Montana State Outduels Montana, Wins Big Sky for Third Straight Year
After having a shaky, underwhelming regular season and finishing with just a 9-9 Big Sky conference record, the Montana State Bobcats entered the Big Sky tournament as the fifth seed looking to defend the title they have won the last two seasons. The Bobcats were able to make it a third straight championship title, defeating the two-seed Montana Grizzlies by a score of 85-70. After a back-and-forth first half in which Montana found themselves up by six points at the half, the Grizzlies made a small run out of the break to extend that lead to 11. Montana State chipped away at the lead hastily, storming to a one-point lead just five minutes after being down double digits. The Bobcats never relinquished their lead after that, simply building upon it as the second half progressed, and ended up winning comfortably by 15 points.
The two teams were eerily similar in many stat categories in this one, such as both connecting on six three-pointers, having 22 free-throw attempts a piece (MTST 15-22, MONT 16-22), eight assists each, and rebounds (MTST 32, MONT 34). The largest discrepancy came in the turnover margin, with Montana turning over the ball 15 times to Montana State’s just three turnovers. Montana State had five double-digit scorers, led by Robert Ford III who dropped 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and five steals. Senior forward John Olmsted chipped in 16 points off the bench for the Grizzlies. For Montana, senior guard Josh Vazquez did all he could with 20 points (4-9 from three-point range), and six rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. Senior forward Laolu Oke had an efficient 14 points and eight rebounds but was in foul trouble throughout the game, so he only played 29 minutes.
The Big Sky will be sending the Montana State Grizzlies dancing for the third consecutive year. They will look to win a first-round matchup for the first time in the program’s history, as they are currently 0-5 in NCAA tournament play. Due to their overall and conference records not being impressive, the Grizzlies will likely find themselves as a 16 seed having to play in the First Four to have a shot at playing a number one seed in the first round. Last year they lost to two-seed Kansas State, who ended up making a run to the Elite Eight.
