The Bobcats became the first men’s program to three-peat as conference tournament champions since Weber State from 1977-80 when it was just a four-team tournament.

In head coach Matt Logie’s first year, there were struggles and missteps. But belief reigned supreme. The Bobcats were not going to be slowed down by any outside opinions about what they were capable of.

“If you can put your mind to it, you can do it,” junior forward Sam Lecholat said. “You have to put your work in, time in, but if you believe, it’s possible. There’s so many other teams that (would have said) ‘It’s just the first year.’ No. Today. Today.”

Former head coach Danny Sprinkle brought his alma mater back to Big Sky prominence with consecutive tournament championships the past two seasons. This year’s Bobcats (17-17) returned to Boise seeded fifth and eliminated No. 4 seed Weber State on Monday and No. 10 seed Sacramento State on Tuesday to reach the championship game. They were matched with the only Big Sky team they failed to beat during the regular season.

MSU emerged with Logie’s first win against the Griz (23-11) in his career, and the Bobcats earned their sixth NCAA Tournament berth in program history. Montana State’s streak of four straight championship game appearances is tied for the second-longest ever in the Big Sky, and the program’s nine consecutive tournament wins is the longest in league history.

“A huge credit goes to the players for listening to the messages throughout the year. We had some tough losses. It was a little bit of a roller coaster at times,” Logie said. “But we focused a lot more on the process than we did the results at that time, because ultimately it really does come down to this week in this conference, and so we just kept our eyes forward and stayed right here in the moment.”

It was a winning formula, keyed by the Herculean efforts of senior point guard Robert Ford III, who supplied 22 points, nine rebounds, five steals and four assists on his way to being named Big Sky Tournament MVP. Ford felt the team played with a chip on its shoulder all year after being voted seventh in the preseason coaches poll.

“We felt like that wasn’t right,” he said. “We had ups and downs during the season, and we just stuck with it.”

Similar to every other game this season, Ford suffered some hard falls on Wednesday as his intensity took him high and low, into traffic and out of bounds. But he always got up and ended up willing his team forward.

“That dude puts everything out there, all he can give,” junior Tyler Patterson said. “I thought he was gonna die. I didn’t know if he was gonna make it, but that’s just who Rob is. He’s gonna give it all. We love him to death, and we couldn’t be prouder to have him on our side.”

There were aches and pains, but Ford has no regrets.

“It was worth it. I’m sore, everything hurts, but it was worth it,” he said. “I’d do it over a million times.”

The Griz led 38-32 at halftime and built their lead up to 11 points in the second half, at 49-38, with 17 minutes to play. That’s when MSU’s offense went ballistic, similar to Monday’s final 20 minutes against Weber State. In that one, the Bobcats scored 66 points to overcome a nine-point halftime deficit.

On Wednesday, MSU seized control thanks to a 41-9 run over the course of 15 minutes.

MSU’s Eddie Turner III and Brandon Walker combined to score the first 13 points of the second half for MSU, helping keep pace with the Griz, who received strong early play from guards Brandon Whitney and Josh Vazquez. Those crucial buckets got MSU within five points, at 50-45.

Consecutive 3-pointers by Ford and Patterson followed, giving the Bobcats a one-point lead. A free throw from UM’s Dischon Thomas tied the game. A pair of free throws by MSU’s John Olmsted was answered by a bucket from Vazquez, forcing a 53-53 tie with 11:25 remaining.

Olmsted scored the next bucket, the snowflake that started the avalanche, as MSU reeled off 14 unanswered points to take the lead for good. UM’s Aanen Moody got a shot to fall to stop that run, but MSU came back with four players contributing to a 12-3 stretch that put its lead at 21 points.

The Griz had no answer for the 32-point swing. MSU’s Brian Goracke landed hard and awkwardly under the basket early in the second half and didn’t play the rest of the way. And until Olmsted left the game with an injury of his own, Logie seemed content to let Olmsted, Turner, Ford, Lecholat and Patterson be the group that delivered MSU this championship.

“I thought they did a great job on both ends of the floor of executing,” Logie said. “Once it started rolling downhill, we weren’t going to make (lineup) changes. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Olmsted tallied a career-high 16 points to go with five rebounds, another stellar performance after receiving limited minutes for most of the season.

“Just always doing what I can to help the team out,” he said of his mindset, “and when it was my time, I just wanted to make sure I was ready for the moment and be able to help us get to that next level.”

Quite simply, the Bobcats are not Big Sky champions without Olmsted’s play down the stretch of the season. And it’s been a thrill for his teammates to see him recognized for his contributions.

“His story is the best thing I’ve ever seen. He’s got the best attitude I’ve ever seen,” Patterson said. “Sticks with it day in and day out. And the fact that he gets this last week and a half, two weeks, to show what we’ve all known he’s capable of, it’s been unreal, and we couldn’t be prouder of him.”

Turner scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and added three assists and two steals. Walker had 14 points and six boards, and Patterson scored 12 points. Goracke and Lecholat each had three points to complete MSU’s scoring.

All of Montana’s points came from its starting five. Vazquez led the Griz with 20 points, while Moody and Laolu Oke each had 14. Whitney scored 11 first-half points but had just two after that. Thomas had all nine of his points in the second half.

Montana had scored 88 points and 87 points in regular season wins over Montana State, but 15 turnovers made it tough to reach those figures again. The Bobcats scored 20 points off of those mistakes while turning it over just three times themselves.

MSU also dominated in paint scoring (42-32), second-chance points (17-10) and bench points (19-0).

“We know they beat us twice, but that didn’t discourage us,” Walker said. “We didn’t play our best basketball the first two times, so we knew coming in we had to lock in and play hard. That’s what we did.”

Montana State, with its .500 record, is a possible candidate for the First Four games of the NCAA Tournament, which feature the four lowest-ranked automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-ranked at-large selections. That would mean a trip to Dayton, Ohio, in the middle of next week for a chance to gain entry into the field of 64 and play a No. 1 seed at a different location at the end of the week.

The Bobcats will learn their fate on Selection Sunday, but for a team that seemed unlikely to contend for a conference championship 11 months ago, going anywhere at all is a massive success.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the way this team fights, the way we believe in each other, the way we play hard for each other,” Goracke said through tears. “It’s really an incredible team to be a part of.”