Bobcats Complete Comeback to Beat St. Thomas

Saturday, December 11

St. Paul, MN

6 p.m.

Montana State University

7-4,1-1Big Sky

St. Thomas

4-6,0-0Summit League

Montana St.

St. Thomas (MN)

Xavier Bishop

Photo by: Andrew Pedersen

12/11/2021 11:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Montana State rallied back from an 18-point deficit and played solid late to earn a 72-65 victory over St. Thomas on Saturday, Dec. 11, in a nonconference men’s basketball game at Schoenecker Arena

By: Andrew Pedersen

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Montana State rallied back from an 18-point deficit and played solid late to earn a 72-65 victory over St. Thomas on Saturday, Dec. 11, in a nonconference men's basketball game at Schoenecker Arena.

The Bobcats fell down early to the Tommies in front of a crowd of over 1,000 that witnessed the first Division I foe to take on St. Thomas on its home floor. The Tommies took a 4-3 lead 90 seconds into the matchup and stretched that advantage to 25-7 at the 12:16 mark of the first half.

MSU slowly carved into the St. Thomas lead. The Bobcats got the margin into single digits with just over 5 minutes remaining and an eight-point scoring run capped by a Great Osobor dunk tied the score at 34 with 1:10 left in the opening half. The Tommies scored the next field goal, but a Kellen Tynes 3-pointer followed by an Xavier Bishop layup as time expired put the Bobcats ahead 39-36 at halftime.

The 'Cats jumped out to a seven-point edge to open the half but St. Thomas battled and gained a 53-50 lead with 11:36 to go. It would be the last time the Bobcats trailed in the contest.

Nick Gazelas knocked down a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, then Bishop followed with another trey to put the Bobcats up 56-53. St. Thomas cut the deficit to 1 twice, but couldn't get past MSU down the stretch as the Bobcats made five of six free throws with less than 30 seconds remaining.

Montana State had 10 first-half turnovers but stayed in the contest early by shooting 53.8% (14-26) from the field while holding St. Thomas to under 40% shooting over the entire game.

A variety of Bobcats had season-best performances for Montana State Saturday.

Xavier Bishop scored a season-high 20 points on 7 of 13 shooting. He also had team highs in rebounds (5) and assists (5). Gazelas knocked down 3 of 6 3-pointers and scored a season-high 12 points in 23 minutes of action. Kellen Tynes scored five points and four rebounds, while his five steals were a career high. Great Osobor scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds to go along with two blocks.

Montana State returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 19, when the Bobcats host Portland in Worthington Arena with tipoff set for 2 p.m. The game will stream on ESPN+ while it will be broadcast on the Bobcat Radio Network on KMMS 1450 AM as well as on the Varsity Network app. Links for live streams, live stats and radio coverage are available on the men's basketball schedule page on msubobcats.com.