Sports

Cats, Griz set for Saturday showdowns

Posted: Mar 1, 2013 7:49 PM by MTN Sports

BOZEMAN - MSU's men lead the basketball series 147-139, but Montana has won the last five.
They square off again Saturday in Bozeman for the 287th time at 7 p.m. The showdown carries strong postseason implications for both.
"This game holds an importance of its own," says Bobcat coach Brad Huse, perfectly summarizing the evening's events.
Montana State took a step forward Thursday night ending a five-game losing streak with a dramatic 62-61 win at Southern Utah. Junior guard Antonio Biglow produced two steals in the game's final 71 seconds producing the only Bobcat lead of the game. The win pushes MSU into a race with five teams for the final four spots to the Big Sky Tournament.
UM, on the other hand, enters weekend play holding onto first place with a 15-1 Big Sky record. That spot would draw the league tournament to Missoula, where the Grizzlies have not lost to a Big Sky opponent in several years.
Montana last played on Saturday, losing in overtime at Davidson in ESPN's BracketBuster contest. UM played without big man Mathias Ward in that game, and lost sensational guard Will Cherry in the second half. Neither player is listed among the team's starters for Saturday's game. Guard Kareem Jamar is now UM's on-court leader averaging 13.9 points and 6.2 rebounds a game, among the league's top seven players in both categories. With his 28 points at Davidson, Jamar became the 28th player in school history to score 1,000 or more career points, now sitting exactly on 1,000.
Montana State's most consistent performer has been Christian Moon. The senior guard has averaged 13.4 points a game, and his five times leading the team in scoring (along with Antonio Biglow) is the most on the team in spite of the fact that he missed the first seven games. His three 20-point games is also the most on the team. Moon led the Bobcats with 17 points in Thursday's win.
Both of Saturday's games will be televised across Montana on Max Media stations starting with the women at 3 p.m. and the men at 7 p.m.