CHENEY — Sean Chambers scored on a 13-yard run for the winning touchdown as No. 4 Montana State defeated No. 15 Eastern Washington 38-35 on Saturday in a Big Sky Conference opening game that had a wild final four minutes.
With the Bobcats (3-1) trailing 35-31, a Chambers pass was picked off by Jaren Banks in the end zone with 3:52 left in the game. On the next play, Sebastian Valdez forced a Micah Smith fumble that was recovered by Ty Okada. It took two Chambers carries for MSU to score.
On fourth-and-14 from the EWU 25, Nolan Ulm caught a long pass from Gunner Talkington but when he landed on the turn, the ball popped loose into Danny Uluilakepa’s hands and after a long review the Bobcats ran out the final two minutes. There were no turnovers in the game until the closing minutes.
In relief of Tommy Mellott, who was injured late in the first quarter, Chambers ran 26 times for 144 yards and two touchdowns and was 6-of-12 passing for 69 yards with a touchdown. His 5-yard pass to Willie Patterson gave MSU a 24-21 lead and his 2-yard run in the third quarter made it 31-21.
