Weber State basketball: Wildcats fall on the road at Montana State

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Cody Anderson scored a career-high 15 points and Bobby Howard had 14 points and 13 rebounds as Montana State edged Weber State 75-72 in the Big Sky Conference men's basketball opener for both schools Wednesday night.

Erik Rush had 16 points and Rod Singleton added 10 for the Bobcats (7-6), who snapped a three-game losing streak to the Wildcats.

Lindsey Hughey had a career-high 21 points and added a career-best 10 rebounds for his first career double-double to lead Weber State (6-6), while Scott Bamforth had 14 points and Kyle Bullinger finished with 13 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats.

"We played hard and fought through a lot, especially in the second half, but in the end our turnovers did us in," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. "You just can't give a team seven extra possessions, especially when you are the road team.

"MSU did a good job of controlling the tempo and didn't let us get going offensively down in the post."?

Weber State trailed 72-64 with one minute to play before rallying to within 74-72 with 10 seconds left.

MSU, which had committed just five turnovers in the first 39 minutes, coughed up two in the final 60 seconds, allowing the Wildcats to creep back within two on a pair of free throws by Bullinger. Hughey scored six points during the Wildcats' closing 8-2 run.

After Montana State made it 75-72 on a free throw by Singleton, the Wildcats had a chance to tie it at the end, but Bamforth's 3-point attempt rimmed out at the final buzzer.

Weber State held a 34-33 halftime lead, with Bamforth scoring 12 of his 14 points in the first half. But Montana State opened the second half with a 13-8 run and took the lead for good with 14:06 remaining on a 3-pointer by freshman Shawn Reid.

The turning point came at the 9:23 mark when the Bobcats went on a 6-0 scoring run to take a 60-50 lead on back-to-back dunks by Jourdain Allou.

Bullinger then scored five straight points to rally the Wildcats back, but a 3-pointer from Rush quickly quelled the WSU comeback. Rush scored four straight points to put MSU back up by ten at 67-57.

The Wildcats then put together a 10-5 scoring run. Hughey knocked down a 3-pointer with 54 seconds left, cutting the deficit to five at 72-67. Singleton's two free throws put the Bobcats back up by seven, but Hughey scored and was fouled with 24 seconds left, and his three-point play brought the Wildcats back to within four at 74-70.

Weber State plays at Montana on Friday at 1:05 p.m. (MST) in Dahlberg Arena in Missoula. Montana defeated Northern Arizona, 83-80, on Wednesday afternoon.