BOZEMAN — Montana State accomplished its first season sweep of Montana since 2010 with a 72-68 victory on Saturday at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
The Cats improved to 19-9 total, 12-3 within the Massive Sky as they remained second within the convention standings with three video games to play. The Griz fell to 14-13, 8-7 and stayed in fourth place.
MSU guard RaeQuan Battle scored 13 of his team-high 19 factors within the second half. Darius Brown II and Nice Osobor every added 14 factors.
UM ahead Josh Bannan piled up 25 factors, scoring 20 of them within the second half. Aanen Moody had 16 of his 21 within the second half. Josh Vazquez scored 10 of his 13 within the first half.
The Cats made 32 free throws on 41 makes an attempt whereas capturing 17 of 39 (43.6%) from the sector. The Griz made 24 of fifty discipline purpose makes an attempt (48.0%) and went 15 of 17 on the charity stripe.
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The Cats had earned their first win in Missoula since 2010 with a 67-64 victory on Jan. 21.
Montana State held a 32-24 lead after a primary half that was devoid of any rhythm because the groups mixed for 26 fouls and 23 turnovers. The Cats scored 20 of their 32 first-half factors on the free throw line as UM was referred to as for 16 fouls.
They shot 5 of 17 from the sector and scored 18 factors off 14 turnovers. They went 10:40 between made discipline targets till Osobor threw down a dunk for a 24-22 lead on his approach to a team-high 9 factors that half. Tyler Patterson hit a 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer.
Vazquez almost matched the Cats in made discipline targets as he scored 10 factors on 4-of-9 capturing within the first half. He scored seven of UM’s first 14 factors and lower the deficit to 22-21 when he hit his second 3-pointer of the half.
The Griz shot 8 of 20 (40%) from the sector, 4 of 4 on the charity stripe as MSU was carded for 10 fouls and had 4 factors on 9 MSU turnovers. They by no means led within the half however tied the sport at 18 when Bannan hit two free throws with 7:48 remaining.
The Cats discovered rhythm with their offense early within the second half as Battle acquired to the rim for layups after he performed eight minutes within the first half due to foul bother. They made their fifth discipline purpose, to match their first-half complete, when Ford hit a 3-pointer 5:03 into the half.
MSU began 4 of 5 past the arc after going 2 of 9 within the first half, taking a 13-point lead on Robert Ford’s 3-pointer, a 14-point lead on Sam Lecholat’s triple and a 15-point lead on Ford II’s shot from deep.
The Griz put collectively a 6-0 run with 4 factors from Josh Bannan to drag inside 56-47 with 7:43 to play as Bannan dealt with the ball extra within the second half. They lower the result in seven factors thrice after that, however the Cats shortly pushed the lead again to 9 factors each time.
The Griz broke that seven-point barrier when Moody made two free throws to get UM inside 67-61 with 2:12 left. A pair of Bannan free throws introduced it to 67-63 with 1:28 left, and Moody made it 68-66 when he hit a transition 3-pointer with 43.1 seconds left.
Ford hit two free throws with 13.9 seconds left and Moody countered with a baseline jumper with 6.5 seconds left to drag UM inside 70-68. Battle sealed the sport by making two free throws with 5.1 seconds left.
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Frank Gogola is the Senior Sports activities Reporter on the Missoulian. Comply with him on Twitter @FrankGogola or e-mail him at frank.gogola@missoulian.com.