http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Montana State’s men made their home debut Saturday in Worthington Arena and earned their first win of the season. Boosted by the hometown crowd, the Bobcats defeated Long Beach State 83-70.
Following a season-opening loss at Colorado State on Nov. 2, head coach Matt Logie said the team returned to the court “hungry”.
“Our fan base has been a big, huge part of that,” he said. “So, we wanted to honor that, wanted to start the season off right with a victory here at home, and I thought our guys executed well and played with a lot of urgency.”
Fifth-year guard Jed Miller, who did not play in the season opener, scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half.
“It’s awesome. The Brick, no better place to play in the country. I’ve been saying that now countless times,” Miller said. “I love Bobcat Nation, I love playing in Bozeman, so having my debut at home is the best thing I could ask for.”
The Bobcats came out hot from the opening tip, with Cavin Holden scoring seven points during an 11-4 run in the game’s first three minutes. Montana State remained aggressive, shooting 43% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc in the first half to take a 41-32 lead into halftime.
Montana State’s Jeremiah Davis (5) sets up the offense Saturday in a nonconference game against Long Beach State in Worthington Arena.
Shawn Raecke/For the Chronicle
“I thought early in the game we were able to get behind the ball screens a little bit and create some advantages, get some things in transition, and play good Montana State basketball,” said Logie.
Long Beach State attacked the paint to begin the second half, cutting Montana State’s lead to four points in the first couple of minutes. That prompted a fired-up Logie to emphasize better defensive positioning.
The Bobcats responded with a 21-4 run over the next seven minutes to take their largest lead of game at 67-48 with a little over 10 minutes remaining in the second half. “I think our staff does such a great job preparing our team for our opponent’s actions, and we were defending their actions really, really well, but you have to defend the players and the plays,” said Logie. “I thought once the plays were defended, they were going to attack the rim and they were going to attack the basket, and we had to be technically sound. We had to get our chest to the ball, we had to have rim protection and seal-downs when appropriate, and I thought our guys grew in that area as the game went along.”
Montana State’s Calvin Holden (4) drives in for a basket as Long Beach State’s McCaden Adams defends Saturday in Worthington Arena.
Shawn Raecke/For the Chronicle
Long Beach State trimmed the deficit to single digits, 69-60, with 7 minutes, 47 seconds remaining. But fifth-year guard Jeremiah Davis had seven points, two rebounds, and a steal down the stretch to help seal the win. He finished with a double-double, 17 points and 10 rebounds.
“I’m just a defensive player first. I always want to get stops and keep the momentum and energy on that side of the floor. So, I mean, me contributing on that side of the floor, and then on offense, it’s usually going to flow,” Davis said. “To get stops defensively, me with rebounds and getting deflections and being active on defense with my hands, early talking and stuff like that, it’s just going to execute on offense, man. It showed tonight, we all communicated, and we all picked up off of that energy.”
Montana State (1-1) has a tough slate of games against nationally ranked teams coming up next beginning at No. 25 BYU and then at No. 15 Gonzaga on Nov. 12 and 17, respectively.
“The theme of this game was ‘our team is starving.’ There’s a huge difference between being hungry and being starving, and so a win like this definitely gets us going, and we know we’re about to go into some tough environments, but we’re going to come ready to play,” Miller said. “We’re not going to back down from anyone or call anything a bye game just because they’re a bigger school. We’re ready to go.”