Weber State basketball: Wildcats toast Montana State in 2nd half for 73-63 win
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- Weber State guard Zahir Porter (0) shoots a floater over Montana State’s Jubrile Belo (13) on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State center Alex Tew (20) shoots over Montana State’s Jubrile Belo on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Steven Verplancken Jr. (11) drives against Montana State’s RaeQuan Battle on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Weber State men’s basketball played perhaps its best half of offensive basketball this season to open the game Thursday against Montana State.
Facing the Big Sky’s No. 1 defense, Weber State shot 14 of 24 from the field and 3 of 8 from deep in the first half. But Montana State, the most experienced team in the conference, was even better. The Bobcats shot 16 of 24 overall and 5 of 9 from deep.
But something even wilder happened in the second half: after getting down nine early in the frame, Weber State held Montana State to just four points over the space of 12 minutes and 30 seconds.
And WSU kept scoring. The Wildcats surged to a 27-4 run and pulled away from the second-place Bobcats on the way to a 73-63 victory at the Dee Events Center.
“This was all about the players,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “You get embarrassed on national television, you better have the right guys … and tonight, I think that was on full display. They were really locked into the game plan, we got really solid defensive performances from the whole team and I just, tonight, you stand there and watch those guys compete and you’re proud of them.”
Three days after getting shelled by 34 at Northern Colorado, Weber State (13-12, 8-4 Big Sky) turned in its best performance of conference play.
“What we’ve been through as a team, as a group, because we didn’t start off (the season well) as a team,” WSU forward Dillon Jones said. “Knowing how to respond, put games together and just staying the course, staying true to us as a team, that’s the reason we were able to bounce back.”
Jones led WSU with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four assists. Steven Verplancken Jr. was red-hot, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 3 of 5 from deep.
With a 39-34 halftime lead, Montana State (17-9, 10-3) — which had won 10 of its last 11 entering Thursday — extended that to 45-36 when big man Jubrile Belo fired in a hard bank shot with 17:30 left in the game.
Dyson Koehler hit a momentum-stopping 3-pointer the other way and WSU called timeout with 17 minutes left.
Out of that timeout, the Wildcats held the visitors to 2-of-11 shooting with seven turnovers over the next 12 minutes. Handje Tamba played important minutes in the post and WSU — who implemented three new post-double-team coverages before this game, Duft said — forced Belo and fellow big man Great Osobor into 11 turnovers on the night.
WSU regained its first lead since 6-5 when Tamba dunked home a drive-and-dish from Junior Ballard, making it 49-47 with 11:35 left.
Senior guard Zahir Porter turned in his best game of the season on both ends, totaling a season-high 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including 2 of 2 from distance.
His play continued the run: Porter canned a stepback 3 from straight away to make the score 58-49, then made an extra pass on a Jones drive-and-kick to get Verplancken a corner 3 for a 61-49 mark. Porter’s two free throws ended the 27-4 run with the score 63-49 and 5:51 remaining.
“Zahir was tremendous tonight. I was going to put KJ (Cunningham) back in midway through the second half and KJ’s like ‘hey, just let him roll,'” Duft said. “He was locked in, he made a couple big shots for us, defensively he was really good at contesting shots.”
Duft also credited Ballard for his ball-screen defense in the second half as a big reason WSU disrupted MSU’s offense.
RaeQuan Battle, who surged to 11 points in the first half, scored his only points in the second half to finally end the run for Montana State, knocking home a 3 with 5 minutes left. Verplancken answered with his final 3 to make it 66-52.
Though Montana State threw together a quick 7-0 run off a pair of steals and a Robert Ford 3-pointer to cut it to 69-63 with 1:53 left, the Wildcats got two consecutive stops out of a timeout and sealed the game at the free-throw line.
Osobor’s 15 points led MSU. Battled finished with 14 and Caleb Fuller pitched in 10.
Weber State next welcomes Montana (13-12, 7-6) to Ogden for a 7 p.m. Saturday game.
MSU 75, WSU 60
Weber State women’s basketball led 28-26 at halftime in Bozeman but gave up 33 fourth-quarter points to lose to Montana State on Thursday night.
Weber State (5-19, 1-11 Big Sky) got 2o points, 10 rebounds and four steals from Daryn Hickok. Jadyn Matthews pitched in 15 points and seven rebounds.
Darian White led Montana State (17-8, 10-3) with 23 points.