Following Thursday night’s lackluster defensive effort against Weber State, Brian Fish did not hold back in the post-game press conference. The message from the Montana State head coach to his players was the same as to the press: if MSU wants any chance to compete in the Big Sky Conference, the Bobcats will have to guard.
If Saturday’s 80-63 win over Idaho State is any indication, the Bobcats heard Fish’s message loud and clear.
Montana State held Idaho State to 37 percent shooting (17-of-46), including just 3-of-18 from beyond the 3-point arc. Idaho State senior Ethan Telfair, the Big Sky’s leading scorer during league games en route to earning BSC Newcomer of the Year honors last winter, scored 16 points but it took him 15 shots to get there. Telfair’s first free throw a minute into the game gave Idaho State a 1-0 lead, the Bengals’ only advantage all afternoon at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
MSU guard Devonte Klines (10)
“(Fish) wants us to bring more energy,” MSU sophomore Devonte Klines, the catalyst for the defensive effort, said after experiencing his first conference win. “He wants us to be more vocal and hold everybody accountable. Once we hold everybody accountable, we can lock in and buy into what he’s saying. We were able to do it tonight.”
Montana State earned stop after stop, never letting the Bengals get into any sort of offensive rhythm. And when the Bengals missed shots, the Bobcats rebounded, earning a 34-29 advantage on the glass including snaring 17 of ISU’s 18 first-half misses.
“We’ve been practicing good but today we took it to the floor,” Fish said. “I thought we’ve been practicing better and better and I thought it carried over yesterday to today. When I went back and evaluated things, I thought guys were playing for minutes rather than taken their minutes they were earning in practice and doing something with them.”
The win snapped Montana State’s seven-game losing streak and moved the Bobcats to 1-1 in Big Sky Conference play, 6-9 overall. The loss drops Idaho State to 0-2 in league play, 3-12 overall.
“That’s a good shooting team,” said Fish, whose Bobcats gave up 31 points to Telfair in a 76-67 loss to Idaho State in Pocatello last February. “They can shoot the basketball no different than Weber. I thought they got the same shots but we were in the space that made it uncomfortable to shoot. I thought that was being more aggressive. I was glad the guys were rewarded with a win but I hope they take what they’ve done in practice and apply it again Thursday night (at Eastern Washington).
After a slow shooting start, Frey has found his stroke. His 3-of-4 performance from beyond the 3-point arc means he has made 15 of his last 27 from deep. He finished Saturday afternoon’s contest with a game and career-high 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting in a team-high 32 minutes.
MSU guard Harald Frey (5)
“I definitely feel more comfortable and that comes from experience,” said Frey, an 18-year-old from Oslo, Norway whose father, Staale, has been in Bozeman to watch his son’s last four games. “My teammates and my coaches just keep telling me to shoot the ball. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Frey sliced and diced the matchup zone defense that ISU fifth-year head coach Bill Evans has made his trademark during a long coaching career. Frey penetrated and passed as MSU dished out 14 assists while making half of its 54 shots.
“I feel like whatever defense we are facing, we are comfortable in what we are doing,” Frey said. “On the defensive end, it’s where we can really hit our stride, which you saw tonight.”
Weber State senior Jeremy Senglin drilled his first seven 3-pointers and the Wildcats started 9-of-13 from beyond the arc en rout to a 17-of-31 performance from deep in an 87-72 win over Montana State on Thursday. Following the loss, Fish did not sugar coat anything in his post-game comments, demanding his players come together and learn to communicate defensively.
Saturday afternoon with a healthy crowd of 2,138 on hand, Klines set the tone on Telfair, ISU’s normally ball-dominant point guard. His first field goal did not come until the 8:40 mark of the first half and it was his only make in a first half as MSU built a 40-27 lead.
“We focused on preparing more and applying our practice defense to a game because we haven’t really applied that yet,” Fish said. “I felt like our defense in practice is really getting good and really having good practices. Tonight, we just really applied it in the game.
Klines picked up two fouls in the first minute, giving way to senior Quinton Everett, a spark plug off the bench as of late after returning from a knee injury that cost him a week during the non-conference. The duo split the minutes right down the middle and paired to hold Telfair to 4-of-15 from the floor and 2-of-8 from beyond the arc.
ISU guard Ethan Telfair (3)
More importantly, MSU kept Telfair off the free throw line during the first 30 minutes of the game, although he did make 6-of-8 overall.
“I basically studied his game,” Klines said. “He got to the free throw line (250) times. I would fake on him a few times, but not too much. In the first half, I was just trying to put a hand in there so he didn’t have an easy look at the shot.”
The Coney Island, New York product averaged 24 points per game during conference play and shot 250 free throws last season. In the off-season, he declared for the NBA Draft but did not hire an agent. He returned to school and has struggled with his shot. His 16 points Saturday were right on par with his average. But Klines and Everett work for all but two of his 15 shots.
“I like that Devonte-Q kind of pressure,” Fish said. “What I liked was when a guy played three or four minutes, he was going to his teammates and getting them to keep it going. You do that when you are playing better and you are playing hard. You want your teammate to go. That’s a maturity thing that I’m not sure we accomplished yet but it looked better today.”
When Klines came back in, he gave Montana State a lift on both ends. Although Idaho State only made eight of its 26 first half shots — Montana State grabbed the rebound on 17 of the 18 misses — the Bengals trailed 17-14 10 minutes in. Everett’s third 3-pointer of the first half pushed the advantage to 20-14 before Telfair hit his first and only shot of the first half.
“I think Telfair is as good as anybody in the league but he didn’t get a lot of clean looks,” Fish said.
MSU forward Quinton Everett (24)
Klines responded after Telfair’s make, hitting his third 3-pointer of the season from the corner to push the lead to 25-17. Frey hit treys on back-to-back possessions and Tyler Hall’s first 3-pointer came right after as the Cats pushed the lead to 34-21 with 3:42 left in the first stanza. Frey scored 11 points in the first half while he assisted on two of Everett’s three first-half 3-pointers. Everett averaged 15.5 points per game off the bench during MSU’s first weekend of conference play.
“The energy Q brings now is tremendous,” Frey said. “He has that spark and he is a leader, experienced. When he bring that kind of energy, the rest of our guys want to follow him.”
Hall’s elbow jump shot three minutes into the second half pushed the Bobcat lead to 48-28 and the end result was never in question the final 17 minutes. Between the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half, Idaho State sent 9:48 without a field goal. Sophomore center Novak Topalovic, who tied a career high with 15 points, hit a jump hook in the lane with 14 minutes left to snap the streak but MSU still led 50-30.
MSU converted 13 of its 23 shot attempts after halftime and shot 50 percent (27-of-54) overall. The Bobcats pushed the lead to 73-48 on a pair of Zach Green free throws with 6:52 left for the largest advantage of the night.
“We won a game tonight and Tyler wasn’t great, Zach wasn’t great, but Manny (Mandrell Worthy) played his butt off, Q played his butt off, our bigs played well, I thought Devonte played his butt off,” Fish said. “That’s what you have to do in a 36-hour turnaround is have depth to play well.”
MSU men’s basketball team
Hall, the leading scorer in the Big Sky by averaging 23.9 points per outing entering the game, finished with 12 points. Frey, Everett (17 points), Klines (11 points) and redshirt freshman Mandrell Worthy (seven points) picked up the scoring load. Klines and Worthy both notched career highs, playing 21 and 16 minutes respectively.
“With our young team, it really means a lot,” Fish said. “A lot of you guys were at practice the other day. It almost looked like we didn’t leave the practice floor because we played in practice the exact same way. I thought guys knew they were going to play well because they practiced well.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
