BOISE, Idaho -- — RaeQuan Battle scored 25 points and Montana State beat Northern Arizona 85-78 Wednesday night to clinch its second consecutive Big Sky Conference title and an automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Darius Brown II added 11 of his 15 points in the second half and Jubrile Belo scored 14 points for No. 2 seed Montana State (25-9), which has won eight consecutive games and 13 of its last 14. Caleb Fuller made 4 of 6 from the field and finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Bobcats, who lost 97-62 to Texas Tech in the first round last year, are 0-4 all time in the NCAA Tournament.
Jalen Cone converted a three-point play to cap a 12-6 spurt and pull the Lumberjacks within five points — as close as they had been since late in the first half — 70-65 with 4:50 to play but Battle was fouled as he hit a 3-pointer from the right corner 24 seconds later, made the and-1 free throw and Northern Arizona got no closer.
No comments:
Post a Comment