As Montana State head coach Brian Fish walked onto the Worthington Arena court minutes before tip-off Saturday, he held a lengthy embrace with Idaho head coach Don Verlin. A Vandals assistant said, “Sorry for your loss.” A referee gave condolences to Fish.

When MSU’s players approached Fish on their sideline, he hugged each one. Before the national anthem, the 3,004 fans in attendance observed a moment of silence for Caryssa Fish, the head coach’s daughter who died Friday at 29.

Then it was on to basketball, but the Bobcats’ 86-72 win was overshadowed by the emotions felt throughout the day.

“There was no bigger fan of the Bobcats than my daughter,” Fish said after a nine-second pause, “and I told everybody in the locker room there’s someone special in their life, to make sure they call them or text them tonight, tell them thanks. Because for the first time in my life, I don’t have a text waiting for me, telling me ‘Great job Dad, you’re my hero.’”

MSU (11-12, 8-5 Big Sky) jumped ahead early and led for all but two minutes in Saturday’s victory over visiting UI. The Bobcats continued expanding their lead, and after six of their last seven games were decided by single digits, a blowout victory was more than welcomed. MSU has now won four of its last five games including three straight which ties its longest win streak of the year.

In the difficult time, Fish thanked his 12 players in addition to his assistant coaches and support staff for helping him through it.

“Those guys lifted me up, and I don’t have words for it. I don’t have words for it,” Fish said. “I did it because for an hour and 45 minutes, I got a chance to escape and I got to be around 12 guys that I love to be around. You guys see it. They’re fun to coach. They’re fun to be around. They’re trying to get better.”

MSU held its opponent to 72 points or less for the third straight game, the first time that’s happened since mid-January 2017. The Bobcats outrebounded the Vandals 29-24 and shot 54 percent from the field. Harald Frey (17 points), Keljin Blevins (16), Devin Kirby (14), Sam Neumann (13) and Tyler Hall (13) each scored in double figures and MSU led by double digits the entire second half.

Fish complimented the energy his team played with and the way they responded. Prior to the game, he didn’t talk much about the circumstances with his players, but he didn’t have to.

“The old adage is you never want to ask people what they think about you, they may tell you,” Fish said.

Following a tight five-point loss to Montana a week ago, the Bobcats answered with back-to-back wins over Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington and then pushed the streak to three.

UI entered the contest with eight straight losses, most recently a 41-point defeat at UM. The Vandals (4-19, 1-11) had only won once since Dec. 1. Saturday’s result perpetuated their slide.

In a conference season that has been littered with razor-thin outcomes, MSU never let it come to that against Idaho.

Fish said he decided to coach because Caryssa loved the Bobcats. They were her team.

“There’s not a lot of people that could come coach after that happens so all the respect in the world for being there,” Neumann said. “Really happy we were able to get the win and help him through it.”

With 12 minutes left and MSU ahead by 18 points, Frey drew a charge. Fish yelled to the court, “Harry! Big-time play!” The play was meaningless in the context of the game. But it was also the type of play that Fish constantly preaches winning teams make.

“He was a class act. He’s a strong guy,” Frey said, “but today he felt like leaning on us and that was important for us to know we have his back as well.”

In the final few minutes as the clock trickled down, Fish used timeouts to sub out players individually. Frey hugged Fish with 2 minutes and 15 seconds remaining. The crowd applauded Frey’s performance and displayed support for the relationship between player and coach.

Then Kirby and Neumann came out, and each hug was followed by another.

“We’re a family,” Frey said. “This one’s for him.”