Montana State University
5-6,0-0Big Sky
Cal State Northridge
9-3,0-0Big West
Cats Fall on Road to Cal State Northridge
12/22/2023 4:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Montana State hangs tough but fades late in final non-conference clash before Big Sky play begins next week
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -- Montana State men's basketball fell on the road in their final game before the Christmas holiday, dropping their Friday afternoon contest, 82-70, to Cal State Northridge at Premier America Credit Union Arena in Northridge, California.
Montana State (5-6) hung tough with one of the best rebounding teams in the country, CSUN (9-3) on the glass, but went 2-of-15 from beyond the arc in the second half as the Matadors pulled away for the non-conference win.
"This game was really going to come down to which team's blueprint would stand the test of 40 minutes," head coach Matt Logie said, "and as you saw, they're going to attack the paint, and they're going to do it with reckless abandon. Offensively, we needed to offset that with a little bit better of a shooting night than we had tonight. Typically when we've won games and played well, some of the shots that we got tonight have fallen for us and that wasn't the case tonight."
The Bobcats were led by Robert Ford III, who delivered 23 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals. The redshirt senior made several hustle plays that kept the Cats in the game, gathering loose balls and creating havoc on the defensive end.
Coming off his buzzer-beating game-winner on Tuesday, junior Brian Goracke added 14 points and five rebounds. Brandon Walker chipped in 13 points, and Chika Nduka added ten off the bench.
The Cats went blow-for-blow across the first 30 minutes with CSUN, who knocked off UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday, but the Matadors used a 10-0 run that ended at the 9:01 mark in the second half to pull away and stay in front for good.
Montana State and CSUN were tied, 53-53, at the 11:36 point on a Nduka layup off an assist from Jaden Geron. From there, the Matadors knocked down a couple of triples and turned the Cats over, leading to a pair of easy fastbreak baskets, leading 63-53 and forcing an MSU timeout with nine minutes to play.
The Cats traded buckets with the home side from there, but couldn't put together enough stops to climb back in the game. A late 7-0 run cut it to a seven-point affair at 75-68 with 1:38 remaining, but the Matadors connected on enough free throws to ice the win.
CSUN went just 12-of-25 at the free throw line, while Montana State finished 17-of-25.
After a quick start that had the Cats leading 23-17 on one of three Ford triples in the first half, the Bobcats started to go cold from deep. Across the latter portion of the opening frame and well into the second half, Montana State rimmed out on 16 of 17 three-point attempts during a drought from long distance.
Ford finished his opening 20 minutes with 11 points and four boards, then had 12 more points and five more rebounds after the break.
Nduka was another bright spot for the Cats, building on his career-high-tying 16 points against Southern Utah with ten off the bench on Friday to go along with three rebounds two assists, and two drawn offensive fouls.
"Chika is just a grinder," Logie said. "He plays extremely hard. He plays with great passion. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty and get in there and mix it up, and you saw that tonight. I thought both he and Brandon Walker gave us some good things inside."
CSUN entered Friday with the third-best rebounding margin in NCAA Division I (+13.4), but the Cats, who had struggled on the glass during periods of the six-week stretch to open the season, matched the Matadors in rebounding, getting narrowly eclipsed, 42-38.
"I think we're growing," Logie said. "Sometimes you've got to focus on the process more than the result, and the fact that we were only minus-four on the glass on a team that's been plus-15 against some good competition at 9-3 and very athletic, it shows growth. I'm disappointed with the result, but our kids are growing and getting better, and this is a good lesson for us going into conference play."
UP NEXT
Montana State opens Big Sky Conference play next Thursday, Dec. 28, on the road at Idaho State in Pocatello, Idaho. The Cats will then turn around and face preseason favorite Weber State on Saturday, Dec. 30, in Ogden, Utah.
#GoCatsGo
