‘Cats Finding Life in the Big Sky Tough
By Danny Waldo
Following a successful venture through a difficult non-conference slate, and opening Big Sky Conference play with a 2-0 sweep at home, things have been a little more difficult for first-year head coach Danny Sprinkle and Co., as MSU has slipped to 3-3 in league play following their most recent loss to Portland State.
Montana State opened conference play looking every bit the part of a contender after easily dismantling a tougher-than-advertised Sacramento State team, and they followed that up with a workman-like performance against Northern Arizona, earning the victory late in the stages of a traditional Big Sky slugfest.
But a road trip to Greeley, Colorado brought MSU back to earth as Northern Colorado dealt the ‘Cats their first conference loss of the season, 68-59. Montana State followed that up with another tough loss at Southern Utah to even their record at 2-2 heading into a difficult test on the last leg of a three-game road trip at Idaho. However, Sprinkle and Co. were able to escape Moscow, Idaho with a 71-68 win over the Vandals with the specter of a home game on the horizon, and the possibility of beginning winning-streak in sight.
But the winning streak was not to be as Portland State ventured into Worthington Arena and stole victory from defeat, dropping a game-winning layup in on the Bobcats with just 2.4 seconds remaining in the game. It was a difficult ending to what had been an epic game between two of the league’s top guards.
Portland State’s Holland Woods scored a game-high 30 points, including the game-winner, while Montana State’s Harald Frey kept the ‘Cats in it by scoring 26 points of his own. His leaning jumper with 12 seconds remaining had put the Bobcats up one before Woods’ final bucket sealed the outcome.
MSU will try and right the ship once more when they welcome the Eagles of Eastern Washington to Bozeman on January 18th. Eastern is coming off a 90-63 drubbing by the Montana Grizzlies in Cheney, a game that had league-leading ramifications, so you can bet the Eagles will be hungry coming to Bozeman.
Eastern will be MSU’s last home game before embarking on another three-game road trip that culminates with a visit to Montana to take on the Grizzlies on February 2nd in Round 1 of the basketball Brawl of the Wild.
For a complete schedule of Montana State men’s basketball games, log onto www.msubobcats.com.
