Montana
Montana Tech
Montana overcomes halftime deficit to defeat Montana Tech 64-49
12/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 7, 2011
Box score 
l Postgame video
Junior forward Mathias Wardscored a career-high 22 points as The University of Montana Grizzlies defeated a scrappy Montana Tech Oredigger squad 64-49 Wednesday evening in UM's Dahlberg Arena.
The final score was not indicative of the game, as Montana Tech (4-4), an N.A.I.A. member of the Frontier Conference, led throughout a good portion of the contest.
Montana (5-4) took its first lead of the game with 11:35 left, on a lay-up by junior guard Jordan Wood.
The Orediggers stayed in the thick of things for the next several minutes, after Montana had taken the lead, and cut the Griz advantage to four (53-49) with 3:31 remaining on a lay-up by junior guard Brian Cummings.
But, after Cummings' lay-up the Grizzlies out-scored the Diggers 11-0 the rest of the way and snapped their two-game losing streak.
Tech jumped to an early 2-0 lead on a jumper by freshman forward Adam Greger from Florence, and led the entire first half. The Diggers' largest lead was seven (18-11), when Cummings scored on a driving lay-up. Tech led 22-20 at halftime.
The Grizzlies tied the game up a 22-22 early in the second stanza. There were three more ties after that, with the final one of 32-all coming on a lay-up by UM sophomore guard-forward Kareem Jamarwith 13:39 left to play. Montana then took the lead for good on Wood's lay-up at the 11:35 mark in the second half.
"We had not closed a game out in the last three or four minutes," said Griz head coach Wayne Tinkle. "It was a good stepping stone for us, we are up three points with three minutes to go and we stretch it out to 15." "Montana Tech really played up, they hit tough shot after tough shot," Tinkle said. "It wasn't like we weren't trying to play D - they just made tough plays."
Ward, who had a previous career-high of 14 points in two different games, scored 18 points in the second half. He made 9-of-14 shots and was 4-of-5 from the line. Jamar was also in double figures with 15 points, while Wood tallied 10.
Tech was led by Cummings with 17 points, while senior guard Tyree Haynie added 13.
Montana hosts former Big Sky Conference member Nevada on Saturday, Dec. 10, with a 7:05 p.m. tip-off in Dahlberg Arena.
