Bobcats Fall at Home to Grizzlies

Saturday, January 29

7:05 PM

Montana State University

Montana

Bobby Howard scores in Saturday's Cat-Griz game

Photo by: Kelly Gorham

1/29/2011 10:35:09 PM | Men's Basketball

UM's dominant inside attack overpowers Bobcats

By: Bill Lamberty

Montana shot 67% from the floor and out-rebounded Montana State 40-to-21 in a 79-58 win over the Bobcats in Bozeman on Saturday.

MSU-UM box score

Bobby Howard's 18-point effort led the Bobcats, but was over-shadowed by the play of Montana's big men. Brian Qvale scored 26 points to lead all scorers, and Derek Selvig added 21. The two combined for 21 rebounds, as well.

“Those two guys really make things difficult,” said MSU coach Brad Huse.

Montana grabbed an early lead and held a 10-point margin at the 9:19 mark of the first half, but MSU battled back. The Bobcats took a 30-29 lead with 4:32 remaining in the half and led 33-30 just over a minute later, but UM tied the score at the intermission.

After a Jeff Budinich jumper to open the second half, Montana took control of the game. The Grizzlies launched an 18-6 run, and after Derek Selvig hit a three-pointer at 9:19 to put UM up 58-49 the Bobcats never again sliced the lead to single-digits.

The Bobcats received a spark from the bench, particularly Jeff Budinich. The redshirt freshman forward who spent much of the night battling Qvale or Selvig shot 6-for-10 from the field and scored a career high 14 points. “I thought Jeff did a really nice job, I thought (reserve forward) Shawn Reid did a really nice job,” Huse said. “I was happy with that side of things.”

With Northern Colorado's loss to Weber State on Saturday, Montana moved into a first-place tie in the Big Sky. MSU dropped its third straight, and falls to 5-4 in the league. The Bobcats visit Northern Arizona on Thursday.