The goal for the Sacramento State men’s basketball team was simple entering Thursday’s matchup against Montana State: stop the nation’s third leading scorer in points per game, Tyler Hall.
Hall, who is the reigning Big Sky Freshman of the Year and is averaging 23.5 points per game, finished with 17 points (6-12 FG, 2-4 3FG), two assists and two rebounds in a 74-65 win over the Hornets. However, the guard that did the most damage to Sac State was freshman Harald Frey who put up a career-high 22 points (7-11 FG, 5-7 3FG) at the Nest.
“We came into the game with Hall and Frey as No. 1 and No. 2 on the scouting report, knowing we had to shut them down,” Sac State coach Brian Katz said. “We didn’t do a good job with that. They were 7-of-11 (from the 3-point line), that’s not good. That was a big time point of emphasis – no threes, no threes, no threes for those two guys so that’s on us.”
The contest began with a successful jumper from Sac State (5-12, 2-4 Big Sky Conference) junior forward Justin Strings, who finished with 19 points and 8 rebounds, but Montana State (8-12, 3-4 Big Sky) got off to an 8-0 run and the Hornets wouldn’t lead again for the entire game.
Junior guard Marcus Graves, who posted 19 points, six assists and six rebounds, tied the game 8-8 with 13:44 remaining in the first half, but Montana State outscored the home team 27-16 after that to enter halftime with a comfortable 11-point (35-24) lead.
“(Sacramento State) is a well-coached team and an experienced team,” Bobcats coach Brian Fish told Montana State Athletics. “I thought (we) showed some toughness, some poise.”
Sac State ended the first half shooting 38 percent (10-26) from the field while only getting to the free throw line six times for two points. On the other side of the court, Montana State shot 44 percent (12-27) from the field as a team and was 7-for-11 at the charity stripe by the end of the half.
“The two things that stand out to me: I thought we missed some easy shots and then 15 turnovers,” Katz said after the Hornets allowed 15 points to Montana State off of turnovers. “That’s kind of hard to swallow when they’re not pressing you. I thought we were a little too sloppy with the ball and missed some free throws and missed some easy shots..”
The Hornets found success at the free throw line (9-of-14) in the second half which helped bring the deficit to only five points (59-54) with 6:12 remaining in the game, but Montana State answered back with an 11-3 run that all but ended the game.
Despite outrebounding Montana State 38-33, Sac State failed to do much damage in the paint as the Hornets scored only 22 points compared to 28 from the Bobcats. This is unusual for the frontcourt senior duo of forward Nick Hornsby (averaging 11.1 points per game) and center Eric Stuteville (averaging 9.9 points per game) who finished for a combined 3-for-7 from the field.
“We tried to take advantage of our size,” Graves said. “They were bringing the double on all of our posts so we were just trying to get it out and swing it around, but we’ve got to do a better job of getting inside and punishing them for being smaller than us.”
Sac State will get another chance to play a smaller team when it hosts Big Sky opponent Montana, which features a small-ball lineup of three guards and two forwards, at the Nest on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
“The conference is very competitive, but I think our team is headed in the right direction even though we lost today,” Strings said. “For our team we’re just going to have to do some of the things I’ve talked about before: rebounding, bringing the intensity that we had on the road and just trying to play to our strengths. Usually when we get into the paint and score that’s when we’re at our best, and play inside-out rather than outside-in, and I think we’re going to have to use that same philosophy against Montana.”
