Montana State went blow for blow with Utah for the first 25 minutes of action, MSU senior Quinton Everett did his best to keep the Bobcats in the game but a lacking interior presence ultimately doomed the visitors in Salt Lake City on Thursday night.
Montana State trailed 52-49 six minutes into the second half and had the Utes’ lead under double digits for most of the first 10 minutes of the second half. Utah pushed the lead to as many as 15 points but never more, ultimately leading to a 92-84 win by the hosts.
Utah hit 19-of-32 field goals in the first half in building a 47-35 lead. The Utes scored 30 first-half points in the paint and 52 on the interior overall. Utah also earned a 51-31 advantage on the glass as Kyle Kuzma, a 6-foot-9 junior, notched a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. He just missed a triple double by notching nine assists in 38 minutes.
That was the longest, most athletic team we’ve seen,” said Bobcat coach Brian Fish. “We got beat 20 on the boards and missed a lot of layups, but we still had a chance to get back in it. I think there’s still a lot left in the tank for how much we can improve.”
Although Montana State won the second half 49-45 thanks in part to holding Utah to 38.2 percent shooting after intermission, including 1-of-9 from beyond the arc, six Utes in double figures proved to be too much. Devon Daniels, a 6-foot-5 freshman guard, finished with 18 points and four of Utah’s 21 assists. Tyler Rawson, a 6-10 transfer from Salt Lake CC, finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. JoJo Zamora 15 points, Lorenzo Bonam scored 12 points and Parker Van Dyke scored 10 to place Utah’s backcourt.
Montana State senior Quinton Everett/ by Brooks Nuanez
Everett, a 6-foot-3 senior, scored 10 of his 21 points in the final four minutes of the game. His 3-pointer with 52 seconds left cut the lead to 90-79 and his 3-pointer with 15 seconds left cut it to 90-82. Montana State finished 12-of-23 from beyond the arc, including 3-of-4 by Everett.
Tyler Hall again led the Bobcats with 22 points. The sophomore scored 11 points in each half, but converted three of his five first-half 3-point attempts and missed all three of his second-half attempts from deep. His last six points came at the free throw line, where he converted 7-of-9 overall.
MSU junior Zach Green scored 15 points, his sixth game in eight outings of at least that many. He nailed two of his three 3-pointers and 5-of-8 overall before fouling out with 6:40 left and his team trailing 78-67.
Despite the strong effort, Montana State led for just 46 seconds of the action and fell to 5-3 with the loss, including 0-3 on the road. Montana State’s road losses have come at Washington State, at Rice and at Utah. MSU will look to extend its nine-game home winning streak that dates back to last season with a matchup against Wisconsin-Milwaukee at Brick Breedin Fieldhouse on Monday night.
