The Montana Grizzlies clinched at least a share of the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball regular-season title, while Northern Colorado clinched a bid to the tournament on Thursday night.
Montana beat Sacramento State 63-52 at Dahlberg Arena to hike its league record to 18-1. Montana can do no worse than tie for the championship with Weber State. Montana will host the Big Sky Championship next week unless it loses on Saturday to Northern Arizona, Montana State loses to Sacramento State, and Weber State beats Eastern Washington.
Weber State kept its hopes of a share of the regular-season title and hosting the championship alive with an 80-52 home win over Portland State.
Northern Colorado became the fourth team to clinch a postseason bid with a 66-58 win over Southern Utah. The Bears closed the regular season 10-10 in conference. Northern Colorado will be in the
tournament for the fourth time in five years.
Montana State moved closer to clinching a bid with an 83-79 overtime win over Northern Arizona. The Bobcats are 9-10 in league.
Eastern Washington kept its slim postseason hopes alive with an 87-73 win over Idaho State.
Saturday is the final day of the regular season. Montana State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington are still mathematically alive for the here final spots.
On Saturday, Southern Utah is at North Dakota, Sacramento State is at Montana State, Northern Arizona plays at Montana, Eastern Washington is at Weber State, and Portland State is at Idaho State.
Montana 63, Sacramento State 52: Sophomore Jordan Gregory scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Grizzlies past a pesky Hornet team. Montana has won 28 in a row at home over Big Sky teams.
Montana led by just three points with 4:12 to play, but pulled away late. Kareem Jamar scored 12 points with four assists for UM, which once again played without senior Will Cherry. Senior Mathias Ward, who has missed the last three games, is out for the rest of the season. Cherry is expected to return.
John Dickson scored 15 points, while Mikh McKinney netted 11 for the Hornets.
Weber State 80, Portland State 52: Davion Berry scored 19 points, while Scott Bamforth and Joel Bolomboy each notched double-doubles in Weber State’s win.
Weber State raced out to a 41-13 halftime lead and led wire-to-wire. Bamforth scored 13 points with 12 rebounds. Bolomboy had 10 points with 11 rebounds. WSU won its 18
th straight home game vs. a Big Sky team.
Renado Parker scored 13 points, while Aaron Moore added 11 for PSU. The Vikings shot .182 percent from the floor in the first half, making 6-of-33 attempts.
Northern Colorado 66, Southern Utah 58: Junior Derrick Barden recorded his 10
th double-double of the season with 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Bears clinched a postseason bid.
Tevin Svihovec scored 14 points, while Tate Unruh added 13. The Bears shot .50 percent from the field and made 17-of-26 free throws.
Jackson Stevenett scored 25 points for Southern Utah.
Montana State 83, Northern Arizona 79, OT: Antonio Biglow scored a career-high 27 points with seven steals as the Bobcats survived a rally from Northern Arizona to win in overtime.
NAU trailed by 12 at the break, but behind Gabe Rogers pushed the game into overtime. Rogers scored 29 points, hitting 7-of-12 from 3-point range. The senior hit a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left in regulation to tie the game.
Paul Egwuonwo scored 19 points with 12 rebounds for the Bobcats, while Flavien Davis scored 18 points with nine rebounds.
Stallon Saldivar had 14 points with five assists for Northern Arizona. Saldivar moved into sixth place on the Big Sky’s all-time assists list with 504 career dimes.
Eastern Washington 87, Idaho State 73: Parker Kelly hit six 3-pointers and finished with 28 points to lead Eastern Washington to the road win. Tyler Harvey continued his strong play with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Eagles.
EWU shot .537 percent for the game, and made 14-of-26 3-pointers. Martin Seiferth had 13 points and nine rebounds, while Venky Jois netted 11 points with seven rebounds.
Andre Hatchett scored 20 points, while Melvin Morgan added 19 for the Bengals.