Montana State Bobcats hold off Montana Grizzlies to earn 1st win in Missoula since 2010

Playing in front of announced crowd of 6,374 fans was unlike anything Brown had experienced during his previous four seasons at CSUN. His play helped the Cats close the game on a 5-0 run to overcome a blown eight-point lead in a 67-64 win that gave them their first win in Missoula since 2010.

“We prepare for these times in practice, and it paid off,” he said. “All the composure, just never panic. That’s what I like to consider my job is to make sure I’m at least the most composed and make sure that the team’s composed and not lose control when stuff goes bad.”

Before Brown’s free throws, RaeQuan Battle made all three free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left. He finished with 18 points after colliding knees with Aanen Moody, leaving him on the ground in pain for a short period in the second half.

The third of Battle’s free throws broke the eighth and final tie in the last 7:28 of the contest. It also gave the Cats the lead back after they went down by three points with 1:34 to play. They were 17 of 19 at the charity stripe in a physical outing that featured 38 combined fouls.

“It’s always a physical game when you play Montana, probably more so than any other team in the league and especially here,” Sprinkle said. “I thought our guys did a tremendous job. We’ve been talking a lot about mental toughness the last two, three weeks. I thought today was probably the most mentally tough that our team’s been this year.”

For Sprinkle to earn his first head coaching win in Missoula, he made the decision to not foul and let UM get off a potentially game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds. Moody took a long 3-pointer in the space he found behind two defenders, but it was off the mark and MSU came up with the rebound as UM crashed the boards looking for a second chance.

On the prior possession, UM had a chance to reclaim the lead following Battle’s free throws. After a timeout, the Griz couldn’t get the ball to Dischon Thomas on a cross down low and Brandon Whitney couldn’t get into the lane to kick out to Moody, so they improvised. Moody’s floater in the lane while looking for contact was no good and MSU got the ball out of bounds.

Moody was stuck at 21 points, one bucket shy of a career high and a potential game-winner, as he scored 19 in the second half to help the Griz erase a 42-33 deficit. They dropped to 0-4 in games decided by one possession.

“It felt like this game was going to be different,” he said. “Inside of my head, I could almost visualize what it felt like to win this. We just always find a way to just beat ourselves. It’s not one person. It’s all five of us in the last two, three minutes of the game. Even before, just not doing our jobs so we get put in these positions that we have to go down to the wire. It shouldn’t be like that.”

The Cats improved to 13-8 overall, 6-2 in the Big Sky as they remained second in the conference, two games behind Eastern Washington. The Griz dropped to 9-11, 3-5 to sit in seventh place in the league with eight games down and 10 to go.

Both teams came into this game with revamped starting lineups, going bigger than usual. The Cats found easy baskets inside early to shoot 64% from the field as they built a 35-29 halftime lead. That dropped to 36.4% in the second half and 51.1% overall.

The Griz outrebounded the Cats 33-19, including 10-2 on the offensive glass for a 9-2 edge in second-chance points. They also solved their late-game free throw struggles, making 11 of 12 attempts in the second half. However, UM was outscored 36-24 in the paint and committed 14 turnovers to MSU’s eight.

“To win close games, you need to be as solid as possible and not commit errors that beat yourself,” UM coach Travis DeCuire said. “You want to force your opponent to beat you. I think some costly turnovers that they didn’t necessarily earn, balls dribbled out of bounds and a couple times we committed to some drives that weren’t there and it ended up in their hands and then a couple fouls down the stretch. I think it just caught up with us.”

Preseason All-Big Sky selection Josh Bannan was held to five points, seven rebounds and four assists while collecting four fouls. Bozeman native Mack Anderson, who got the rare start, fouled out with two points and without attempting a field goal for the Griz, who shot 44.9%.

Reigning Big Sky MVP Jubrile Belo scored 11 points and Great Osobor, who was moved into the starting lineup, had eight for MSU as they played through four fouls. Belo was just 3 of 8 from the field but grabbed five rebounds, was 5 of 5 on free throws, blocked two shots and altered many others.

“We even had a players meeting, we talked about toughness, just bouncing back from our Monday loss,” he said. “We came in with an edge today. We was focused. We said that they’re not going to punk us. We haven’t won here in a long time. We just had to put our hard hats on.”

Thomas handled his four fouls well to finish with 14 points in his first rivalry game after transferring from Colorado State. He scored nine of those points in the second half, including a 3-pointer that ignited the crowd as UM went ahead 62-59 with 1:34 remaining.

Brown converted an and-1 to tie game after Thomas’ triple, but Whitney answered with a jumper to put UM up 64-62 with 52 ticks left. Those were the final points of his 17 and the final points for the Griz as the Cats closed the game with free throws and defensive stops.

“It’s meaningful because it’s one of the best rivalries in the country and it’s meaningful because of what our players did,” Sprinkle said of the win. “I think the way the game unfolded, it was perfect. For them to come back, make a big 3 and the place is going crazy, one of the loudest environments in the west, and our guys kept responding.”