis DeCuire said. “I just thought there were too many stretches where we weren’t good executing on either side. … Defensively, we just weren’t good enough to get stops when we needed. There were moments where we had momentum, we had opportunities.”
Montana came out of the gates red-hot in an entertaining, back and forth first half. UM drilled seven of its first 10 shots from beyond the arc. But the Griz missed 15 of their 16 shots from deep, including 10 of 11 in the second half. Montana converted just 10 field goals after halftime.
“We need to be better at being more consistent offense and defense, putting two halves together,” said Sawyer, who finished with 22 points. “Just not being one-sided. I think that’s what caught us in the head at the time. We’re going to get better at it.”
Montana junior Money Williams bullied his way to 25 points, but MSU made him work. The preseason Big Sky MVP finished 6-of-16 from the floor and 2-of-6 from deep. He piled up 11 points in 13 attempts from the free throw line.
In the first matchup in Bozeman, Montana raced to a 10-point lead in the first half only to see Montana State chip away to enter halftime with a one-point lead. In the first matchup, Montana State pushed its second-half lead to 13 points five minutes in. But the Griz shaved that all the way down to one before Davian Brown helped the hosts put it away.
On Saturday, MSU started the second half on a 7-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Miller, a sweet jumper by Christian King (who finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds) and a dunk by Hodges. A Jeremiah Davis 3-poitner pushed the run to 10-2 and the advantage to 48-39.
When Miller hit a leader with 9:20 left and McMahon converted on a fast-break to push it to a 12-point lead, the Griz would get no closer than seven points as MSU moved to 9-4 in league play to sit alone in second place, a game ahead of the Griz.
“I thought we just kept playing, kept sticking to the game plan,” Logie said. “Never got too low at the beginning when they were making shots. Were able to have a great start to the second half. I think that was critical for us to build a little bit of a buffer.
“This team has been, like Jed said, they’ve been through a lot, so they don’t rattle easily, and when things happen, they pull together to fight out of the mud. It’s a joy to coach a group like that.”
