Montana
Portland State
Griz defeat Vikings 77-70 in Big Sky action Saturday
1/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2011
Box Score
University of Montana senior center Brian Qvale registered his second double-double in a row to lead the Grizzlies to a 77-70 Big Sky Conference victory over a salty Portland State Viking team Saturday evening in UM's Dahlberg Arena.
It was a back-and-forth game with 10 ties and eight lead changes. But, Montana (13-5/5-1) took the lead for good with 16:11 left in the contest on a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Will Cherry, making the score 41-39 Griz.
PSU (9-8/2-3) would not go away, though, reducing the UM lead to just four points (70-66) with 50 seconds remaining on two free throws by sophomore forward Chris Harriel.
Cherry was clutch from the line in the final 24 seconds of the game, making 6-of-6 free throws to ice the game for Montana, which has now won eight of its last nine games.
Seven of those 10 ties as well as seven of the game's eight lead changes occurred in the first half. Montana's last lead in the opening half was 27-26 at the 3:23 mark on a jumper by Qvale. But the Vikings out-scored the Griz 6-3 after that, and took a 32-30 lead at halftime.
The final tie of the contest came with 16:58 left, when PSU senior center Phillip Thomas scored on a jumper, making is 39-all. Then Cherry made his two charity shots, and Montana maintained its lead the rest of the way.
Qvale finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. In Montana's 66-47 home win over Eastern Washington this past Thursday he had 13 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocks.
Qvale's four blocks against the Vikings give him 212 for his career, tying the Big Sky and Griz record of 212 set by former Griz center Daren Engellant from 1988-92.
Cherry scored a team-high 19 points and dished out a game-best 7 assists. UM junior forward Art Steward added 17 points and 8 rebounds.
Viking junior guard Charles Odum scored a game-high 24 points, while Thomas added 18, and Harriel scored 12 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
The Griz are at Idaho State next Thursday, Jan. 20th, then two days later, on Jan. 22nd, they host their intrastate rivals, the Montana State Bobcats.
PORTLAND STATE (9-8, 2-3 BSC) ODUM, Charles 9-14 3-3 24; THOMAS, Phillip 7-10 4-6 18; HARRIEL, Chris 4-15 4-5 12; JONES, Melvin 3-7 0-0 8; TAPSCOTT, Chehales 2-9 0-1 4; NELSON, Phil 0-5 2-3 2; LOZEAU, Nate 1-1 0-0 2; JOHNSON, Dane 0-0 0-0 0; GUEDE, Paul 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 13-18 70.
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (13-5, 5-1 BSC) Cherry, Will 5-11 9-10 19; Qvale, Brian 8-14 1-4 17; Steward, Art 7-12 2-2 17; Stockton, Shawn 3-6 1-2 9; Ward, Mathias 3-3 0-0 6; Selvig, Derek 1-4 4-6 6; Autry, Vaughn 1-2 0-0 3; Hutchison, Eric 0-0 0-0 0; Wood, Jordan 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 17-24 77.
Portland State................ 32 38 - 70 University of Montana......... 30 47 - 77
3-point goals--Portland State 5-19 (ODUM, Charles 3-3; JONES, Melvin 2-5; HARRIEL, Chris 0-5; TAPSCOTT, Chehales 0-1; NELSON, Phil 0-4; GUEDE, Paul 0-1), University of Montana 4-10 (Stockton, Shawn 2-4; Steward, Art 1-1; Autry, Vaughn 1-2; Wood, Jordan 0-2; Cherry, Will 0-1).
Fouled out--Portland State-TAPSCOTT, Chehales, University of Montana-None.
Rebounds--Portland State 38 (HARRIEL, Chris 10), University of Montana 38 (Qvale, Brian 14).
Assists--Portland State 15 (TAPSCOTT, Chehales 5), University of Montana 17 (Cherry, Will 7).
Total fouls--Portland State 17, University of Montana 18.
Technical fouls--Portland State-None, University of Montana-None.
A-4,505
