Cats/Hornets

[BelgradeBobcat]

We win 58 53. Mega el stinko there for a while, but a road win is beautiful.

[grizzh8r]

58-53 Cats win.

Road win in Sacto. I'll take it. Beat Bakersfield tomorrow night and then get ready for Cat/Griz.

[GOKATS]

Wierd game, but a road win is a road win. Go Cats!!!

[coppercat]

Sacramento Population: 476,000
Sac State enrollment: 28,529
MSU-SSU attendence: 592

[GOKATS]

From MSU-

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Montana State's first half may not have amounted to much, but Brad Huse knew something good was coming in the second half of the Bobcats' Sunday matinee at Sacramento State.

That something arrived in the form of senior guard Marquis Navarre, whose strong second half spurred the Bobcats to a 58-53 win at the Hornets Nest. With the game tied 16-16 at halftime, Navarre scored 12 points in the second half points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists.

"I don't think I've been in a game where it was tied at 16 at the half," said MSU coach Brad Huse, "not in the modern era with the three-point line and the shot clock. But we felt at halftime that we were in good position."

While Huse saw Navarre spark a Bobcat offense that shot 43% in the second half after a 25% effort in the first half, MSU's fourth-year head coach said his team's defense was there all along. "Our defense was solid. We took four charges and played hard."

Montana State held the Hornets to 35% shooting in the game, including 32% in the first half and 36% in the second. Erik Rush had three steals and Branden Johnson blocked two shots, both after the intermission, to lead MSU. Austin Brown grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, eight in the first half, as MSU out-rebounded Sac State 36-to-33 to snap a string of nine straight games without finishing positive in rebound margin.

"(Rebounding is) an important stat for us," Huse said. "Austin Brown gave us a big lift with nine boards, eight in the first half. That was important, that advantage on the road."

The teams played on even terms early in the second half, but Branden Johnson's three-pointer and a layup by Danny Piepoli with 12:07 remaining gave MSU the lead for good. After a layup by Domineek Daniel cut the MSU lead to one, Austin Brown's dunk of a Bobby Howard miss keyed an 8-2 Bobcat run that was capped by a short jumper by Navarre.

Montana State sealed the win by hitting 12 of its 13 free throws in the final three-and-a-half minutes. "Credit our guys for knocking down their free throws," Huse said. "That's important on the road."

The Bobcats don't have much time to enjoy the Big Sky road win that raised their record to 10-7 overall, and 5-2 in the Big Sky. MSU plays at Cal State Bakersfield on Monday night. Tipoff is 8 pm MST/7 pm PST in Rabobank Arena.

-msu-

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Montana State vs Sacramento State
1/17/10 1:05 pm at The Nest - Sacramento, Calif.
Montana State 58 • 10-7, 5-2 BSC
Total 3-Ptr Rebounds
## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl Min
15 HOWARD, Bobby f 2-7 1-3 0-2 1 2 3 3 5 1 1 0 0 28
42 JOHNSON, Branden c 1-3 1-3 5-6 0 3 3 3 8 0 1 2 0 25
03 NAVARRE, Marquis g 3-6 0-0 8-8 2 4 6 1 14 6 4 0 0 36
20 BYNUM, Will g 2-6 0-0 3-5 0 6 6 3 7 1 0 0 2 33
23 RUSH, Erik g 3-7 2-4 6-8 0 3 3 1 14 0 4 1 3 36
01 BROWN, Austin 2-3 0-1 0-0 1 8 9 1 4 0 1 1 0 15
04 HENDERSON, Cameron 0-0 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 2
05 LOUFF, Bryan 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
33 PIEPOLI, Danny 1-6 0-4 2-2 0 1 1 0 4 0 1 0 0 11
34 ANDERSON, Cody 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 12
Team 1 3 4
Totals 14-41 4-16 26-33 6 30 36 14 58 9 14 4 5 200
FG % 1st Half: 5-20 25.0%
3FG % 1st Half: 1-7 14.3%
FT % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5%
2nd half: 9-21 42.9%
2nd half: 3-9 33.3%
2nd half: 21-25 84.0%
Game: 14-41 34.1%
Game: 4-16 25.0%
Game: 26-33 78.8%
Deadball
Rebounds
6
Sacramento State 53 • 7-12, 1-5 BSC
Total 3-Ptr Rebounds
## Player FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA Off Def Tot PF TP A TO Blk Stl Min
33 BJEGOVIC, Duro f 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 14
40 ELLER, Justin c 7-12 0-1 1-2 2 3 5 1 15 0 1 0 0 32
12 STIGALL, Jared g 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 3 1 0 0 12
22 FLAGGS, Antonio g 1-4 0-3 2-2 1 2 3 5 4 0 2 0 2 31
23 DANIEL, Domineek g 7-13 2-4 2-2 2 4 6 4 18 0 1 0 4 28
05 DICKSON, John 1-7 1-2 3-6 2 2 4 4 6 0 1 1 1 19
14 MARCIAL, Mike 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 5 1 0 0 24
21 TOLES-BEY, Sultan 2-9 2-6 0-0 0 2 2 3 6 2 4 0 1 24
32 SELLING, Michael 1-5 0-0 0-0 3 2 5 3 2 0 1 0 2 16
Team 1 2 3
Totals 20-58 5-20 8-12 11 22 33 24 53 11 13 1 10 200
FG % 1st Half: 7-22 31.8%
3FG % 1st Half: 1-7 14.3%
FT % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0%
2nd half: 13-36 36.1%
2nd half: 4-13 30.8%
2nd half: 7-10 70.0%
Game: 20-58 34.5%
Game: 5-20 25.0%
Game: 8-12 66.7%
Deadball
Rebounds
1
Officials: Scott Harris, Randy Burkhart, Jeff Wooten
Technical fouls: Montana State-None. Sacramento State-None.
Attendance: 592
Score by periods 1st 2nd Total
Montana State 16 42 58
Sacramento State 16 37 53
In Off 2nd Fast
Points Paint T/O Chance Break Bench
MSU 21 11 10 7 10
SAC 28 11 14 4 14
Last FG - MSU 2nd-00:58, SAC 2nd-00:01.
Largest lead - MSU by 10 2nd-00:16, SAC by 3 1st-15:29.
Score tied - 4 times.
Lead changed - 10 times.