Manuel scores 19 as Montana defeats Montana State 59-54

Feb 23, 2021, 05:12 am

BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Kendal Manuel had 19 points as Montana held off Montana State 59-54 on Saturday night.

The Grizzlies led 51-37 with 4:43 remaining in the second half before the Bobcats made four of their last six shots and added eight free throws in eight attempts. Still Montana State was only able to close the gap to four points on one occasion.

Sayeed Pridgett had 15 points and seven rebounds for Montana (17-10, 13-3 Big Sky Conference), which has won six straight games. Jared Samuelson added 10 points and seven rebounds for the Grizzlies.

Harald Frey had 18 points for the Bobcats (14-13, 8-8). Amin Adamu added 12 points and Jubrile Belo scored 11.

Montana remains one game ahead of Eastern Washington (12-4) and Northern Colorado (12-4) in the conference standings with four games left in the regular season.

The Grizzlies improve to 2-0 against the Bobcats this season. Montana defeated Montana State 78-64 on Feb. 1.

Montana plays at Northern Arizona on Thursday. Montana State plays at Sacramento State on Thursday.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com