Griz fall to Cats in conference quarterfinal
3/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Montana State Bobcats dominated the offensive boards and defeated the host University of Montana Grizzlies 56-54 Saturday evening in a Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinal game in front of 5,210 fans in UM???s Dahlberg Arena.
The Grizzlies battled back from an eight-point (50-42) deficit, and when Montana junior guard Ryan Staudacher made a pair of free throws with 6:28 left in the contest, the home team trailed by just a point (53-52). Down by just a point, Montana had chance to take the lead when it got the ball with 22 seconds to go, but MSU junior guard Will Bynum picked off a pass by Griz junior guard Anthony Johnson with eight seconds to go, and Bynum drove the length of the floor and scored on a conventional three-point play, giving the Bobcats a 56-52 advantage with six seconds remaining. Johnson hit a jumper with a little over a second to play, and MSU, the No. 6 seed in the tournament had the upset victory over the No. 3 seed Grizzlies. Montana, which led 30-29 at halftime, was14-0 when leading at halftime this season before suffering the setback to its intrastate rival, in this, the 279th meeting on the hardwood for the teams. The game was tied four times and there were also four lead changes. Montana led 42-40 with 9:44 to go, but when MSU sophomore forward Bobby Howard hit a three-pointer he gave his team a 43-42 lead with 8:55 left, and the Cats led the rest of the way. The Grizzlies had swept the Bobcats during the regular season, winning 73-59 in Missoula and 78-63 in Bozeman. The Bobcats out-rebounded the Grizzlies 40-29, and MSU had 18 offensive boards in the contest. Due in large part to its offensive rebounding, MSU dominated points in the paint, out-scoring UM 34-10. Johnson led Montana with 19 points, while senior forward Jordan Hasquet added 12 in his final collegiate game, and junior forward Jack McGillis tallied 10. Hasquet and senior forward Kyle Sharp had a team-high 6 rebounds each, while sophomore center Brian Qvale had 5 rebounds and 5 blocks. Hasquet, a Missoula native, ended his career ranked seventh in school history in scoring (1,396 points) and three-pointers made (152), and is eighth in career rebounds with 718. Bynum was MSU???s only double-figure scorer with 15 points, while senior center Divaldo Mbunga had a game-high 11 rebounds along with 5 blocks, and sophomore guard Erik Rush hauled down 10 boards. Montana made 20-of-50 (40.0%) field goal attempts, just 5-of-15 (33.3%) three-pointers, and were 9-of-10 from the line. MSU was 23-of-60 (38.3%) from the floor, made 4-of-13 (30.8) treys, and 6-of-10 foul shots. The Grizzlies, who tied Portland State for second place in the regular-season with an 11-5 record, end their season with an overall record of 17-12. MSU, now 13-16 overall, plays Big Sky tournament host and No. 1 seed Weber State (15-1/21-8) in a semifinal game Tuesday, March 10th at 7:30 p.m. in Ogden, Utah.
MONTANA STATE (13-16)
BYNUM, Will 7-10 1-2 15; HOWARD, Bobby 3-6 1-2 9; MBUNGA, Divaldo 4-12 1-2
9; JOHNSON, Branden 2-9 3-4 8; RUSH, Erik 3-10 0-0 6; BROWN, Austin 2-6 0-05; ANDERSON, Cody 1-3 0-0 2; NAVARRE, Marquis 1-4 0-0 2.
Totals 23-60 6-10 56.
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UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (17-12)
JOHNSON, Anthony 6-17 6-6 19; HASQUET, Jordan 5-7 0-0 12; MCGILLIS, Jack
4-12 1-2 10; STAUDACHER, Ryan 1-3 2-2 4; SHARP, Kyle 2-4 0-0 4; TAYLOR,
Michael 1-4 0-0 3; QVALE, Brian 1-1 0-0 2; ELGIN-TAYLOR, Ceylon 0-2 0-0 0.
Totals 20-50 9-10 54.
Montana State...................... 29 27 - 56
University of Montana......... 30 24 - 54
3-point goals--Montana State 4-13 (HOWARD, Bobby 2-3; BROWN, Austin 1-3;
JOHNSON, Branden 1-4; ANDERSON, Cody 0-2; NAVARRE, Marquis 0-1), University
of Montana 5-15 (HASQUET, Jordan 2-2; JOHNSON, Anthony 1-3; TAYLOR, Michael
1-3; MCGILLIS, Jack 1-3; SHARP, Kyle 0-2; STAUDACHER, Ryan 0-2).
Fouled out--Montana State-None, University of Montana-None.
Rebounds--Montana State 40 (MBUNGA, Divaldo 11), University of Montana 29 (HASQUET, Jordan 6; SHARP, Kyle 6).
Assists--Montana State 9 (BYNUM, Will 5), University of Montana 10
(JOHNSON, Anthony 4).
Total fouls--Montana State 13, University of Montana 10. Technical fouls--Montana State-None, University of Montana-None.
A-5,210
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