BOZEMAN – Branden Johnson didn’t score the most points for Montana State on Saturday night. He just scored the most important points.
Johnson scored five of his 11 points in the final 2:01 as the Bobcats survived a strange technical foul and a late scare to defeat Montana 61-52.
Johnson hit an NBA-range 3-pointer to give Montana State (11-8 overall, 6-2 Big Sky) a 54-50 lead after Montana (13-7, 4-4) had shaved nine points off a 10-point deficit in three minutes. The senior forward then hit a driving lay-up with 29.5 seconds remaining to give the Bobcats a safe 58-52 margin and a share of second place in the conference standings.
“I was really not thinking too much about it when I shot it,” Johnson said of his 3-pointer from the top of the key. “After I did make it, I went ‘Wow, what a feeling.'”
The bucket came after Montana cut a 50-40 deficit with 5:43 to go to 51-50 on a slam dunk by Brian Qvale, who led the Grizzlies with 18 points — all in the last 22½ minutes.
Montana’s comeback began when Qvale was fouled by Cameron Henderson with 5:18 remaining. As Qvale made his first free throw, a fan tossed onto the court a plastic yellow ball, one of many distributed to the crowd as part of a promotion by a fast-food restaurant. Moments earlier, during a timeout, Montana coach Wayne Tinkle was hit by a plastic ball, eliciting a warning from the public-address announcer.
After the second incident, Montana State coach Brad Huse grabbed the microphone and admonished the crowd, adding that, “The next one will be a technical.” Unbeknownst to Huse, the crowd had already been warned, and a technical foul was required by rule.
Anthony Johnson made the two technical-foul free throws, and Qvale followed by making his second foul shot to cut the gap to 50-44. Anthony Johnson followed with a basket and, after a free throw by Montana State’s Marquise Navarre, Qvale scored twice inside to make it 51-50.
“That was crazy,” Branden Johnson said of the technical. “But I was proud of the way the guys came together. It showed a lot of character.”
The strange turn of events gave Montana a chance in a game the Bobcats dominated.
After the Grizzlies scored the first five points, they missed their next 14 shots, and Montana State went on an 18-2 run for a 20-7 lead with 7:18 left in the first half. The Bobcats built the margin to 27-13 on a basket by Will Bynum with 2:55 to go before halftime.
But Qvale scored his first six points of the game in the final 2:28, and Montana rallied to within 28-21 at intermission despite making only six first-half field goals. The Grizzlies got as close as four in the second half before Montana State built the lead to double digits again.
“They came out and took it to us,” Tinkle said. “They were attacking, attacking, attacking. Our on-ball defense was horrendous.”
The Grizzlies weren’t much on offense, either. Jack McGillis scored 12 points, but leading scorer Anthony Johnson (17.2 points per game) was held to eight, though he did have a career-high eight rebounds.
Anthony Johnson, an 88.5 percent free-throw shooter, missed the front end of two one-and-ones in the final 4:04, one of them moments after Branden Johnson’s key 3-pointer.
“It’s frustrating in a game like this,” Anthony Johnson said. “As an opposing player, it’s disheartening when we can’t buy a bucket and they hit all the buckets. I’m tired of learning lessons on the road. We’ve got to get it together.”
Bobby Howard and Navarre had 12 points each for the Bobcats, who moved into a tie with Northern Colorado for second place in the Big Sky, a game behind Weber State.
“The message to our team is don’t let the last one affect the next one,” Huse said. “We’re just glad to get out of here with a win.”