Montana
Nevada
Griz fall to tough Nevada team 70-64
12/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2011
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Nevada Guard Deonte Burton scored a game high 21 points to lead the Wolf Pack to a 70-64 victory over the Montana Grizzlies Saturday night at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, Mont.
Montana (5-5, 0-0) held a 30-26 halftime lead before starting the second half with eight straight missed shots. The cold streak allowed Nevada (7-3,0-0 WAC) to build a eight point 30-38 lead with 13:34 to play. Junior guard Will Cherry finally got the Griz on the board with a three-pointer with 13:08 left in the game to cut the Nevada lead to five, 38-33.
The Griz were eventually able to tie the game at 50-50 on a three-pointer by senior forward Derek Selvigwith 7:10 to play.
The Grizzly run was killed by the Wolf Pack when Burton scored a four-point play with 5:58 to play to give Nevada the 56-52 lead. Another Selvig three-pointer with 3:36 to play cut the lead to 58-55, that was as close as the Griz would get the rest of the way.
The Griz had a similar cold start to the first half. The Wolf Pack jumped to a 7-0 lead and the Griz didn't score until the 15:35 mark in the first half. The Griz then outscored the Pack 30-19 the rest of the half capped off with a Cherry three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Griz a 30-26 lead going into the break.
Head coach Wayne Tinklesaid that those scoreless streaks were key to the Grizzly loss.
"We turned it over four times in a row to start the second half and we turned it over 3 times in a row to start the game," Tinkle said. "If we get out of the gate a little bit there, maybe we don't have such a big hole to come back from."
The Grizzlies struggled from the floor, shooting only 19-of-51 (37.3%) while the Wolf Pack was 25-of-56 (44.6%).
Tinkle is confident that the Grizzlies will improve that statistic as the season moves on.
"I loved our approach," Tinkle said. "This was as focused as we have been for 34 or 35 minutes, we need to get where we are focused for 40 and I think those shots will start to go in."
Cherry lead the Griz with 18 points including 3-of-5 from behind the three-point line, sophomore forward Kareem Jamar and senior forward Art Steward scored 12 each for the Griz and junior forward Mathias Wardfinished with 10. Cherry led the Griz with seven rebounds.
Nevada forward Olek Czyz scored 17, and guard Malik Story had 11. Forward Dario Hunt had 10 points and a game high 10 rebounds for the Wolf Pack.
The Grizzlies next head back to Oregon to face the University of Portland Pilots on December 17, at 8 p.m. mtn.
