Bobcat men hold off Hornets, make Big Sky final

BOISE, Idaho — Robert Ford III scored 19 points, including two late baskets, and Montana State held off Sacramento State 74-71 in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball tournament Tuesday.

The Bobcats, 16-17, are headed to the Big Sky championship for the fourth straight year, and doing so under first-year coach Matt Logie. His team was 11-15 after an 88-69 loss at Montana on Feb. 17, but has won five of seven since.

Montana State will play the winner of Tuesday’s late semifinal between Montana and Idaho State. The championship tips off at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday at Idaho Central Arena. It will air on ESPN2.

After seeing a 63-52 lead with 11:21 left shrink to 67-65 on a layup by Sac State’s Emil Skytta, Ford hit a pull-up jumper at the 3:33 mark, then a driving layup with 2:25 left to put the Cats up 71-65.

The game was far from over: Alex Kovatchev brought the Hornets (10-24) to 71-69 with a layup at the 1:35 mark, and after Ford missed Sacramento State had a chance to tie — only to see MSU’s Sam Lechlot block and rebound a layup by Zee Hamoda.

Ford made one free throw and Jed Miller made two for the Bobcats, sandwiched around a layup by the Hornets’ Austin Patterson. 

In the final seven seconds Hamoda was just long on an open corner three, and the Hornets missed a put-back. Eventually Lecholat stole an inbounds pass with .2 seconds on the clock.

Lecholat and Brandon Walker both added 13 points for the Bobcats, and Lechlot had two blocks and 11 rebounds. 

Ford hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and added six rebounds and four steals.

Ptteron had 16 points to lead the Hornets. Skytta added 12, Hamoda had 11 points and six rebounds, and Bowyn Beatty had 10 points and seven boards. The Hornets had won two games at the Big Sky tournament, including a 74-69 victory over top seed Eastern Washington, giving them four wins in five games.