Vandals Snap Bobcats’ Five-Game Winning Streak, 92-89

Saturday, January 10

Moscow, Idaho

3 p.m.

Montana State University

9-8,3-1Big Sky

Idaho

10-6,2-1Big Sky

Montana St.

Idaho

Photo by: Eastern Washington Athletics

1/10/2026 6:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Bobcats come up just short to suffer first loss in Big Sky play

By: Pershelle Rohrer

MOSCOW, Idaho – The Montana State men's basketball team led for nearly 36 minutes against Idaho on Saturday, but it was the Vandals who came away with the victory in a high-scoring contest, 92-89, at ICCU Arena in Moscow.

The Bobcats led by 18 points, 48-30, at halftime, but a furious Idaho comeback coming out of the break set up a tight second half that swung the Vandals' way in the final 80 seconds. The Bobcats shot 58.2% (32-of-55) from the floor and 57.1% (8-of-14) from three in the contest but could not hold off Idaho's 65.7% (23-of-35) clip in the second half as the Bobcats fell to 9-8 (0-1 Big Sky) and the Vandals improved to 10-6 (2-1 Big Sky).

"It's a story of two halves," head coach Matt Logie said. "There's always math involved and things come back to the mean, but our defense was not at the standard that it has been for much of the last few weeks in the second half today. And obviously, even when you break down, you've still got to give Idaho credit. They had to make the shots, and to go 23-of-35 in the second half is just not characteristic of what our defense has done to date. So we'll look at the film and figure out where we need to tighten up. Obviously, we're frustrated and disappointed that we didn't get the road sweep."

Montana State opened the game on a 7-2 run and entered the first media timeout with a 13-7 lead. The Cats then went on a 15-0 tear to balloon their lead to 28-7 on a Patrick McMahon layup at the 10:28 mark. Idaho responded with a 6-2 run over the next few possessions to trim the Bobcats' lead to 30-13, and the gap remained steady for the next few minutes. The Bobcats took their largest lead of the game, 39-18, on a Jaden Steppe three-pointer at the 4:56 mark in the first half and carried an 18-point lead, 48-30, into halftime. The Cats shot 65.6% from the floor and 66.7% from three in the opening 20 minutes and outscored the Vandals, 30-12, in the paint. Chris Hodges tallied 14 of his 18 points in the first half, making his first six shots of the game and shooting 7-of-10 in the frame. Davian Brown added nine points for the Bobcats in the opening half of play.

The Vandals, who shot just 33.3% from the floor in the first half, looked like a completely different team on offense in the second half, posting a 65.7% clip in the final 20 minutes. The Vandals opened the half on a 12-0 run to cut the Bobcats lead to six points, 48-42, at the 16:32 mark. Idaho trailed by just four, 55-51, with 12:28 to play before Jed Miller and Brown knocked down back-to-back threes to extend the lead to 10 points, 61-51. Miller scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half to lead the Cats' scoring effort. From there, the Vandals went on a 10-3 run to trim their deficit to three points, 64-61, with 8:50 to play. Idaho tied the game at 71 on an Isaiah Brickner layup at the 6:15 mark and briefly took their first lead, 75-74, on a Brickner free throw with 5:04 to play.

The Bobcats responded with a 7-0 run to lead by six, 81-75, thanks to a Miller jumper with 3:30 to go, but the Vandals would not go away, responding with a 5-0 run to come back within one, 81-80. Idaho took the lead, 86-84, on a Kolton Mitchell three-pointer at the 1:19 mark and never relinquished it as the Cats came within one with six seconds to go but gave up an Idaho coast-to-coast inbound play for a layup at the three-second mark. Christian King's potential game-tying three-pointer bounced off the back iron as the buzzer sounded, and the Vandals took the 92-89 win on their home court.

Montana State outshot Idaho, 58.2% to 50.0%, from the floor in the game, but the Vandals took 13 more shots than the Bobcats and knocked down 13 three-pointers to the Bobcats' eight. Montana State outrebounded Idaho, 33-29, while Idaho forced 12 Bobcat turnovers and only gave up five.

Miller reached the 20-point mark for the third time in four games, scoring 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting while adding six rebounds, four assists, and one steal to lead the team in each category. Hodges added a career-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, also posting four rebounds, two assists, and one block. Hodges has recorded one or more blocks in four-straight games. McMahon shot 5-of-10 from the floor for 16 points, three boards, one steal, and one block. Brown finished with 15 points (5-of-7 FG), two rebounds, three assists, and one steal.

The Bobcats return home for the Brawl of the Wild against Montana on Saturday, Jan. 17. The game will air live on Scripps Sports/ESPN+ with tipoff set for 7 p.m. at Worthington Arena.

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