Montana
Montana State
Griz earn convincing 75-61 victory over Bobcats
1/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2011
Box Score |
Photo Gallery 
Four of five starters scored in double figures to lead The University of Montana Grizzlies to a convincing 75-61 victory over the Montana State Bobcats 75-61 Saturday evening in a Big Sky Conference contest in UM's Dahlberg Arena.
The Grizzlies improve to 15-5 overall and 7-1 in the Big Sky, and have now won 10 of their last 11. Montana is now in second place in the league, trailing Northern Colorado (7-0) by just one game. The Bobcats go to 11-8/5-2, and had a two-game win streak halted.
There were 7,312 fans in Dahlberg Arena, which is the second largest ever crowd to attend a men's game in re-configured Dahlberg Arena. The modern-day record for a men's game was 7,332 verus Sacramento State on Feb. 1, 2003.
The Grizzlies took a 40-29 lead at intermission and led by double-digits the rest of the game.
When MSU senior forward Bobby Howard made two free throws he cut the UM lead to 69-57, and that was the closest that the Bobcats would get for the remainder of the game.
Montana came out of the blocks fast, out-scoring MSU substantially in the opening eight minutes, and when guard Will Cherry scored on a lay-up with 12:13 left until halftime he gave the Grizzlies a 20-6 lead. Cherry scored 12 of the points in that early run by Montana.
Junior forward Art Steward led the Griz and scored a game-high 19 points. Also in double-figures for UM were center Brian Qvale (17), Cherry (16), and forward Derek Selvig (12).
Qvale registered his fourth double-double in a row, with 17 points and 18 rebounds, and he tied his career-high with the 18 boards, including 10 offensive caroms. Selvig had 6 boards, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal. Cherry added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
Junior center Cody Anderson led MSU with 13 points, while Howard grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds.
The Griz tied a season low with just 7 turnovers (UM also had just 7 turnovers at home against Idaho earlier this year).
The Griz and Cats square off again on statewide television next Saturday, Jan. 29th in a 7:05 p.m. game in Bozeman. Before that encounter MSU plays at Idaho State on Monday, Jan. 24th.
MONTANA STATE (11-8, 5-2) ANDERSON, Cody 3-7 6-6 13; PIEPOLI, Danny 4-7 3-4 12; RUSH, Erik 3-10 6-7 12; HOWARD, Bobby 3-13 2-3 10; TRUJEQUE, Casey 1-6 3-3 6; ALLOU, Jourdain 2-5 0-1 4; SINGLETON, Rod 1-5 2-3 4; BUDINICH, Jeff 0-2 0-0 0; JOHNSON, Tre 0-0 0-0 0; REID, Shawn 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 17-59 22-27 61.
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (15-5, 7-1) Steward, Art 7-14 4-6 19; Qvale, Brian 7-11 3-7 17; Cherry, Will 6-12 2-4 16; Selvig, Derek 2-8 7-9 12; Wood, Jordan 1-2 2-2 4; Ward, Mathias 2-4 0-0 4; Stockton, Shawn 1-4 1-2 3; Jamar, Kareem 0-0 0-0 0; Autry, Vaughn 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 19-30 75.
Montana State................. 29 32 - 61 University of Montana......... 40 35 - 75
3-point goals--Montana State 5-18 (HOWARD, Bobby 2-5; ANDERSON, Cody 1-2; PIEPOLI, Danny 1-2; TRUJEQUE, Casey 1-4; BUDINICH, Jeff 0-1; REID, Shawn 0-1; RUSH, Erik 0-3), University of Montana 4-10 (Cherry, Will 2-4; SELVIG, Derek 1-2; Steward, Art 1-3; Wood, Jordan 0-1).
Fouled out--Montana State-None, University of Montana-None.
Rebounds--Montana State 42 (HOWARD, Bobby 12), University of Montana 41 (Qvale, Brian 18).
Assists--Montana State 8 (RUSH, Erik 3), University of Montana 12 (Cherry, Will 3; Selvig, Derek 3; Qvale, Brian 3).
Total fouls--Montana State 22, University of Montana 19. Technical fouls--Montana State-BUDINICH, Jeff, University of Montana-CHERRY, Will; TEAM.
A-7,312
