When the officials put time back on the clock, everyone at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse knew Devin Patterson would get one more shot. Like he had all night, the lightning quick point guard found nothing but the bottom of the net.
MSU point guard Marcus Colbert being guarded by Nebraska-Omaha point guard Devin Patterson
Montana State senior point guard Marcus Colbert drove into the paint and hit a fade away jumper off of one foot to tie the game 97-97 in Bozeman on Sunday afternoon. The Omaha Mavericks had one more possession. A full court pass was swatted out of bounds by MSU sophomore Zach Green. The clock initially read 0.8 remaining. The officials adjusted to give the Mavericks 1.2 seconds left.
Patterson, a 5-foot-11 senior from Portsmouth, Virginia, curled off a screen, set his feet and let fly his 23rd field goal attempt of the night. His 3-pointer found the bottom of the net at the buzzer to lift Omaha a 100-97 win in front of 1,533 at The Brick on Sunday afternoon.
“At first, it was going to be a tip because we thought it was going to be 0.8 so it was going to be a tip for Tre’Shawn (Thurman) but when there was one second left, I asked Coach (Derrin Hansen) if I could take a shot,” said Patterson, who scored a career-high 41 points in the victory. “It was a staggered screen and I came off. Once I got a look, I got it off on time.”
Patterson used an array of skills and speed to penetrate MSU’s defense, stopping on a dime over and over again for pull-up jump shots from between 12 and 17 feet. He hit 16-of-23 shots from the floor, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
“That’s the hottest I’ve ever been,” Patterson said. “Last year against Marquette, I thought I was hot. But this game, that’s as hot as I’ve been.
“I tried to not settle for threes. I think my mid-range is the best part of my game. I was trying to get going in the mid-range game and I got hot.”
MSU point guard Marcus Colbert guards Nebraska-Omaha point guard Devin Patterson in the winding seconds of the game
Patterson scored 20 before halftime and 21 after intermission. Patterson’s previous season high was 19 points in an 87-82 loss to Colorado. His previous career high was 26 points last November against Marquette. Patterson’s point total was the fourth-most in Fieldhouse history, tying Montana State’s Don Rae’s effort against Montana in 1964. The Fieldhouse record is 53 points by Montana State’s Willie Humes against Idaho State in 1971.
“We let him get going early,” Colbert said. “Even when we were playing good defense, he was knocking them down.”
Patterson’s last bucket stung the Bobcats most, dropping Montana State to 4-4 before the ‘Cats embark on a brutal road trip that includes games at San Jose State, North Dakota State, Buffalo and Syracuse.
“We lost No. 3 (Patterson), who we had trouble guarding all night,” MSU head coach Brian Fish said. “If you felt the feel of the game, when he caught it (the last shot), you knew it was going in.
“I did a bad job of getting them ready for him. The scouting report said he wanted to get to the nail, which is 16 feet and pull up for jumpers. We give it to him all night and didn’t get him under control.”
MSU guard Tyler Hall takes it to the hole
Patterson’s buzzer-beater and record-setting scoring night offset a career-best effort by Colbert. The MSU senior from Post Falls, Idaho converted 11-of-19 from the floor, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc in scoring a career-high 32 points. He added five assists. He scored 19 points after halftime to move to the brink of 1,000 points for his career. One more point and he will be the 35th Bobcat to reach the milestone and the first since Bobby Howard and Erik Rush accomplished the feat in 2011.
“It’s going to be tough to win any game when you let a team score 100 points in 40 minutes,” Colbert said. “It don’t matter how many points we score if we get out-scored. I know Coach (Fish) is going to come fired up ready to get us better defensively and that’s what we need. What it comes down to is us being tough, locking in on defense. We will be a .500 team if we try to out-score everybody.”
From the opening tip, the game held a frenetic pace. Omaha came into the game averaging just short of 87 points per game. The Mavericks pushed the pace for the duration, opening up a 59-44 lead in the first half by consistently putting MSU defenders on their heals. Omaha shot 58 percent in the first half and 52 percent overall. The Bobcats lost despite shooting 62 percent after halftime and hitting 15-of-31 shots from beyond the 3-point arc overall.
“We knew this was the style they wanted to play,” Fish said. “The game plan was to get down to 14 on the shot clock before we started shooting the basketball. I didn’t get our guys to do that and that’s my fault. We wanted to take quick shots and that led to offense for them.
MSU wing Zach Green finishes at the hoop
“We gave up 60 in the first half on 60 percent shooting. It was a lay-up fest and we didn’t want to guard.”
The Omaha lead swelled to 18 two minutes into the second half. MSU guard Tyler Hall was poked in the eye and had to come out of the game. The injury seemed to spark the Bobcats. Over the next eight minutes, Montana State cut the lead from 18 to two. Stephan Holm, a junior who scored 18 points off the bench, hit a step-back 3-pointer, Montana State earned a stop on the ensuing possession and Colbert hit a 3-pointer to bring MSU within a bucket, 75-73.
“It was just getting down and playing defense,” Fish said. “We’ve got to get some production out of some people and I’m having to go small because we are not. We have to get some guys to help and get after it. We are at home and we have to play harder from the get go. I have to find the right buttons to push to get them going right away.”
MSU’s frontcourt mustered just 15 points as junior Sarp Gobeloglu scored eight points and senior Danny Robison scored seven. The Bobcats were able to compete on the glass nonetheless; Omaha earned a 36-35 rebounding advantage. Hall and junior guard Quinton Everett led the team with seven rebounds each. Junior center Shy Blake played just nine minutes. Sophomore center Tyson Kanseyo did not play.
MSU head coach Brian Fish motivating his payers during a timeout
Hall, a freshman who finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 96-91 with 2:32 left. After MSU forced a shot clock violation, Hall caught the ball at the top of the key, jab stepped and hit nothing but net on a sweet 18-footer to cut the lead to 96-93 with 1:21 left. Colbert’s layup cut the lead to one with 64 seconds left. MSU earned a stop and had 20 seconds for its final offensive possession. Colbert converted to tie the game 97-97 with 2.9 seconds left.
Patterson’s buzzer beater gave Montana State a loss before it hits the road. Sunday marked the second and final home game during an 11-game non-conference schedule leading up to Big Sky Conference play on New Year’s Eve. MSU defeated San Jose State 81-69 in Bozeman earlier this season. MSU played at SJSU on December 13 before playing at North Dakota State three days later. NDSU has a 29-game home winning streak. MSU plays at Buffalo on December 19 and at Syracuse three nights later.
“We have finals, we get tested here tomorrow on tests and then we have to start testing on Wednesday about playing basketball,” Fish said. “I don’t think anybody in the country plays a road trip as tough as this one here.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
