It was a great season for the Bobcats, no matter the ending

Press release

DAYTON, Ohio — Jimel Cofer scored a career-high 19 points helping Grambling State overcome a 14-point second half deficit in an 88-81 overtime win over Montana State in an NCAA Tournament First Four game in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday.

Robert Ford III capped a magnificent senior season with 26 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead the Bobcats. MSU’s 10 second-half turnovers offset a 51.7% shooting performance, and Montana State struggled to keep the Tigers off the glass. Grambling State shot 18-23 from the line, while the Big Sky champs hit just 8-15.

“First, tip of our hat to Grambling State,” head coach Matt Logie said in a postgame press conference. “They’re a fantastic group that really fought hard tonight and played a great second half to earn the victory. As hard as it is to see our season come to an end, I count it as pure joy to have been on this journey with these guys to my right. I’ve been doing this 21 years now in some form or fashion, and I’ve never coached a group that’s overcome more during the course of one season, dating back to when we began late last spring. The attitude that they showed in the midst of that process is an example for our program for years and years to come. The toughness and competitive spirit that Robert Ford,infused into our basketball family is something I hope we can capture in a bottle and continue to build off of. The bottom line is nobody expected us to be here except for the guys in our room, in our locker room and our staff. And the way they stuck to the process and kept believing in what we could be at the end of the season was, again, a pure joy.”

The Bobcats benefited from hot starts in each half. When Brian Goracke drained a three-pointer with 14:40 to play MSU led 53-39, but from that point it was all Grambling State. The Tigers used a 21-6 run to take a 60-59 lead and set up a wild finish.

The teams traded body blows in regulation’s final moments. Trailing 70-67, Ford III hit a three-pointer with 1:41 to play, then Turner III made a pair of free throws to give MSU the lead with 52 seconds to play. Cofer’s layup tied the score, then Walker missed a layup for MSU with 11 seconds left and Tra’Michael Moton missed a hanging jumper at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

The Tigers owned the overtime period, getting a short jumper after a botched jump ball to begin the period. Turner III made one of two free throws and MSU never led again. Cofer hit a pair of free throws, then answered Olmsted’s dunk with a jumper. Ford III resuscitated his superman act with a three-pointer 78-78 at 2:02 but two free throws by Antwan Burnett and a dunk and two free throws by Jourdan Smith in the next minute gave Grambling State an NCAA Tournament win in its first post-season contest.

Montana State rode a scorching-hot shooting start to lead through most of the first half, largely thanks to Walker. With the Cats trailing 4-2 Walker outscored the Tigers 8-2 over the next three minutes. He hit a spinning layup to knot the score, stole the ball from Kintavious Dozier at the top of the key and took it downcourt for a dunk, knifed through the lane for a layup, then sank another spinning layup that gave MSU a 10-6 lead with 15:41 to play until halftime.

Walker scored 10 points on 5-6 shooting in the first 20 minutes, but when Antwan Burnett drained a three-pointer with 5:15 to play Grambling State led 29-27. From that point, the Cats outscored GSU 15-4 the rest of the half. Sam Lecholat hit a jumper, John Olmstad dunked off of Ford III’s assist and converted the and-one, Tyler Patterson hit a three-pointer, Lecholat nailed a triple, then a free throw, then Goracke drained a three. MSU led 42-33 at the intermission.

The Bobcats close the book on a school-record third straight Big Sky Championship, just the second-ever school to accomplish that feat and the first since Weber State in 1978-80. Montana State, seeded fifth at the Big Sky Tournament, became the lowest seed to win the tournament since 1994.

“It means a lot to me,” Ford said of the tournament run. “It’s hard -- and I was talking to the guys in the locker room -- it’s hard to come back -- Coach getting hired late, guys trying to put all the pieces together. But props to our team for getting it together, getting it under their belt right away. For me, I appreciate them letting me come in and lead them. It’s tough. It really is, but I’m just happy and proud of this team. It’s not too many times you see a team with a first-year coach go to the championship.”

Ford is the fifth player in NCAA Division I since 1979 to record 250 rebounds and 100 steals in a season, joining Clyde Drexler, Ron Harper, James Posey, and Eric Coley. Ford is the first to accomplish the feat since 2000, and at 6-feet, is the only player under 6-foot-5 to do it.

“What I’ll remember the most about this group is how they never let go of the rope for our culture and our standards,” Logie said. “I came to Montana State to compete in the NCAA Tournament. This place has proven you can do that year in, year out.”