Portland Pilots hold off Grizzlies, 58-54
12/3/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
|
The University of Montana Grizzlies overcame a double-digit deficit, but it was not enough, as they lost 58-54 to the University of Portland Pilots Friday night in a non-league game in UM???s Dahlberg Arena (attendance: 3,589).
After trailing by three (32-29) at intermission, the Grizzlies (3-3) battled back and took a 38-36 lead with 15:20 left on a jumper by junior guard Jordan Wood. UM would take a four-point lead twice in the second half, and the last one was 40-36 with 14:35 to go on a lay-up by senior center Brian Qvale.
The Pilots (7-2) came right back though, and when junior forward Nemanja Mitrovic nailed a three-pointer with 11:51 left to play he tied the game up for the fourth and final time in the contest. Less than a minute later Mitrovic hit another trey, giving his team a 43-40 lead with 11:04 remaining, and Portland never trailed again.
Montana fell behind by seven (49-42) with 7:36 left, and rallied again over the next few minutes, and when Griz junior forward Derek Selvig connected on a three-pointer it cut UP???s lead to 52-51 with 4:25 remaining. But after Selvig???s trey the Pilots scored six unanswered points, took a 58-51 lead with 21 seconds to go on a free throw by Mitrovic.
The score was tied a couple of times in the opening half, and there were also two lead changes. The last tie was 7-7 with at the 16:53 mark on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Will Cherry. After that deadlock, senior forward Luke Sikma scored on a jumper, and Portland maintained the lead for the rest of the half, taking a 32-29 advantage into the lockerroom.?? UP's largest lead was??by 12 points (19-7) with 13:39 to go in the first half.
Cherry led Montana with 15 points, and also dished out a game-high 7 assists and added 3 steals. Qvale added 11 points and 8 rebounds, while freshman center Billy Reader contributed 10 points off the bench. Selvig added 7 points and 6 rebounds.
Mitrovic led the Pilots with 16 points, while Sikma scored 13 and grabbed a game-high 9 rebounds. Senior center Kramer Knutson had 10 points for UP.
The Griz hurt themselves from the charity stripe, going just 8-of-20 (40%) from the line, including a dismal 1-of-10 in the second half. The Pilots made 9-of-14 charity shots, and were 8-of-12 (66.7%) in the final 20 minutes.
Portland made 22-of-40 (55%) shots and 5-of-8 (62.5%) treys. Montana was 21-of-49 (42.9%) from the field and made 4-of-18 (22.2%) three-pointers. The Griz had a 30-29 edge in rebounds.
Montana is at UCLA this Sunday, Dec. 5, for an 8:00 p.m. (Mtn.) game in Pauley Pavilion. Portland is at Washington on Monday, Dec. 6.
