Montana State University
8-9,3-1Big Sky
Northern Colorado
9-7,2-1Big Sky
Bobcats Win Thriller Over Bears
1/13/2024 9:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Montana State scores 51 points in the second half to outlast Northern Colorado in thrilling 90-81 win on Saturday night, with Brian Goracke and Brandon Walker combining for 47 points on 15-of-21 shooting
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Montana State put on an offensive clinic and secured enough stops down the stretch to pull out a thrilling 90-81 win over Northern Colorado on Saturday night inside Worthington Arena.
Montana State (8-9, 3-1 Big Sky) picked up their third conference win in four tries to stay at the top of the Big Sky and hand Northern Colorado (9-7, 2-1 Big Sky) their first league defeat.
The Bobcats shot a season-high 56.9% from the field on the way to 90 points, their most against a Division I opponent this year.
"I thought our guys played within themselves and within our concepts," head coach Matt Logie said. "We've gotten better and better at that in recent weeks. We felt going into the game that we would get good shots—it was just a matter of if they would go in and our guys stepped up with purpose and knocked them down."
Brian Goracke led the way with 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting, going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 8-of-8 at the free throw line. The junior sharpshooter poured in 17 points in the second half alone on 4-of-4 shooting, connecting on all three of his attempts from deep.
Brandon Walker dominated in the paint to the tune of 22 points and five rebounds, going 8-of-11 from the floor. The big man also finished with five assists and no turnovers in 26 minutes.
Northern Colorado traded basket-for-basket with the red-hot Cats throughout nearly the entire game, shooting 49.2% from the floor. The Bears relied on the Big Sky's leading scorer, Saint Thomas, who delivered with a game-high 27 points and eight rebounds.
Thomas and Goracke, two of the top-three scorers in the conference, guarded one another most of the night and put on a show, combining for 16 made field goals and six made triples.
One of the more entertaining games of the season featured 11 lead changes and nine ties, with Montana State leading for 29 minutes of game action but never feeling completely comfortable with the Bears' ability to answer seemingly every Bobcat bucket with one of their own.
Cold three-point shooting in the second half put the visitors against the wall, as they went 2-for-11 from deep in the final frame, and Montana State put together just enough stops in the final minutes to extend their lead and hold the Bears at bay.
Montana State shot 17-of-26 (65.4%) from the floor in the second half, scoring 51 points after trailing Northern Colorado by two, 41-39, at the break.
With 6:30 to play, Montana State held a slim 75-71 lead after a pair of Northern Colorado free throws. A second-chance Goracke three off a Chika Nduka offensive rebound and assist pushed the lead back out to seven, and another Goracke turnaround jumper with 2:27 left extended the lead to nine, giving the Cats breathing room.
Eddie Turner III and Goracke combined to go 4-for-4 at the free throw line in the final two minutes, and an emphatic Walker two-hand slam to break the Bears' full court pressure in the last moments put the game on ice.
Turner would finish with a career-high-tying 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, nailing two three's and collecting four rebounds. The graduate student turned it over just once in 35 minutes while manning the point guard position, helping facilitate a locked-in Bobcat attack.
"Eddie Turner was phenomenal today," Logie said. "Absolutely phenomenal on both sides of the ball. 18 points and really shut down Jaron Rillie. Being physical at the end of drives—really proud of him."
Robert Ford III finished with his second double-double in three days, ending his night with 14 points, 12 rebounds, four steals, and three assists. Saturday marked the fifth double-double of the season for the redshirt senior guard listed at just 6-feet tall, with all four steals coming in the first half.
"You gotta give credit to the guys," Logie said of the weekend sweep at home over Big Sky foes. "They took our coaching—some of the messaging was hard, and we challenged them to step up and really commit to this thing and the way that we want this to look. They saw benefit from that on Thursday, and again were able to carry it over to tonight. Obviously when you go through adversity, you find out a lot about people, and one of the things that we tried to identify when we put this group together last spring was 'Who's tough enough to get through tough stuff.'"
UP NEXT
Montana State hosts Montana in the 306th Brawl of the Wild next Saturday, January 20, at Worthington Arena. The Bobcats have won three of the last four matchups with the Griz, including both games in the series last year.
Tip is set for 7 p.m.
Tickets are available here.
#GoCatsGo
