Montana
Weber State
Griz Dominate Wildcats in 75-56 victory
1/3/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2011
Junior forward Derek Selvig scored a career-high 23 points to lead The University of Montana Grizzlies to a 75-56 victory over the defending Big Sky Conference champion Weber State Wildcats in a Friday afternoon tilt at Montana's Dahlberg arena. Montana(10-4, 2-0) won the rematch of last year's Big Sky championship game (UM won 66-65), which was hosted by WSU (6-7, 0-2). Montana started the game with a 7-2 run, culminating with a Selvig jumper (16:29) but WSU battled back to take a 17-15 lead with 11:30 to play in the half. Junior guard Shawn Stockton scored on a three point play to give the Grizzlies an 18-17 lead (10:45), and the home team led the rest of the way. Stockton's play started a 24-7 run that gave the Grizzlies a 39-24 lead with 3:14 left in the half on a three-pointer by freshman guard Vaughn Autry. The Wildcats scored four points to cut the Grizzlies lead to 39-28 at the half. Selvig scored 17 of his 23 points in the first frame to lead the Grizzlies. The second half started with a WSU run that cut the Griz lead to six (41-35) after two free throws by junior forward Kyle Bullinger with 16:56 remaining. But, a fast break dunk by sophomore guard Will Cherry and a three-point play by Selvig gave the Grizzlies an 11-point (46-35) lead, and the Wildcats would not come within 10 for the rest of the game. Senior center Brian Qvale scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds, while Cherry scored 11. The Grizzlies flexed their defensive muscles and held the Wildcats to just 18-for-49 (36.7%) shooting with for the game. Bullinger and senior center Trevor Morris were the only Weber players to score in double figures with 10 apiece.
