Montana at Weber State Thursday in key Big Sky game
2/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
THE GAME(S): The University of Montana Grizzlies (16-5/8-1) continue their Big Sky Conference schedule this Thursday, Feb. 3, playing the Weber State Wildcats (10-9/4-4) in WSU's Dee Event Center (12,000/Press row: 801-626-6588) in a 7:05 (Mtn.) game, and then two days later they play at Northern Arizona (11-8/3-4) in Flagstaff on Saturday, Feb. 5.
RADIO: UM's flagship station is KGVO Radio (1290 AM). The "Voice of the Grizzlies" Mick Holien calls the play-by-play for his 18th season in a row.
TV: There is no TV slated for the Griz-Wildcat game. Streaming is available on GoGriz.com.
THE FIRST MEETING EARLIER THIS SEASON (DEC. 31st): AT MONTANA 75, WEBER STATE 56: Junior forward Derek Selvig scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Griz to the victory over the defending Big Sky champion Wildcats. WSU took a 17-15 lead with 11:30 to play until halfitme, but Griz junior guard Shawn Stockton's three-point play gave UM an 18-17 lead (10:45) and UM 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. WSU scored four points to cut UM lead to 39-28 at the half. Selvig scored 17 of his 23 points in the first frame. A WSU run cut the Griz lead to six (41-35) after two free throws by junior forward Kyle Bullinger with 16:56 remaining, but a 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. Bullinger and senior center Trevor Morris were the only WSU players to score in double figures with 10 points apiece.
GRIZ 14TH IN MID-MAJOR POLL: Montana remained 14th in the most recent (Jan. 31) CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Cleveland State (20-3) is now first in the poll and received 27 first place votes. (Top 25 poll on add 6-6-6 of this release).
QVALE BREAKS BIG SKY/UM CAREER BLOCKS RECORDS: Qvale is now the all-time leader in Montana and Big Sky history with 218 career blocks. Qvale recently passed Daren Engellant who held the Montana and Big Sky records with 212 blocks (1988-92).
CHERRY, QVALE RANKED AMONG LEADERS: Cherry is now ranked third (from sixth) in the nation in steals at 3.0 a game. Qvale is ninth in the country in blocked shots (3.1 a game) and field goal percentage (60.4%). (Griz in the NCAA rankings on add 5-5-5).
GRIZ STARTERS/6TH MEN (16-5/8-1) PPG RPG MISC.
F-01-Art Steward, 6-4, 210, Jr., JC 9.4 3.9 Avg. 12.0/4.7 in league
F-24-Derek Selvig, 7-0, 230, Jr., 2V 10.9 5.5 21/10 at MSU
C-41-Brian Qvale, 6-11, 260, Sr., 3V 14.6 9.1/3.1b Leads Sky in rebs./blks
G-5-Will Cherry, 6-1, 177, So., 1V 15.8 3.6/4.4a 3rd in Sky in scoring
G-22-Shawn Stockton, 6-1, 195,Jr., 2V 2.2 2.0 6/2/3 at MSU
6-12-Jordan Wood, G, 6-3, 200, Jr., JC 3.5 2.3 4x10 3's in Sky
6-40-Mathias Ward, F, 6-7, 236, So., 1V 4.5 2.0 54.3 FG%
Head Coach: Wayne Tinkle (86-58/47-26 Big Sky, 5th season at UM)
WILDCAT TENT. STARTERS (10-9/4-4) PPG RPG MISC.
F-3-Kyle Bullinger, 6-6, 215, Jr., 2V 9.3 5.9 12.8ppg/6.9 rebs. in Sky
F-30-Darin Mahoney, 6-8, 225, Jr., 2V 4.6 5.1 12th in league, rebs. pg
C-55-Trevor Morris, 6-9, 245, Sr., 3V 9.5 4.1 55.9 FG%/72.2 FT%
G-4-Sam Bamforth, 6-2, 190, So., JC 11.4 2.1 Game-winner vs. UNC
G-15-Lindsey Hughey, 6-3, 200, Sr., 1V 12.2 4.5 10.3 3PT%
6-25-Byron Fulton, F, 6-7, 220, Fr., RS 7.7 3.5 2 starts in Sky
Head Coach: Randy Rahe (87-56/53-19 Big Sky, 5th year at WSU)
WSU NOTES: The Wildcats are 6-1 at home, with the only loss 72-66 to 20-2 BYU. WSU averages a league-high 6,111 fans per home game. Big Sky league MVP last year, Damian Lillard, who averaged a league-high 19.7 points a game, is out for the season with an injury. WSU is ranked 13th in three-point percentage (40.7%), 23rd in three-pointers a game (8.4), and 24th in free throw percentage (75.3%).
MBB Contact: Brad Larsen (801-626-6010; blarsen3@weber.edu)
GRIZ-WILDCAT SERIES: WSU leads 62-47.
