OMAHA, Neb. -- The Montana State men's basketball team had four score in double figures and found its groove on both ends of the floor in a 76-65 win over Omaha on Wednesday night at Baxter Arena.
Montana State (4-5) shot 54% from the floor and held Omaha (3-7) to a 44.4% clip on the night. The Bobcats also dished out 17 assists in their first road win of the season.
"It was a great response to last Saturday," head coach Matt Logie said. "Our guys really honed in on the message and played with better pace. The ball has so much energy in it when you give it to one another and the pace of your cuts are hard. As a result, we have 17 assists and nine turnovers.
"I was really proud of our effort tonight. Double-digit road wins don't grow on trees. It's a good way to get our first road win of the year."
Brandon Walker pacing the Cats with 17 points on a 7-of-11 shooting performance from the floor, adding a team-high four assists.
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Max Agbonkpolo scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds, while Patrick McMahon added 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Jed Miller poured in 10 points off the bench, his highest against a Division I opponent. The junior added three assists and a steal in 17 minutes.
In the first half, Montana State led 16-9. The Mavericks then scored 18 of the game's next 22 points to take a 27-20 lead and force a Montana State timeout with 6 minutes, 2 seconds remaining in the half.
"This is a team that took Minnesota down the wire, played really close with UNLV and Akron. Those are all good programs," Logie said. "Here at home they came out with great fight after kind of an embarrassing last game, and we expected that. This is a good win."
Omaha's previous game was a 71-55 home loss Saturday to Abilene Christian, a team that fell 85-59 at MSU on Nov. 26.
Out of the timeout, Agbonkpolo nailed his first triple of the game to spark a Bobcat rally as MSU would go on to hold Omaha without a field goal for the duration of the first half, taking a 33-29 advantage into the break.
Montana State never trailed again, leading for the entirety of the second half and keeping Omaha at arm's length with a flurry of 3-pointers.
"This is a group that is coming together before our eyes," Logie said. "We've just got to stick to the process and be able to handle the ups and downs of the adversity that comes our way because when our attitude and our energy and our effort are right, we can be a really good team."
The Cats hit 4 of 9 attempts from 3-point range in the second half and went 11 of 14 at the free throw line down the stretch to ice the game.
Jabe Mullins finished with nine points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Brian Goracke added eight points off the bench with a pair of made 3-pointers.
Nine different Bobcats saw at least 10 minutes of action on the court.
Montana State returns to Worthington Arena on Saturday for its final home game of the calendar year, hosting Kansas City to close out the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
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