Friday, December 31
4:05 PM
Montana State University
86
vs
78
Northern Arizona
Erik Rush led the Bobcats with 22 points against NAU Friday.
Photo by: R. Dean Hendrickson
Bobcats Hold Off NAU for 2-0 Start in League Play
12/31/2010 7:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Erik Rush scored 22 points and Bobby Howard 21 for the Bobcats
Montana State used an inside-out attack in building a lead as big as 28 points then held on in the closing minutes for an 86-78 win over Northern Arizona in Worthington Arena on Friday.
The Bobcats (8-6) raised their league record to 2-0 in sweeping a league-opening homestand against Weber State and the Lumberjacks, who fell to 8-6 overall and 0-2 in the Big Sky, and the balance the team showed in doing so pleased MSU coach Brad Huse.
“We're not really putting one ahead of the other,” Huse said of his team's ability to score in the paint as well as from beyond the three-point circle. “It's nice to have balance. I thought we put together a pretty consistent, pretty solid effort.”
Northern Arizona took a 9-8 lead on a Cameron Jones layup with 15:38 to play in the first half, but Bobby Howard's layup started a 9-3 run and the Bobcats never trailed again. After NAU tied the score at 18 on Shane Johannsen's layup at 8:28 Erik Rush's monstrous one-handed dunk in traffic launched the Bobcats on a 12-2 run that gave the team control of the game.
After his dunk, Rush hit a three-pointer at 6:43 to give MSU a 23-18 lead. That started a string in which MSU scored on 13 of its next 14 possessions which ended up amounting to a 30-10 run surrounding the intermission.
“That was a good way to finish the half,” Huse said, “to have some momentum going in (at halftime). Then we came out in the second half and took control in the first 10 minutes.”
The Bobcats built the lead to 66-38 with 12:03 to play, and led 73-50 when Rush converted a pair of free throws at 6:03. Northern Arizona began whittling at the Bobcat lead, using Bobcat turnovers and missed free throws to finish the game on a 28-13 run. But the Lumberjacks narrowed the lead to single digits only in the last 20 seconds.
MSU used a familiar formula in nailing down the victory, getting big nights from Erik Rush (22 points) and Bobby Howard (21 points, eight rebounds) while taking care of the ball and shooting it well. The Bobcats turned the ball over only nine times, and finished 11-for-24 from the three-point circle.
Both teams used hot-shooting second halves. NAU shot 62% in the second half to finish the game at 54%, matching the best opponent shooting percentage against the Cats this year. MSU shot 52.8% from the floor, MSU's best shooting game against a Division I opponent.
Shane Johannsen led the Lumberjacks with 15 points, but the big individual news was MSU's ability to snap Cameron Jones' string of 30 straight games in double-digit scoring by holding the Big Sky's third-leading scorer to eight points. MSU was one of only two teams to hold Jones under 10 points last season, as well.
“Cam is a great player,” Huse said. “He just knows how to score. He missed some shots tonight that he usually makes.”
In addition to scoring 21 points, Howard dished out four assists for the Bobcats. He also matched a career-high with two blocked shots. The Bobcats blocked seven total shots, including two each by Rush and guard Rod Singleton, the most for MSU since blocking nine against Northern New Mexico last season.
MSU hits the road next week for the first time in league play, visiting Sacramento State on Thursday and Northern Colorado on Saturday.
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