Montana
Portland
Grizzlies rout Pilots 80-65
12/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2011
Will Cherry scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Derek Selvig added 15 points and 12 rebound to lead the Montana Grizzlies to an 80-65 win over the University of Portland Pilots Saturday night at the Chiles Center in Portland.
Montana (6-5, 0-0) held Portland (3-8, 0-0) to just 2-of-10 from three point range and forced 13 turnovers while only committing five themselves.
The Pilots held the early 8-4 lead after Thomas Van Der Mars scored with 14:25 remaining in the first half but the Grizzlies then went on a 9-0 run culminating in a Selvig jumper to take the 13-8 lead with 11:29 to play in the frame.
Portland would come back and take a 18-17 lead with 7:12 left in the first but again Selvig answered, this time with a three-pointer to give the Griz the 20-18 lead with 7:03 to play.
The Pilots would tie the game at 22-22 with 4:12 remaining when Nemanja Mitrovic scored but the Grizzlies took back the lead for good when Jordan Wood had a steal and transition layup followed shortly by a Cherry three-pointer with 1:46 remaining in the half to give the Griz the 27-22 lead.
The Griz would stretch the lead to 32-25 at the break and quickly extended the lead to double digits in the early part of the second half where it would remain for the duration.
The Pilots were able to cut the lead to 10 (63-53) with two Tim Douglas free throws at the 5:16 mark but that is as close as the pilots would come.
Kareem Jamar had 15 points including 3-of-3 from three-point range and Art Steward scored 10 for the Griz, 17 of Cherry's 20 points came in the second half while 11 of Selvig's 15 came in the first.
Douglas had 18 points to lead the Pilots, Ryan Nicholas scored 14 and Mitrovic helped out with 11.
The Grizzlies were 9-of-18 (50%) from three point range including 4-of-7 in the second half in the second highest scoring game of the season for the Griz, the only higher coming in an 88-81 overtime loss to North Dakota on Nov. 23.
The Griz were only 3-of-9 (33.3%) from the free throw line in the first half but improved that mark significantly in the second frame going 20-of-25 (80%).
The Griz will return home to play the Wolverines of Utah Valley University on Thursday the 22nd at 7:00 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena.
