BOZEMAN – Montana State’s season came to an end Thursday night in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
The Bobcats lost to Eastern Washington 90-84 in the quarterfinals. It’s a bittersweet ending for a team that defeated Idaho on Wednesday, marking MSU’s first confernce tournament win since the 2009 season. And it’s a send-off for their three seniors — Tyler Hall, Keljin Blevins and Sam Neumann.
“What they’ve done and helped put this program back in the right direction and get our team built, rebuilt and do those things, can’t thank them enough,” head coach Brian Fish said about the trio. “Boy, it sure was fun. The worst thing about it, and I know coaches say it all the time, but I truly mean it, not getting to coach this team tomorrow is not a lot of fun, because every day with this group has been so fun, and a lot of it has a tremendous amount to do with these three guys.”
And it’s been an experience for these seniors until that very last buzzer.
“This team’s been really close. We fight for each other and we really wanted to win,” said Neumann. “We just kept fighting. We didn’t throw in the towel. We knew we would come back, and that’s what we did.”
