by OGDEN, Utah –Xavier Bishop scored a game-high 18 points and helped hold Weber State senior Koby McEwen to just 11 as Montana State beat Weber State 78-57 in Ogden on Saturday.
The win was Montana State’s second victory in the Dee Event Center in the last three years, and just its third win in Ogden in 14 seasons, while it was MSU’s second-largest margin in history against the Wildcats. The win was MSU’s eighth straight overall this season, the longest streak for the program in 20 years, and only the 10th Bobcat win all-time in Ogden.
The Bobcats got the jump on Weber State early and never looked back. After a Wildcats 3-pointer made the score 3-2 just more than two minutes into the game, Amin Adamu hit back-to-back triples and the Bobcats never trailed again. Xavier Bishop’s short jumper with 5:21 to play in the first half pushed the Bobcat lead to seven, then he made a shot moments later to put the Bobcats up 28-19. A RaeQuan Battle (Tulalip Tribe) layup expanded the lead to 11 with just under four minutes until halftime.
The teams played on mostly even terms for the remainder of the half and the Bobcats led 37-29 at the intermission. MSU held every advantage in the first half, out-shooting WSU 50% to 36%, out-rebounding the home team 18 to 15, and hitting five 3-pointers to Weber’s two.
Montana State rode a double-digit lead for the first eight minutes of the second half, but Battle and Abdul Mohamed each hit baskets and Jubrile Belo converted a conventional three-point play, and the Bobcats led 65-46 with less than seven-and-a-half minutes to play. The Bobcats weren’t finished. Leading 67-48, MSU went on a 9-2 run to build its biggest lead, a 76-51 cushion with 2:46 to play.
Montana State shot 54% on the evening, holding the Wildcats to 36%, and MSU drained 11 of its 21 triples. The Bobcats also out-rebounded Weber State 38-24.
Bishop’s 18 points led all players, but Belo and Adamu each scored 17 for MSU. Belo did it on 7-for-8 shooting, and he and Bishop each grabbed eight rebounds. Mohamed snagged nine. Battle came off the bench to recorrd 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting in 25 minutes.
