Bobcat men fall at Idaho Thursday

MOSCOW, Idaho — A sluggish first half put the Montana State men's basketball team behind the sticks in their Big Sky opener, leading to a 69-64 defeat at Idaho on Thursday night at ICCU Arena.

The Bobcats (5-9, 0-1) willed themselves back into the game and took a 61-60 lead over the Vandals (6-8, 1-0) on a Brian Goracke 3-pointer with 3:36 to play. 

Patrick McMahon tied his career-high with 15 points, scoring 12 in the second half on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor for the Bobcats. Goracke added 14 points off the bench, also scoring 12 in the second half. 

After Goracke’s 3-pointer, the Vandals’ Kristian Gonzalez connected on a 3-pointer and Jack Payne added a layup.  

Down 65-61, MSU cut the gap to one when Goracke stole an inbounds pass and converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 50 seconds left. 

The Vandals got a dunk from Julius Mims on their ensuing possession, then rebounded a Bobcat miss in the paint before making a pair of free throws to seal it.  

Tyler Patterson scored 10 points for MSU, all in the first half.  Jabe Mullins contributed nine points and three assists and Max Agbonkpolo scored eight points and pulled down nine rebounds.  

Tyler Mrus and Tyler Linhardt had 14 points each to lead Idaho. Linhardt’s points came off the bench. Mims, a senior out of Billings, added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Vandals.