Chad Kananen has shot the lights out of Brick Breeden Fieldhouse before. The former Class C star from Roy-Winifred showed that confidence in Bozeman on Wednesday night.
Riley Bradshaw has been a part of several wins on Montana State’s home court. The Corvallis product made the most of his last showing at the Brick during his well-traveled career.
Together, the pair of in-state products spearheaded a crisp, hot-shooting first 12 minutes for the Battlin’ Bears of Rocky Mountain College. Kananen hit 3-pointers on five straight possessions to help the visitors from the Frontier Conference build a 25-15 lead against Montana State. Bradshaw, a Montana Grizzly the last three and a half years, penetrated and facilitated with ease against Montana State freshman Harald Frey, dishing out seven assists during the quick start.
MSU freshman point guard Harald Frey
“This is a game I saw on the schedule when I first got here and I was excited,” said Bradshaw, who saw his playing time in Missoula dwindle with the emergence of freshman Michael Oguine last winter before transferring in the off-season. “I’ve played here a few times in different roles but I was excited to play this role and lead this team and come in and give these guys a run.”
Bradshaw’s second bucket of the first half with eight minutes, 50 seconds to play helped Rocky keep the lead. Then Montana State’s length and athleticism took over. Quinton Everett, Zach Green and Joe Mvuezolo each scored two buckets in transition, Montana State ripped off a 17-2 run to turn a 30-29 deficit into a 46-30 lead and the Bobcats never looked back in a 93-76 victory in front of 2,262.
The Bobcats shot 57.4 percent from the floor, including hitting 10-of-22 3-pointers Sophomore Tyler Hall scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in 27 minutes to lead six Bobcats in double figures. Everett, Green and junior center Benson Osayande each scored 12, Frey and Mvuezolo scored 11 and Montana State dominated the final 30 minutes on the scoreboard. All 13 Bobcats saw the floor with nine guys playing at least 14 minutes.
The new-look Bobcats led for the final 32 minutes but they also learned a valuable lesson: even when you are hosting an NAIA team from Billings, you can’t leave shooters like Kananen and Bradshaw open. Rocky Mountain hit 11-of-26 3-pointers, including the streak of five straight by Kananen before halftime. In the second half, Bradshaw scored 16 points to finish with a game-high 20 on 7-of-12 shooting and the Bears played admirably despite being at a significant disadvantage in height, size and athleticism.
MSU sophomore guard Tyler Hall
“Rocky Mountain played a big rival last night (beat MSU-Billings 78-73) and they had nothing to lose,” MSU third-year head coach Brian Fish said. “A lot of those guys, it’s the chance to play on the D-I floor at Montana State. It’s a chance to show out so they made shots. That young man (Kananen) that made the 3s tonight was 4-of-6 last night so he’s nine of his last 14 and they expect him to do that. He made a bunch when we left him open.
“I’m not sure that’s not good learning points for our guys to understand that it doesn’t matter if that guy has a James Madison (MSU’s opponent Friday night) jersey on or a Rocky Mountain jersey on. Uncontested at this level, they are going to make shots. It’s good for us to learn that.”
Montana State moved to 2-1 with the win, the first time since the 2011-12 season the Bobcats have won two of their first three. The win moves MSU to 23-0 all-time against Rocky. The loss was the first in five outings so far for RMC.
“I didn’t exactly take over UCLA,” Fish said. “There isn’t exactly a winning temperament in this program. By no means can we walk into any game and say, ‘We are going to win this game.’
“We played a lot of guys a lot of minutes that we haven’t played a lot of minutes yet. We are trying to change how we approach games. The first two games of the year, we were underdogs. Tonight was probably the first game of the year we are expected to win and it takes experience to play on both sides.”
Rocky Mountain College junior Chad Kananen
The last time Kananen was in Bozeman, he led Roy-Winifred on a three-game run through the Class C state tournament to cap a 26-0 state championship season. The sharp-shooting guard scored 35 in the opener and 31 more to put the Outlaws into the title game. In the championship, he scored a game-high 16 points to pace his team past Westby-Grenora, at the time the team MSU walk-on Cooper Olson played for.
“I for sure felt confident coming here,” said Kananen, the Class C state tournament MVP that March in 2013. “Ever since I first played here, it’s been a blast. I was confident coming in here state basketball that year and I was hoping to carry that over from three or four years ago.”
Kananen scored 23 points and hit a 3-pointer with 90 seconds to play, one of four triples on the night, to lead Rocky past Division II Montana State-Billings 78-73 on Tuesday night.
“When I hit that first few,I knew I was still feeling it but I didn’t think I would get that many looks in a row,” he said. “They felt good coming off.”
Bradshaw starred for his father, Dave, at Corvallis High. He earned a scholarship from former Montana head coach Wayne Tinkle the summer before his sophomore year. The four-year starter scored almost 2,000 points in his prep career. He averaged 25 per game as a senior before heading to Utah State to play for former Montana head coach Stew Morrill.
He only lasted a semester in Logan before transferring back to Montana. His sophomore year, Travis DeCuire’s first as the head coach for the Griz, was probably Bradshaw’s best. He played 15.4 minutes per game coming off the bench. He scored 10 points in two different Big Sky tournament games as UM advanced to the championship in Missoula.
Rocky Mountain College senior Riley Bradshaw
Last year, Bradshaw fell behind in the rotation because of the emergence of Oguine and Bobby Moorehead, two of DeCuire first big recruits. In the off-season, he decided to transfer to Rocky Mountain for his final season of college hoops.
“I’ve always had a great time playing here in Bozeman,” Bradshaw said. “Last time, I guess. It’s going to be weird walking out of here.”
Montana State opened the second half by mounting a 3-point barrage. Everett, senior Sarp Gobeloglu, Frey and Green all hit triples as MSU’s lead grew to 77-59. Bradshaw hit all three of his 3-pointers in the span of five possessions to cut it to 13 before MSU pulled away again.
Osayande had a stretch where he scored six straight points before Frey and Gobeloglu drilled 3-pointers to give MSU a 93-70 lead with 1:56 left, MSU’s biggest lead.
“It gets everybody’s confidence up, especially when guys start to make shots,” Everett said of the win. “On defense, when we get in the right spots and get stops, that gets the confidence going. Then we start trusting what coach wants with the scout. Something like this is really good for new players that are coming in from different levels of basketball.”
Montana State hosts James Madison on Friday night.
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
