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BOZEMAN — As Aiden Gair learned more about Matt Logie, he began to see a little bit of himself in Montana State’s new head men’s basketball coach.
Or perhaps it was the other way around.
“One of the first conversations that we had, he talked about how he showed his wife and his son my highlights and was comparing (me to himself),” Gair said, “and his wife was just like, ‘Yeah, that looks just like you when you played.’”
Gair is originally from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, about 150 miles away from where Logie played his college ball at Lehigh, in Bethlehem. In Logie, he saw another under-recruited, late-blooming sharpshooter offering him an opportunity to continue his basketball career in Bozeman.
“There was definitely a moment where I just knew that was my guy,” Gair said. “We played the same. I mean, we kind of had the same background coming up, and we just connected instantly.”
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A 6-foot-4 guard who was named a National Junior College Athletic Association Honorable Mention All-American this past season, Gair announced his commitment to MSU on May 15 via social media. He has two years of eligibility remaining after transferring from Missouri State University-West Plains, where he led the team with 15.4 points per game this past season.
Gair’s athletic journey didn’t start there, though.
A three-sport athlete at Williamsport’s Loyalsock Township Senior High (football and baseball along with basketball), Gair initially planned to play football and basketball at Division II West Chester University on the outskirts of Philadelphia. His inclusion in the school’s signing day press release, dated Feb. 14, 2020, highlighted Gair’s 101 tackles, 13.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss and two interceptions returned for touchdowns as an outside linebacker during his first team all-state senior season.
But Gair never made it to campus. The COVID-19 pandemic hit in full force in March 2020, and WCU later canceled its football season.
Gair was released from his letter of intent and decided to focus solely on basketball, his “first love.”
“I took the West Chester thing just on a whim,” Gair said. “I was all-state in both sports. I wanted to make sure I had a spot for the next year. It was a full scholarship. It’s kind of hard to wait for other schools to offer you or just wait for stuff when you have a full scholarship.”
By August after his high school graduation, Gair had found a school that would let him walk on to its basketball team: Frank Phillips College in Borger, Texas, a little bit northeast of Amarillo.
He played 53 games over two seasons there, averaging 7.5 points per game and shooting 39.5% on 3-pointers. During the 2022-23 season at Missouri State-West Plains, Gair shot 44.1% overall from the field while maintaining a 39.5% clip on outside shots. His 94 made 3-pointers (on 238 attempts) tied him for 11th-most in the country at the NJCAA level.
“I’m definitely a scorer. I would say that I’m an elite shooter,” Gair said. “I’m a shooter that you’re able to draw plays for. I’m able to come off screens, shoot on the run.”
He has a style of play that Logie was clearly drawn to.
“Aiden is someone we identified as one of the best shooters available this spring,” Logie said in a press release last week announcing Gair’s signing. “Aiden is an efficient shooter who can shoot on the move in a variety of ways and is a late bloomer. … Aiden has a work ethic and competitive spirit that really fit our culture, and we’re excited to see how that translates in the blue and gold.”
Gair said his recruitment was led by MSU assistant Zach Payne, a former player of Logie’s at Whitworth University.
“He was just really giving me insight from a player’s standpoint and then being a coach with him,” Gair said of Payne. “Just like the opportunities and how the game works with coach Logie.”
Gair said the coaching staff was able to sell him on “their past history with player development,” he said.
“That’s one of my biggest things. I love being in the gym,” Gair said. “And just the confidence that they gave me that they’re going to be there night or day, whenever I need to get in the gym, and just work on my game.”
He saw that mindset in Logie as well during the recruiting process. Gair called him “a grinder” who values “hard work.” Combined with the “family atmosphere” he found among the coaches, Gair thought MSU would be the best place for him.
He said he canceled a visit to the University of Tennessee-Martin so he could commit to the Bobcats. He said he wanted to be a part of what Logie is building at MSU.
“You can just tell that what he’s got going on at Montana State is going to continue what he had going on at Point Loma,” Gair said. “You can tell he’s a winner, and he’s not coming in here to do anything else.
“I know Montana State, the last few years, has been the big dogs, and we’re coming in looking not to change any of that. We’re looking to keep it rolling and keep winning championships.”
Parker Cotton can be reached at pcotton@dailychronicle.com or 406-582-2670. Follow him on Twitter @ByParkerCotton.
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