Montana
Bobcats Drop Weber State, Logie Notches 300th Career Win – Montana State University Athletics
OGDEN, Utah – Desperately needing a win, Montana State men’s basketball went on the road and earned one in one of the toughest places to play in the Big Sky Conference, defeating Weber State 70-61 at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah, on Saturday night.
Montana State (7-12, 2-4) had won just ten times in 66 previous trips to see the Wildcats dating back to 1964, but threw the history aside to secure a crucial conference victory.
The result earned head coach Matt Logie his 300th career victory.
“I’m just so happy for these kids, man,” Logie said. “They’ve been through a lot and they’ve stayed together.”
Jed Miller scored a career-high 20 points, going a perfect 12 for 12 at the free throw line and adding six rebounds, two assists, two steals, and no turnovers in 24 minutes off the bench.
“Jed’s earned this,” Logie said. “He’s the epitome of ‘Attitude.’ When he wasn’t playing and getting DNP’s, he had a great attitude, supported his teammates, and learned. He’s a very bright kid in terms of his basketball knowledge, he’s very self-aware, and he works at it. He’s so easy to root for that when the success in practice started to come, you just saw it every day. His assist-to-turnover ratio is always 3-to-1, he understands what we’re trying to accomplish, he makes people around him better, and so I’m really happy for him.”
Miller spearheaded a second-half charge for Montana State as they scored 52 points after halftime on 57.1% shooting from the floor. MSU had struggled in Big Sky play holding onto late leads, but turned it over just twice in the final twenty minutes while going 14 of 16 at the line in the second half.
A big part of that was the play of the junior point guard from Agoura Hills, California, who scored 15 in the second half alone—including a perfect ten of ten at the charity stripe to help ice the game.
“It feels amazing,” Miller told sideline reporter Meghan Robinson postgame. “It’s not just me, it’s our team—this was a great game for us, a great win that hopefully allows us to get some momentum going. When our team plays together, we’re the best offensive team and the best overall team in the conference. Our record does not show what we are capable of right now, and all of us that play for Montana State believe that.”
Miller’s 12 makes at the free throw line tie him with former teammate RaeQuan Battle for the most in a single game without a miss in Bobcat history. Battle also went 12 for 12 against Sacramento State on Jan. 28, 2023.
Entering Saturday having lost seven of their last eight—suffering five defeats by five or fewer points–Montana State changed the starting lineup for the first time this season and shifted a few rotations to try to create a spark.
“I think the best thing that came out of us tweaking the lineup and rotation was the confirmation of our team’s attitude and togetherness,” Logie said. “They really don’t care who starts. We’re trying to find how the puzzle fits the best, and I thought we saw a really good version of Pat McMahon in the second half. That was terrific and we were able to go to him down the stretch. Brandon Walker has continued to make really good decisions with the basketball. He’s growing every game. Max Agbonkpolo has been growing.”
Walker continued his strong stretch of play with 18 points and seven rebounds on 7 of 12 shooting from the floor. Agbonkpolo added 15 points and six rebounds, knocking down three triples and scoring ten in the second half alone.
McMahon also scored ten after halftime, finishing with 12 for the game.
“Despite the fact that we haven’t had results lately, we’ve seen the growth,” Logie said. “The results have been frustrating for sure, but this was a step that we thought could maybe give us a spark. I thought everyone stepped up and made good plays today.”
A physical first half ended with Weber State clinging to a 29-28 lead thanks to a late bucket on the final possession of the frame.
Out of the break, the Bobcat offense found its’ rhythm with a lethal combination of paint touches and efficient outside shooting.
Montana State outscored Weber State 32-22 in the paint, and finished 10 of 22 from beyond the arc for the game.
Just under ten minutes into the second half, the ‘Cats trailed 51-49 before rattling off a 10-0 run to take a 59-51 lead on a McMahon turnaround jumper with 6:33 to play.
MSU then stretched it to a 66-55 advantage on a Miller steal-and-score with 3:59 to go, and never let the margin get closer than seven the rest of the way.
UP NEXT
Montana State will play their third game in five days on Monday, returning to Bozeman to square off with Eastern Washington at Worthington Arena.
The Bobcats will be looking for revenge after falling 68-63 to the Eagles two weeks ago in Cheney on Jan. 4 during the opening weekend of Big Sky play.
Tip is set for 7 p.m.
The game will be streamed on ESPN+, with live radio play-by-play carried on the Bobcat Sports Network.
#GoCatsGo
HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.
“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.
It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.
(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)
Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026
“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”
But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.
“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.
Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.
“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.
The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.
The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.
“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.
While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.
Montana
Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round
BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.
The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.
MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.
MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74
MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.
Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.
Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.
But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.
As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.
Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Montana Western 65, Carroll 56
After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.
Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.
The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.
Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.
Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.
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