Hall scores 25, Montana St downs N Dakota 79-68 (Jan 06, 2018)

By AP
Published

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) Tyler Hall scored 25 points, Harald Frey added 14, and Montana State beat North Dakota 79-68 on Saturday for its first 4-0 Big Sky Conference start since 2004-05.

Joe Mvuezolo Jr. also scored 14 points and Keljin Blevins grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds for the Bobcats (11-6, 4-0), who outrebounded the Fighting Hawks 42-29 and made nine 3-pointers.

Geno Crandall hit a 3 and dunked amid a 10-0 run and North Dakota closed to 46-40, but Hall hit a 3 and capped an 11-4 run with a jumper for a 57-44 Bobcats lead with 14:01 left. Crandall's layup cut it to 72-65 with 1:49 to go, but Mvuezolo's free throw and back-to-back dunks helped the Bobcats finish on a 7-3 run.

The Bobcats led 45-31 at halftime after shooting 8 of 13 from 3-point range (61.5 percent).

Tray Buchanan scored 19 points, Cortez Seales had 15 and Marlon Stewart 10 for North Dakota (4-11, 0-4), which has lost seven straight.