KBZK

Posted: Jan 12, 2010 4:40 PM
Updated: Jan 13, 2010 10:18 AM

The Montana State men will enjoy an unusually long break this week with a sole game in Sacramento on Sunday. 

After splitting at home over the weekend with Portland State and Eastern Washington, Coach Huse says there will be a renewed focus in practice this week.

"Things get a lot more exposed when you lose," MSU head Coach Brad Huse said.  "You go back and are a lot more critical of yourself and this loss allows us to do that.  We can go back and look at some things that happened over the course of the game that affected the outcome.  When you're talking two points, it's a possession here or there, and it was not just the last one, but certainly that's what people remember."

The Montana State women are also taking advantage of the long break this week; they don't play until Saturday and they certainly can use the rest.  The Cats blame fatigue as the primary culprit in not being able to finish games this season.

"You can always stay within reach of a team for the first 20 minutes but that last stretch you get winded, fatigue, all those factors start to set in and that's where we had our struggle," Bobcats guard Erica Perry said.

It's not, however, all about exhaustion.  Another detail that keeps eluding the Bobcats is securing the offensive boards.  The Cats will surely have their hands full this week.  Sacramento State, whom they face this Saturday, leads the league in offensive rebounds.

"It's defintely a huge challenge for us to come back after a weekend where the last 3 games we've gotten out-rebounded by our opponents," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford.  "It's a great time to focus on the details and you know those are the details that are preventing us from finishing games."