The Bobcat Nation

Great first half for the Cats, 43-30

Who saw this one coming? Cats up 14 with 1 minute to go. A nice road win against a team that beat ISU and split with Weber.

CATS WIN 75-61. Nice going guys.

Cats played a real good game, got ahead early and stayed there.

Holy crap! I thought this was an evening game and I missed it! Sounds like our guys played a very solid game. Good road win against a team with a higher Sagarin rating.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Montana State vs LONG BEACH STATE
12/20/08 3:05 pm at The Walter Pyramid (Long Beach, CA)
Montana State 75 • 5-4
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 3-9 1-4 3-3 3 4 7 2 10 1 2 0 0 24
23 RUSH, Erik f 2-7 0-1 2-4 0 0 0 3 6 0 2 1 1 20
32 MBUNGA, Divaldo c 5-8 0-0 0-0 3 4 7 2 10 0 1 0 0 24
03 NAVARRE, Marquis g 0-3 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 5 0 2 4 0 0 15
20 BYNUM, Will g 6-10 0-1 3-3 2 3 5 1 15 2 1 1 4 32
01 BROWN, Austin 2-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 9
04 HENNESSY, James 1-4 0-0 0-2 1 4 5 2 2 4 4 0 1 20
33 PIEPOLI, Danny 4-9 2-5 2-2 0 6 6 0 12 0 1 0 1 24
34 ANDERSON, Cody 4-5 3-3 0-0 0 3 3 1 11 0 0 0 0 16
42 JOHNSON, Branden 2-6 0-3 1-1 1 0 1 0 5 4 0 0 0 16
44 HENDERSON, Cameron 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Team 5 2 7
Totals 29-64 6-19 11-15 17 27 44 17 75 13 15 2 7 200
FG % 1st Half: 14-33 42.4%
3FG % 1st Half: 4-11 36.4%
FT % 1st Half: 11-11 100.0%
2nd half: 15-31 48.4%
2nd half: 2-8 25.0%
2nd half: 0-4 0.0%
Game: 29-64 45.3%
Game: 6-19 31.6%
Game: 11-15 73.3%
Deadball
Rebounds
2

This is the Cats' third road win of the season. I think the last time they had this many road wins was 2002, when they were 8-6 away from home (6-1 in conference). I was impressed with the team's balance tonight. They played good defense, hit some good shots, and dominated this one wire-to-wire. Will Bynum really woke up, and Cody Anderson was good too. I hope the big guy can be good here. I like this win, and let's see what they can do at Cal St. Fullerton later this week.

In the post-game interview, Coach Huse talked about how loose this team played tonight - a product of being done with the semester, no doubt. They played a controlled but comfortable tempo and didn't rush too many possessions - you could hear him yelling "Patience!" throughout the game. He said the guys are really enjoying the Cali road trip. A lot of the Cali-born players' relatives were in attendance, and most of them perfomed well, with the exception of Navarre, but he was called for some real ticky-tack fouls and only played 15 minutes before fouling out.

As a side note, Coach said that it was 55 degrees there this morning, and some of the guys were at the outdoor pool with no shirts, sunning themselves - probably freaked some of the locals out!