Bozeman, MT – Montana State pulled away late in a tightly-contested game at Worthington Arena beating Portland State, 71-64, for a Big Sky Conference win.
 
PSU led much of the first half and the Bobcats all of the second half, but neither squad could muster a double-digit advantage until the final seconds. An eight-point run down the stretch proved to be the difference as the Montana State took the victory.
 
Montana State improved to 6-3 overall, 3-0 in the Big Sky Conference. The Vikings lost their third game in a row. They are now 2-6 on the season, 1-2 in the Big Sky.
 
James Scott had a big game for the Vikings with 23 points and 14 rebounds. Elijah Hardy came off the bench to get a season-high 17 points.
 
Mike Hood scored 19 points to lead MSU. Jubrile Belo had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Borja Fernandez came off the bench to score 13.
 
The Vikings held an early lead and were up 17-12 eight minutes into the game. The Bobcats tightened things up though.
 
Montana State went on a 12-2 run to close out the first half. That turned a 27-25 Viking lead with four minutes to go into a 37-29 MSU advantage at the break.
 
Scott had a big half for the Vikings with 14 points and five rebounds. But PSU made only 2-12 shots from the field in the final 10 minutes before intermission.
 
The offensive pace improved for both teams to open the second half. The Vikings were within six points throughout the half and within a single point on three occasions in the final seven minutes. PSU was down 59-58 with 5:22 to play when the Bobcats scored eight in a row.
 
The Vikings did not have a field goal for more than five minutes until Hardy hit a three-pointer with 4.7 seconds on the clock.
 
PSU shot 23-63 from the field (.365) and 11-20 from the free throw line (.550). The Bobcats were 23-52 (.442) and 19-24 at the line (.792). Rebounding was nearly even at 40-38 Bobcats.
 
"It was a tough loss tonight but I thought our guys competed. We definitely looked more like ourselves tonight and I was pleased with that," said Head Coach Barret Peery. "We need to be better around the rim and get the finishes that we should. And for the second game in a row we were only 11-20 from the free throw line.
 
"It's a quick turnaround for us. We have to bounce back quickly and be ready to compete against this team again on Saturday."
 
GAME NOTES: Portland State was playing its first conference game since Dec. 20. Two weeks of Big Sky games were canceled due to positive Covid tests in opponent programs… Scott had his third 20-point game of the season and second double-double. He was ejected from the game with 31 seconds left with a flagrant 2 technical foul… PSU is now 0-4 on the road… these two teams will meet again on Saturday in Bozeman. Tip-off is noon MT/11 a.m. PT. The game can be seen on Pluto TV Channel 1057, www.Pluto.tv, www.WatchBigSky.com. Live stats are available at www.ViksLive.com.