THE MATCHUP
Montana State took the court Thursday for the first time since its first win over rival Montana in five years, a 66-59 victory over the Griz in Missoula that came on January 9. Thursday, MSU played upstart Northern Arizona at Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
THE RESULT
Nick Gazelas scored six straight points to halt a comeback bid late and help lead Montana State to an 89-84 victory over Northern Arizona to help MSU win its ninth game in the last 10 contests, moving the Bobcats to 5-2 in league play, 13-5 overall.
Montana State led by as many as 17 in the second half after holding a 50-35 advantage at halftime. NAU slowly trimmed into the Bobcat lead. A field goal-less span of nearly seven minutes for the Bobcats, and an 11-1 run for the Lumberjacks in a less than two-minute span, resulted in a 79-all score with 1:35 remaining in the contest.
That’s when Gazelas stepped up on the Bobcats’ next two possessions.
The sophomore guard drove the lane and converted on a layup in the paint which drew a foul on NAU’s Jalen Cone. Gazelas put MSU ahead 82-79 on the following free throw attempt while the foul on Cone – a Virginia Tech transfer who was the Jacks’ leading scorer with 26 points – was his fifth.
Keith Haymon missed a jumper for NAU and the Bobcats came back down the floor and put the game out of reach. Abdul Mohamed found Gazeles extended out on the wing and he drained a 3-pointer to put MSU ahead 85-79 with 28 seconds remaining.
THE STANDOUTS
With Amin Adamu out because of “health concerns”, fellow MSU senior guard Xavier Bishop played a full 40 minutes, rolling up 26 points and six assists in one of his best games as a Bobcat.
Montana State shot nearly 50 percent from the floor, hit 9-of-19 3-pointers and nailed 26 of its 31 free throw attempts in the win. Four other Bobcats joined Bishop in double figure scoring.
Junior center Jubrile Belo scored 14 points and snared 11 rebounds while adding two blocks. Sophomore Tyler Patterson hit four triples on the way to 14 points. Gazelas hit three 3-pointers on the way to 12 points while RaeQuan Battle scored 10 points as the Bobcats saw their bench score 26 points.
“The percentages we shot, it showed our aggressiveness. I thought the keys of the game were Tyler (Patterson) played great for us in the first half, Nick hit some huge 3s, and Xavier controlled the entire game for us,” MSU head coach Danny Sprinkle said.
QUOTABLE
“Just proud of him,” Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said of Gazelas. “He’s a tough kid. That’s what he does, he makes big shots, he’s not scared of the moment. He can put the ball on the floor which he did on that drive. We tried running that play before, tried to get him a 3, but he made a great decision driving that thing.”
“What a gusty win,” Sprinkle said. “Talk about adversity and fighting through stuff. We’ve been talking about if you’re going to be a championship team, you have to be able to battle through things like today.
SOCIAL
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WHAT’S NEXT
Montana State plays at Portland State on Saturday nights at 8 p.m.
