Bears knock Griz out of first-round bye
2/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sophomore guard Devon Beitzel scored 17 points to lead the Northern Colorado Bears With the win the Bears (7-8 Big Sky/13-17 overall) qualified for the Big Sky???s post-season tournament, while the Grizzlies (11-5/17-11) remain in second place, leading Portland State (10-5) by a half a??game. It was the final regular-season contest for Montana, while PSU ends it season at Eastern Washington (6-9/12-16) this Saturday. NC concludes its regular-season at home against Montana State (6-8/12-14) on Sunday in an Altitude TV game that starts at 2:05 p.m. The Grizzlies need a loss by the Vikings or a win by the Bobcats over the Bears to finish second in the league to get the automatic bye into the semifinals of the league tournament, which the top two seeds receive. The Bears led throughout the contest, and the only tie was in the first two minutes, at 2-2. NC took a 4-2 lead on a jumper by sophomore forward Neal Kingman with 17:32 to go until halftime and led the rest of the way. The Bears then out-scored the Grizzlies 15 to 5 over the next six-plus minutes and led 19-7 with 11:20 to go until intermission. NC led 33-25 at halftime. Montana battled back though, and made it a two-point contest (37-35) with 15:38 left to play when junior guard Anthony Johnson made a pair of free throws. The Grizzlies remained within seven points of the lead after that, but with the score 60-55, sophomore forward Chris Kaba hit a back-breaking three-pointer to give the Bears a 63-55 advantage with 53 second to go.
to a 67-57 Big Sky Conference victory over The University of Montana Grizzlies Thursday evening in NC???s Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.
Johnson led the Grizzlies with 17 points, while senior forward Jordan Hasquet added 15. Senior forward Kyle Sharp and sophomore center Brian Qvale each had a team-high 7 rebounds.
Hasquet had4 rebounds at NC, which gives him 712 for his career, moving him up to eighth on Montana's career list, as he passed former teammate Andrew Strait, who had 711 rebounds from 2005-08.?? Hasquet remains seventh in school history in scoring (1,384 points) and three-pointers made (150).
Along with Beitzel in double figures was Kaba with 11, while senior forward Jabril Banks grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Grizzlies made 22-of-48 shots for 45.8%, but were 5-of-16 (31.3%) from three-point range, and 8-of-14 (57.1%) from the line.
The Bears made 20-of-53 (37.7%) field goal tries, 6-of-12 (50%) treys, and 21-of-25 (84.0%) charity shots. NC out-rebounded UM 33-29.
The Big Sky post-season tourney starts Saturday, March 7, with the No. 3 seed hosting No. 6, and the No. 4 seed hosts the No. 5 seed.
The winning teams then move on to Ogden, Utah for the semis and championship, which are hosted by the Big Sky???s regular-season champion, Weber State. The action starts on Tuesday, March 10, with the No. 2 seed playing the highest remaining seed at 5:00 p.m., and then host WSU will play the lowest remaining seed at 7:30 p.m. The title game is on Wednesday, March 11, starts at 7:00 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN2.
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (17-10, 11-4 BSC)
JOHNSON, Anthony 5-10 6-9 17; HASQUET, Jordan 6-12 0-0 15; QVALE, Brian 3-4
2-4 8; SHARP, Kyle 3-5 0-0 6; STAUDACHER, Ryan 2-8 0-0 5; ELGIN-TAYLOR,
Ceylon 2-5 0-1 4; TAYLOR, Michael 1-4 0-0 2; MCGILLIS, Jack 0-0 0-0 0;
BANNY, Vassy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 8-14 57.
NORTHERN COLORADO (12-17, 6-8 BSC)
BEITZEL, Devon 6-10 3-5 17; KABA, Chris 3-5 3-4 11; PENA, John 3-8 2-2 9;
KINGMAN, Neal 3-5 2-2 9; BANKS, Jabril 2-7 2-3 6; FIGURES, Will 1-7 3-3 5;
MONTGOMERY, Taylor 0-2 4-4 4; PROCTOR, Mike 1-2 2-2 4; WESOLOWSKI, Justin
1-2 0-0 2; BONNER, Yahosh 0-3 0-0 0; PALACIOS, Robert 0-2 0-0 0; DUNSMOOR,
Matt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 21-25 67.
University of Montana......... 25 32 - 57
Northern Colorado.............. 33 34 - 67
3-point goals--University of Montana 5-16 (HASQUET, Jordan 3-6; STAUDACHER,
Ryan 1-5; JOHNSON, Anthony 1-2; TAYLOR, Michael 0-3), Northern Colorado 6-12
(KABA, Chris 2-3; BEITZEL, Devon 2-4; KINGMAN, Neal 1-2; PENA, John 1-1;
FIGURES, Will 0-1; BANKS, Jabril 0-1).
Fouled out--University of Montana-MCGILLIS, Jack, Northern Colorado-None.
Rebounds--University of Montana 29 (QVALE, Brian 7; SHARP, Kyle 7), Northern Colorado 33 (BANKS, Jabril 11).
Assists--University of Montana 6 (JOHNSON, Anthony 3), Northern Colorado 9 (BONNER, Yahosh 4).
Total fouls--University of Montana 21, Northern Colorado 17.
Technical fouls--University of Montana-None, Northern Colorado-None.
Attend.: 1,451
