The Bison remain seemingly invincible at home.
Behind a hands-off first-half defensive showing and a smothering second half defensive effort, North Dakota State won for the 29th straight time in Fargo, posting a 73-64 win over the Montana State men’s basketball team on Wednesday night.
Montana State did not make a single trip to the free throw line in the first half. The Bobcats made all eight of their free throws after intermission but 36.4 percent shooting doomed the visitors as MSU reached the halfway point of its four-game, 10-day road trip. The loss dropped MSU to 5-5. NDSU is 7-3 after the win.
A Marcus Colbert 3-pointer with 58 seconds to play cut the NDSU lead to 67-64. NDSU’s Paul Miller answered with his second 3-pointer of the half with 30 seconds to play. NDSU hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch and Montana State would not score again.
Montana State put four players in double figures led by 12 points each from the starting backcourt of senior point guard Marcus Colbert and true freshman shooting guard Tyler Hall. Colbert fouled out before the end of regulation. He finished with five assists. Senior power forward Danny Robison had 11 points despite missing four of his five 3-point shots and sophomore wing Zach Green chipped in 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and a team-high seven rebounds.
Montana State converted 44.4 percent of its field goals in the first half to enter intermission trailing 30-27. After halftime, MSU shot 12-of-33, including 5-of-14 (35.7 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.
NDSU forward A.J. Jacobson scored nine of his 16 points after halftime to finish with a game-high for scoring. Miller and Dexter Werner joined Jacobson in double figures scoring with 11 points each. Miller pulled down a game-high eight rebounds. Jacobson added a team-high five assists. NDSU shot 52 percent after halftime and 46.7 percent overall. The Bison hit 6-of-15 shots from beyond the arc. NDSU also built a 40-24 advantage on points in the paint and a 39-32 advantage on the glass.
MSU, which falls to 1-1 on its current road trip, plays at Buffalo on Saturday afternoon. The Bobcats play at Syracuse on Tuesday evening.
