SKYLINE SPORTS
For the second straight game, turnovers and cold shooting doomed the Bobcats as the Montana State men’s basketball team dropped its fourth straight with a 97-91 loss at Omaha on Saturday night.
Montana State went without a bucket for more than five minutes as the Mavericks expanded a two-point lead to a double-digit advantage.
We got into a scoring drought in the second half,” MSU head coach Brian Fish said in a school press release. “We settled for a few too many threes and didn’t do a very good job taking care of the ball.”
The loss is MSU’s fourth straight overall and its fifth straight on the road this season. The Bobcats are now 5-6. Omaha evened its record at 5-5.
Montana State turned the ball over 17 times in a loss at South Dakota on Wednesday. The Bobcats turned the ball over 18 times at Omaha, their second-most miscues this season, and the giveaways led to 23 Omaha points. The hosts shot 55 percent from the floor, including 63 percent after halftime, using their up-tempo style to push the pace throughout and ensure the Bobcats could not keep up.
“At the end of the day we have to get stops,” Fish said. “The game was teetering there for a while if we could just get one stop when we needed it.”
Marcus Tyus scored 37 points to lead all scorers for the Mavericks. Tre’Shawn Thurman chipped in a season-high 25 points to go with seven rebounds.
Four Bobcats reached double figure scoring, led by junior Zach Green’s 25 points. Green hit four 3-pointers and converted 7-of-13 field goals overall to go with 7-of-8 free throws. True freshman point guard Harald Frey scored 17 points, the second-highest total of his young career and his best mark over the last five games thanks to 6-of-9 shooting. Sophomore Tyler Hall, among the leading scorers in NCAA Division I, scored 15 points, about eight below his average. Hall converted 5-of-15 field goals, including 5-of-13 from beyond the 3-point arc. Senior Quinton Everett scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Montana State fell behind by double-digits in the first half as well thanks to an 11-minute dry spell. Hall’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 32-27 with six minutes until halftime. MSU scored on nine of its final 11 first-half possessions to take a 46-43 lead into intermission. MSU hit 10 3-pointers in the first half and 16 in 41 attempts overall.
After falling behind by double digits again in the second half, MSU scored on six of seven possessions to cut the UNO lead to 95-91 with 2:41 left. Hall hit two of his 3-pointers during the stretch and Green scored five of his points. But Omaha hit 19-of-26 second-half free throws and 26-of-34 overall from the stripe to seal the win.
Montana State gets the upcoming week off for final exams before hosting South Dakota on Sunday, December 18, at 2 p.m. USD posted a 74-57 win in Vermillion over MSU on December 7.
