POCATELLO, Idaho – Two late jumpers from RaeQuan Battle in the last two minutes helped the Montana State men’s basketball team hold off the Idaho State Bengals in a low-scoring, 58-52 Big Sky Conference win on Saturday night.
With both teams struggling to score in the second half, MSU made four of its eight second-half field goals in the final two minutes — two of which came from Battle. Free-throw shooting helped the Bobcats pull away, as MSU went 13-for-17 (76.5%) from the charity stripe while ISU went 10-for-16 (62.5%) in the second half.
“I’m proud of our guys for coming together,” Montana State Head Coach Danny Sprinkle told Bobcat Sports Radio Network. “When they pulled within two and the fans were rocking, RaeQuan really took over for us. He had some big-time shots.”
Relying on an effective sideline trap, the Bobcats (18-9, 11-3 Big Sky Conference) forced a season-high 18 turnovers against the Bengals (9-17, 6-7 Big Sky Conference) — 13 of which came in the first half. Yet both teams struggled shooting, as ISU out-shot MSU 39.1% to 35.3% from the field. Both teams finished with 34 rebounds.
Battle led MSU with 15 points, while Great Osobor notched his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds, the latter of which tied his career-high. Darius Brown II finished with 14 points, six rebounds and four steals, plus he went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe.
“Darius Brown won us the game,” Sprinkle said. “He only scored 14 points, but off his four steals, we got eight points directly from him. I thought his defense on Brock Mackenzie by forcing seven turnovers from him was tremendous.”
“Great’s energy was tremendous,” Sprinkle added. “That’s the hardest he’s played. When he’s that active, he has such long arms that he’s going to get tips around those guys. We need that effort every night, and we really needed that double-double from him.”
Montana State’s defense caused a few Idaho State turnovers to start the game, yet both teams made threes to make it a 6-3 ballgame in favor of Idaho State. But MSU rattled off a 6-0 run sparked by two Brown II free throws, a mid-range jumper from Battle and Osobor rim-running to an easy layup off a Caleb Fuller steal.
Idaho State then took the lead but MSU tied it at 11-all with Osobor’s second field goal of the night with 12:50 to go. Tyler Patterson’s second three of the night made it a 14-13 game in favor of MSU, then the Bengals tried pushing the pace. ISU struggled to take care of the basketball during a particularly fast-paced few minutes, which only amounted to another Brayden Parker layup and a 17-16 lead for the hosts. Battle’s fast-break layup attempt appeared to give MSU the lead, yet his offensive foul call kept the score at 17-16, ISU with 9:47 to go.
Osobor stepped into an elbow jumper to make it a 19-18 game, then both teams struggled to get anything going as they combined for four turnovers and four missed field goals over the next two minutes. Brown II sank a pair of free throws to put MSU back in front, 20-19, then he pestered Maleek Arington into a turnover, which led to two more points. But each time MSU pulled ahead, ISU’s Austin Smellie countered with threes and Kolby Lee made plays on both ends of the floor. Two free throws from Battle on MSU’s final possession tied the game at 29 going into halftime.
Neither team led by more than one point the second half until Caleb Fuller bulldozed his way through the lane for a layup that put MSU up 33-30 with 16:56 remaining. This basket was part of a 7-0 Bobcat run that coincided with a near-five-minute ISU scoring drought. Fuller and Osobor would score nine of MSU’s first nine points of the half.
Lee sparked a 9-0 ISU run that put the Bengals up 41-38, then with 10:21 to go, Brown II stripped Brock Mackenzie and would have had an open lane to the basket, save not for Mackenzie fouling Brown II at midcourt. The redshirt junior’s free throws snapped the scoring drought for MSU, then three more free throws from Fuller and Osobor gave MSU a 43-41 edge.
With both teams in the bonus with over nine minutes to play, MSU sank another free throw and Brown II’s layup capped off an 8-0 run in 4 minutes and 19 seconds. The Bengals missed three free throws and six field goals in a row until Daxton Carr’s free throws pulled ISU within five, 48-43.
Brayden Parker and Brock Mackenzie had one more rally left in them, as the former made ISU’s fourth field goal of the half, then Mackenzie hit the first three of the half for either team to make it a 50-48 ballgame. Like he has been wont to do, Battle came up in the clutch with back-to-back buckets — first with a mid-range straightaway jumper to push the lead to four, then he backed down his defender and made a hook shot with less than a minute left to make it a 54-48 ballgame. While the Bengals went 2-for-4 from the free throw line in the final minute, Brown II sank all four of his free throw attempts down the stretch to help seal the win.
Kolby Lee and Brock Mackenzie scored 12 points apiece to lead Idaho State, while Brayden Parker added 11 points, four rebounds and three blocks.
MSU has one week to prepare for the second Brawl of the Wild rivalry game series against the University of Montana, which is scheduled for Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. The game will be live-streamed on ESPN+ and televised on MTN Sports.
