Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
vs. Montana State - Quarterfinals
WSU Downs Bobcats In Big Sky Quarterfinals
3/8/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
OGDEN, Utah -- This time the rabbit won. Weber State, which had been a notorious slow starter in the first half this season, streaked to a 32-9 lead in the first 16 minutes of the game and never looked back posting a 65-49 home court win over Montana State in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Post-Season Tournament. MSU came into the game as the number six seed. Weber State was the number three seed.
The energy of the Wildcats was evident in the first minute of play when forward DAVIIN DAVIS slammed home two putting WSU up 2-0. The Bobcats tied the game at 4-4 on lay up by the Big Sky's leading scorer, CARLOS TAYLOR, with 16:18 left in the first half.
But from that point it was all purple and white as a three-pointer by forward ARTURAS VALEIKA ignited a 10-0 scoring run by the Wildcats to go up 14-4 with 13:14 remaining. MSU's BRANDEN JOHNSON scored on lay up nearly a minute later. That would be the last score by the Bobcats for six minutes as Weber State put together a 13-0 run to take a 27-6 lead at the 7:26 mark.
"We talked a length before the game about how we needed to come out and establish the tempo in our favor," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. "We've been slow and lack luster out of gate in each of our last three games and found ourselves behind at half time all three times including our meeting against Montana State here two weeks ago. I was really pleased with our efforts on both ends of the floor in that first half, especially our defense. We really did a nice job of denying them the ball."
The Wildcats took a 36-21 half time lead hitting 11-21 shots (.542) from the field and 4-7 (.571) from beyond the arc while holding the Bobcats to just 9-27 (.333) from the floor and 2-9 (.222) from long range.
Weber State cooled down in the second half making just 9-23 (.391) from the field but allowed MSU just 9-29 (.310) shooting from the floor on the defensive end. The Wildcats pulled away going up by as much as 25 (61-36) with 7:16 remaining but scored just four more points from that point on as Coach Rahe cleared the bench in the final two minutes.
Only three players on both teams managed to score in double figures. MSU's CARLOS TAYLOR led all scorers with 14 points. Weber State's ARTURAS VALEIKA posted his 13th "double/double" of the season, and 28th in his career, with 11 points and a game high 12 rebounds. BRODY VAN BROCKLIN was the only other Wildcats in double figures with 10.
Weber State improves to 16-13 overall and now faces number two seed Northern Arizona in the semifinals of the Intel Big Sky Conference Tournament this coming Tuesday, March 11 at 5:30 p.m. (PDT) at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon. The winner that game will face the winner of the Portland State (#1 seed) and Idaho State (#4 seed) at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) on Wednesday, March 12.
WEBER ST. 65, MONTANA ST. 49
MONTANA ST. (15-15)
Friesen 1-2 1-2 3, Zamora 2-4 1-2 5, Mbunga 3-8 1-2 7, Taylor 5-14 3-5 14, Durham 2-8 0-0 5, Hennessy 0-2 1-2 1, Weidenaar 1-2 0-0 2, Howard 1-7 0-0 3, Davis 0-3 1-2 1, Johnson 3-6 0-0 8. Totals 18-56 8-15 49.
WEBER ST. (16-13)
Valeika 3-6 3-3 11, Davis 1-5 3-4 5, Panos 3-6 2-2 8, Harris 3-4 2-2 9, Van Brocklin 2-4 4-4 10, Nance 0-0 0-0 0, Benson 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, McCoy 1-5 4-5 6, Billings 2-4 0-0 5, Silveira 2-4 0-0 5, Arnold 0-0 0-0 0, Morris 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 20-44 18-20 65.
Halftime-Weber St. 36-21. 3-Point Goals-Montana St. 5-20 (Johnson 2-3, Howard 1-3, Taylor 1-5, Durham 1-6, Weidenaar 0-1, Friesen 0-1, Hennessy 0-1), Weber St. 7-17 (Van Brocklin 2-3, Valeika 2-5, Billings 1-1, Harris 1-2, Silveira 1-3, Benson 0-1, McCoy 0-2). Fouled Out-Davis. Rebounds-Montana St. 30 (Taylor 6), Weber St. 38 (Valeika 12). Assists-Montana St. 10 (Hennessy 3), Weber St. 14 (Harris 4). Total Fouls-Montana St. 18, Weber St. 17. A-2,518.
