Montana State Bobcats can't climb out of early hole at Wichita State, fall to 0-2

WICHITA, Kan.

Wichita State's fast start allowed the Shockers to hand the Montana State men's basketball team an 89-69 loss at Charles Koch Arena on Saturday.

Wichita State led 15-2 at the under-16 media timeout in the first half.

The Shockers' aggressiveness in getting downhill paid off, as they went 15 for 27 on 2-point field goal attempts and hit 7 of 8 free throws in the first half.

"Number one, you have to credit Wichita State," head coach Matt Logie said.

"They came out and hit us right in the mouth early.

Unfortunately, by the time we adjusted to their speed, it was 15-2." Trailing 46-31 going into halftime, the Cats ripped off a 15-6 run to start the period and cut the deficit to six.

"We were able to figure out some things offensively," Logie said.

"We were able to get into halftime and regroup and then you saw the spirit of this team, which I was really proud of, for really the last 36 minutes of the game.

If you take those first four minutes out, I thought there was another stretch in the second half where we actually did some really technically sound things defensively." After being held scoreless in the first half, Brandon Walker scored seven points in the first 2 1/2 minutes and put up 13 altogether.

Jumpers from Jabe Mullins and Max Agbonkpolo highlighted the second-half spurt for the Bobcats, but Wichita State rallied to stretch the lead back out again.

A 3-pointer by Brian Goracke and an elbow jump shot from Walker brought MSU within eight points with 8:46 to go, but the Cats failed to get closer the rest of the way.

Goracke hit three 3-pointers off the bench and finished with 11 points, while Tyler Patterson also hit a trio of threes and tallied 11 points.

Patrick McMahon ended the night with 10 points and four rebounds, and Jabe Mullins chipped in 10 points.

Montana State attempted 43 of its 67 shots from beyond the arc, finishing 12-of-43 (28.0%).

Wichita State (2-0) outscored the Cats 52-24 in the paint.

For the game, Wichita State only turned the ball over six times.

Max Agbonkpolo finished with six points and five rebounds, while Bryce Zephir added six points, three rebounds and three assists.

"We'll continue to do the right things, play the right way and have the spirit and attitude that we did," Logie said.

"You're not going to face a lot of environments and teams like this in our conference.

That's why we play these games early.

I'm incredibly proud of our guys' fight.

We're all disappointed in how we started, but there's a ton to learn from this experience, and we'll do that." Montana State returns to Bozeman for their home opener against Northwest Indian College on Monday at Worthington Arena.

Tip is set for 7 p.m.

Prior to the game, the Bobcats will unveil their 2024 Big Sky Tournament Championship banner, as well as recognize three-time Big Sky champion Carter Ash.

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