Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Rest of Saturday Night's Action

I was in Greeley watching the Northern Colorado/Eastern Washington game, but there was a lot of intriguing basketball being played around the Big Sky. Here is a quick synopsis of what went down (please feel free to fill me in on what I missed!)

- Sacramento State played Weber State very well, but ultimately fell short in their comeback bid. It was a two point game with a little over three minutes left, but Weber State hung on for the 65-56 win. WSU was keyed by Scott Bamforth (18 points, 7 rebounds) and Kyle Tresnak (15 points, 8 rebounds), also getting really good contributions from Frank Otis and Joel Bolomboy.

The Hornets got 20 points from Dylan Garrity plus 16 and 9 from Konner Veteto, but were just 1/8 from downtown. After a tough defeat against Idaho State on Thursday, it's a moral victory for the Hornets, but I'm guessing that didn't send them home happy. WSU moves to 8-0 in Big Sky play, while Sac State falls to 3-5.

- It was a tough night for the other undefeated team as well, as Montana needed overtime to knock off rival Montana State 76-71. If anything, it appears the Grizzlies were fortunate to escape this one with a victory. MSU led 65-63 with 27 seconds left when Marcus Colbert went to the line for a 1 and 1. He made one of two... which eventually led to Mike Weisner hitting a three with 3.4 seconds left to send the game to an extra frame. In the OT, Montana scored the first six points, and MSU couldn't get a point until there was 22 seconds left.

Kareem Jamar led Montana with 23 points, 10 assists, and 7 rebounds. MSU was obviously extremely disappointed to let a victory slip through its grasp, but there improvement over the past month has been extremely impressive.

- North Dakota moved into sole possession of third place in the Big Sky with a 85-76 victory over Portland State. They were a perfect 21/21 from the free throw line in the win, winning their third straight Big Sky game to move to 4-4. They got matching 25 point games from Troy Huff and Aaron Anderson, and they are becoming the team that everyone thought they would be. Huff was 99/15 from the floor with six rebounds, three steals, and just one turnover.

PSU got great production from their starters, with four guys in double figures. After a tough roadtrip, they drop to 3-5 in the Big Sky, joining the masses.

- Finally, it was Northern Arizona getting a big road win over Idaho State. They had been two teams trending in a bit of opposite directions, so Jack Murphy has to be really happy with the victory. Gabe Rogers scored 22 for NAU, while DeWayne Russell chipped in an efficient 19. Both teams are now 3-5 in conference play.

I know I missed a ton, so please let me know what of note happened!

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2 comments:

  1. There's still a pretty big drop off after Weber and Montana, but hopefully things are starting to improve after this season.

    It's looking more and more like Sacramento is going to lose the Kings to Seattle. While it's not a great thing for the city of Sacramento, do Sac State fans think this could be an opportunity to better position its sports (i.e. basketball)for the market area?

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  2. Short answer: No.
    Long Answer can be found in a Sac Buzz thread:
    http://hornets.bigskyfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1631

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