Problems old and new popped up or appeared for the first time for the Montana State Bobcats in South Dakota on Wednesday night.
Since a 91-66 victory over Delaware State in their final game of November, the Bobcats have lost three straight. On Wednesday, Montana State gave up 19 offensive rebounds, 13 second-chance points and 40 points in the paint to South Dakota. Montana State has struggled on the interior all season.
Conversely, MSU’s guard-heavy lineup has shot the ball well from beyond the 3-point arc (39.3 percent) and has taken care of the basketball, building a +2.1 turnover margin. In Vermillion, the Bobcats turned the ball over 17 times leading to 19 South Dakota points. The Bobcats hit just 4-of-20 attempt deep.
The struggles resulted in a 74-57 win by the hosts to push MSU’s losing streak to three and drop the Bobcats to 5-5 overall. South Dakota moved to 5-0 at home and 7-4 overall with its second win over Big Sky Conference team. USD defeated Montana 72-67 on November 27 in Vermillion.
Montana State senior Quinton Everett, pictured here in Monday’s home loss against Milwaukee, scored a team-high 13 points in a loss at South Dakota Wednesday night/ by Brooks Nuanez
Montana State sophomore Tyler Hall — the third-leading scorer in Division I (24.8 ppg) after his national season-best 42 points in an 83-78 loss to Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Monday — hit his first two 3-point attempts as MSU built an early 12-6 lead. Hall would manage just two more 3-pointers the rest of the game, missing both. He finished with a season-low 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
Hall had four assists but MSU managed just seven assists as the offense was devoid of any flow for most of the night. Hall turned down an offer from South Dakota to come to Montana State before last season.
South Dakota’s Trey Burch-Manning played 28 minutes of tough defense on Hall, denying him possession when Hall played off the ball and forcing him to pass when Hall played point guard. On the other end, Burch-Manning hit 6-of-11 shots, including one of South Dakota’s five 3-pointers (in 20 attempts) to finish with a team-high 15 points. Freshman Tyler Peterson hit 3-of-4 from deep and scored 15 points for the hosts.
MSU’s rebounding continued to be an issue. MSU lost the battle on the glass 45-36 as Tyler Flack grabbed 11 rebounds to go with his 12 points. Six of Flack’s rebounds came on the offensive end.
MSU head coach Brian Fish played true freshman Devin Kirby, a 6-foot-11, 200-pounder from Arizona, for 12 minutes, two short of his season high. The lanky rookie managed just one rebound. Zach Green, a 6-foot-4 junior who is MSU’s starting power forward, grabbed seven rebounds to go with nine points despite shooting 3-of-10. Sarp Gobeloglu, a 6-foot-10 senior, managed six rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.
Montana State senior Quinton Everett scored all 13 of his points after halftime. His layup with 8:54 to play cut the USD lead to 49-42, but the Bobcats gave up a Burch-Manning 3-pointer on the next possession. The South Dakota lead did not dip under double figures again.
Montana State’s bench has been consistent this season, providing 20 points per game in production. On Wednesday, sophomore Devonte Klines scored a career-high eight points but he was just 2-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-8 from the free throw line. He forced the ball and the offense in most of his 21 minutes on the floor. Joe Mvuezolo Jr., a junior averaging a bench-high 7.2 points per game, did not score, missing his only field goa try in 10 minutes.
Matt Mooney hit a 3-pointer from just inside half court at the first-half buzzer to give USD a 32-24 lead after MSU led the first 14 minutes of the game. The Mooney 3-pointer gave him 11 and helped the Coyotes close the half on an 8-0 run.
Montana State plays at Omaha on Saturday night.
