Bobcats Overcome Slow Start to Claim UIW Thanksgiving Tourney Title

Sunday, November 28

San Antonio, TX

11 a.m.

Montana State University

4-3,0-0Big Sky

Southeast Missouri

3-4,0-0OVC

Southeast Mo. St.

Montana St.

Amin Adamu

Photo by: Big Sky Conference

Bobcats Overcome Slow Start to Claim UIW Thanksgiving Tourney Title

11/28/2021 1:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Bobcats had to play catch up from the start but eventually found their rhythm and came back to earn a 75-68 victory over Southeast Missouri on Sunday in a non-conference men’s basketball matchup at the McDermott Convention Center

By: Andrew Pedersen

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Bobcats had to play catch up from the start but eventually found their rhythm and came back to earn a 75-68 victory over Southeast Missouri on Sunday in a non-conference men's basketball matchup at the McDermott Convention Center. MSU's win improved the Bobcats to 4-3 overall and capped an undefeated appearance at the UIW Thanksgiving Tournament to claim the event title.

Montana State fell into an early hole as the Redhawks (3-4) scored the contest's first eight points. SEMO held an eight-point lead six minutes into the matchup before the Bobcats cut the deficit.

A 9-0 Bobcat scoring run put MSU ahead nine minutes into the first half, but the Redhawks regained the advantage and eventually led 31-27 at halftime.

The Bobcats scored the first four points of the second half and the two teams traded baskets before Montana State took the lead for good. MSU went on a 16-point scoring run over a 4:55 span which was capped by a Tyler Patterson 3-pointer that put the Bobcats ahead 49-46 with 11:22 remaining.

"We came out strong (in the second half)," Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said. The first half it looked like our shots were a little tired playing two straight games. I was kind of wondering if I played some guys too many minutes those two games when we wanted to get the win. But the guys came out and really competed."

MSU led 71-60 after an Xavier Bishop with 2:28 to go, but SEMO continued to compete. The Redhawks cut the deficit to five with 36 seconds left. The Bobcats put the finishing touches on the victory as Jubrile Belo and Nick Gazelas each hit a pair of free throws to close out the win.

Montana State had five players score in double digits led by Belo's 17 points. He also had five blocks with all of them coming in the second half. Amin Adamu scored 13 points and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the year. Patterson knocked down four of the Bobcats' seven 3-pointers and Bishop had a team-high five assists.

"Amin had double-digit rebounds and Jubrile had some huge blocks down the stretch which was big for us," Sprinkle said. "We missed some free throws we usually make and we had some uncharacteristic turnovers. We've got to clean it up, but like yesterday, it's better to clean it up behind a win."

The Bobcats shot 40% from the field and went 24 of 33 from the free throw line. MSU's defense kept them in it throughout as the Bobcats held the Redhawks to just 39% from the field while also keeping SEMO at a 27.3% clip from deep. Abdul Mohamed had four of the Bobcats' eight steals.

MSU won all three of its games at the UIW Thanksgiving Invitational on three consecutive days. It's the second time the Bobcats have achieved the feat at a regular season tournament under Sprinkle, with MSU previously doing so at the 2019 UNCG Spartan Invitational.

"We sold it to our guys like it was a Big Sky Championship," Sprinkle said. "You've got to win the first game to get to the semifinals. Yesterday we took care of that and today we had to win the championship.

"Our guys took that to heart. It was an awesome performance especially on a third day, and really, third game in less than 48 hours."

Montana State returns to action on Thursday, Dec. 2, when the Bobcats take on Northern Colorado in Greeley to begin the league schedule. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ while fans can also tune into the Bobcat Radio Network locally or on msubobcats.com/watch and on the Varsity Network app.