406 MT Sports

BOZEMAN — For one half at least, the Montana State men's basketball team was locked in another all-too-familiar close game against a Big Sky Conference opponent.

But five minutes into the second half on Monday evening against Eastern Washington, Brandon Walker and Patrick McMahon created some separation. Their combined 11 points over two and a half minutes flipped the game and gave the Bobcats a five-point advantage.

The Eagles got a bucket to get back within three, but a Bryce Zephir layup put MSU back ahead by five. MSU would lead by at least that many for the rest of the game.

“To come out the second half, starting that run just lit a fire into the team,” Walker said, “and coach got us right at halftime, saying we need to pick it up and play better, so that's what we wanted to do.”

After trailing by two at the break, MSU won the second half 45-33 to win 74-64 at Worthington Arena.

The Bobcats (8-12, 3-4 Big Sky) opened conference play with five consecutive games decided by five points or fewer and only won once. They have since won twice by margins of nine on Saturday at Weber State and 10 on Monday (the first time they've won consecutive games since Dec. 4 and 7 against Omaha and Kansas City). MSU is slowly proving that it can finish these close games appropriately.

“I’m proud that we're all sticking together,” McMahon said. “No one's giving up just because we lost a few games in a row. We're all sticking to the process. We all believe. We know how good we are.”

That belief became more and more evident as MSU’s lead grew down the stretch. After Zephir’s layup with 11 minutes, 30 seconds to play, Max Agbonkpolo and Jed Miller added 3-pointers, Walker scored twice more and Jabe Mullins connected on two free throws after a technical foul against EWU’s Vice Zanki. Suddenly, MSU led by 15 after a 23-6 run — an early knockout blow.

“In the second half, we were much tighter with what we were calling, what we were executing, what we were looking for, and that allowed us to build the lead,” head coach Matt Logie said. “And then I thought we did a good job of turning turnovers into transition points, and that was really kind of what separated it.”

MSU’s lead reached 17 points on two occasions in the final minutes.

Walker finished with 20 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field, and he added six rebounds. Walker scored in double figures for the 17th time this season, and it was his third game with 20 or more points. The former UT Arlington transfer leads MSU with 15.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game this season.

Logie said Walker had “good balance” and “was focused at the end of his moves,” leading to the efficient outing. Walker has averaged 18.6 points over his last five games on 38-of-65 shooting (58.4%) from the field.

“I want it more. Nobody's going to want it more than me,” Walker said of his approach. “Just keep working on my game, trust in God and just keep growing. And my coaches and my team have been helping me with that, just giving me confidence.”

Agbonkpolo added 13 points, and Mullins and McMahon each scored 10. McMahon also supplied four rebounds, a team-high four assists and one block. Miller, after a career-high 20 points on Saturday at Weber State, hit a trio of 3s Monday to finish with nine points.

“I’ve been saying since last year that Jed is nice,” Walker said. “Jed just comes in and works every day. He has a great attitude. I'm really happy for him.”

Andrew Cook, a former Carroll College standout, led Eastern Washington (6-13, 2-4) with 21 points Monday. He was backed up by Sebastian Hartmann with 13 and Emmett Marquardt with 11.

MSU shot 54.9% from the field, including 74.2% (23 of 31) from inside the arc. EWU shot 44.4% on field goals.

Logie switched up the team’s starting lineup on Saturday against Weber State, inserting Sam Lecholat and Zephir into the first five in place of McMahon and Mullins. Another change was necessary on Monday as Tyler Patterson missed the first game of his career with an injury, breaking a streak of 54 consecutive starts for the veteran who has played in the most games in school history (147, including 136 starts). Patterson was on the bench Monday with his left (non-dominant) arm in a sling.

“We should know more as the week goes on,” Logie said of Patterson’s injury. “The preliminary information has been good, so it's just kind of how the body heals and tolerates things.”

Brian Goracke got his first start of the season in Patterson’s place and finished with four points, four rebounds and one block. Against WSU and then Eastern Washington, Zephir and Miller handled running the offense more, moving Mullins off the ball. And McMahon, for now a part of the bench unit, has scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time since the first two games of the year.

“I think the tweaks that we made have put some of our guys in positions where we think they can be a little more successful,” Logie said. “It's opened up some opportunities for other guys as well. One of our strengths we felt going into this year was our depth, and when you have somebody out with an injury, that's when you need to utilize that.”

Patterson’s status for the moment appears uncertain for the team’s next game, which comes Saturday in Missoula against Montana.

The Bobcats went 0-2 in the regular season against the Griz last year — the only Big Sky team they failed to beat during conference play. But MSU caught fire near the end of the season and into the conference tournament, capping its run with a 15-point win against UM in the Big Sky championship game in Boise, Idaho.

Walker said he’s looking forward to another opportunity to try to beat the Griz during the regular season.

“It’s a lot of people, a lot of fans, a lot of heckling, so it's going to be real fun,” he said. “It's going to be a competitive game, a real physical game, probably one of the most physical games we're going to play.”