By TOM SCHULZ
MSU sports information
Peyton Ferris and Riley Nordgaard weren’t going to be denied. The two Montana State senior forwards combined for 55 points, including eight from Nordgaard in overtime as the Bobcats posted an 88-83 win over Eastern Washington Thursday night in Worthington Arena.
“Bobcat nation came out and supported us in -10-degree weather and were a factor,” Nordgaard said. “As seniors, there was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. This is our home.”
In a match-up of two preseason picks for Big Sky MVP, it was Ferris that came out on top of EWU’s Delaney Hodgins. The Twin Bridges product finished with a season-best 30 points, while pulling down nine rebounds, including eight on the offensive glass.
MSU guard Riley Nordgaard/ by Brooks Nuanez
Hodgins, a 6-foot junior from Pasco, Washington who entered the game as the leading scorer in the Big Sky Conference paced the Eagles with 19 points and four rebounds.
“It was tense and back and forth,” Ferris said. “We struggled through some spurts, but we just weren’t going to let things happen two games in a row and we had that mentality to power through it.”
Ferris led three Bobcats in double-digit scoring. Nordgaard finished with 22 points, including a 13-of-14 effort from the free throw line, while freshman Madeline Smith notched 11 points and seven rebounds.
Hodgins guided four Eastern Washington players in double-figures. Violet Kapri Morrow tallied 18 points, while Tisha Phillips notched 17 points and Ashli Payne 13.
“Those three (Hodgins, Phillips, Payne) are legit and some of the best players in the Big Sky Conference,” said MSU 12th year head coach Tricia Binford. “We had our hands full. Defensively, that team had us out of sorts all night.”
Montana State (9-4, 2-1) took a 22-13 lead after the first stanza, hitting at a 50 percent clip from the field. Eastern Washington (6-7, 1-1) returned the favor out-scoring the Bobcats by nine points in the second period to even the score at 35-all heading into intermission.
Ferris scored the first five points coming out of the break to give the Bobcats a five-point advantage. Again, Eastern Washington answered with 10-0 run taking a 47-42 lead at the 5:41 mark. The Eagles held a 58-52 margin with 1:42left in the third period, but MSU went on a 6-0 run to close out the frame to even the contest.
In the final quarter, EWU scored the first four points, but MSU answered with two Nordgaard charity tosses and a Smith layup. In the final six-minutes, the game was tied four times and a Ferris layup evened the score at 73-all with 47-seconds remaining. MSU had a chance to win the game with five-seconds left, but Nordgaard’s baseline jumper bounced long off the rim.
Nordgaard and Ferris combined for the first four points of overtime, and a Hannah Caudill banked-in triple with 56-seconds left gave MSU the cushion needed to secure the win.
“Eastern (Washington), kudos to them, they weren’t going to roll over and die,” Nordgaard said. “Bit-by-bit we regrouped, we rebounded well and played some great team defense, and I think that was the difference.”
MSU finished with a commanding 51-30 advantage in rebounding. Aside from Ferris’ nine boards, freshman Blaire Braxton added nine rebounds, as well.
The Bobcats will host Idaho at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Worthington Arena.
