Montana
Northern Arizona
Montana loses 70-53 at Northern Arizona Saturday evening
2/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
The University of Montana Grizzlies lost their second game in a row for the just the second time this season, dropping a 70-53 Big Sky Conference contest to the host Northern Arizona Lumberjacks Saturday evening in NAU's Rolle Activity Center.
Montana (16-7 overall/8-3 Big Sky) was without its leading scorer (15.5) and assists man (4.2) in sophomore guard Will Cherry, who did not play after injuring an ankle in UM's 68-52 loss at Weber State this past Thursday. Cherry is ranked fourth in the nation in steals with 2.9 a game.
The only time Montana had suffered back-to-back defeats this season was its first two games of the year, at Nevada (81-66) and at Utah (82-69). The Griz had won six straight games, and 11 of their past 12, until this week's two losses at WSU and NAU.
Northern Arizona (14-8/6-4), which has now won four conference games in a row, avenged an 83-80 loss to Montana in a Big Sky game earlier this season in Missoula.
The Grizzlies made a run in the opening minutes of the second half, cutting the Lumberjacks to four points (38-34) with 15:25 left to play on a three-pointer by junior forward Derek Selvig.
But, after Selvig had reduced NAU's lead to only four points, the Jacks went on a run of their own and out-scored the Griz 19-2 over the next five minutes, jumping to a 21-point lead (57-36) on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Gabe Rogers, and the home team led by at least 15 points the rest of the game.
There was one tie in the entire game, and that was 6-6 at the 15:59 mark when Griz freshman guard-forward Kareem Jamar scored on a lay-up. NAU took an 8-6 lead on its next possession and stayed in front the rest of the way. The Jacks led 34-27 at halftime.
The Griz were led by senior center Brian Qvale's 17 points and 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Selvig added 12 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks, while Jamar chipped in 10 points, 5 rebounds, and had a team-high 5 assists.
Senior guard Cameron Jones led NAU with 17 points, while senior guard Eric Platt added 14, and he made 4-of-6 three-pointers.
NAU had a 33-26 advantage on the boards, and made 7-of-14 treys (UM made 2-of-12 three-pointers).
The Griz host Sac State and Northern Colorado next Thursday and Saturday in Dahlberg Arena.
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (16-7, 8-3 BSC) Qvale, Brian 7-9 3-6 17; Selvig, Derek 5-9 0-0 12; Jamar, Kareem 5-10 0-0 10; Stockton, Shawn 3-8 0-0 6; Steward, Art 1-7 2-2 4; Wood, Jordan 1-2 0-0 2; Ward, Mathias 1-2 0-0 2; Hutchison, Eric 0-0 0-0 0; Adams, Chase 0-0 0-0 0; Autry, Vaughn 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 23-50 5-8 53.
NORTHERN ARIZONA (14-8, 6-4 BSC) JONES, Cameron 8-18 0-0 17; PLATT, Eric 5-7 0-0 14; JOHANNSEN, Shane 6-10 0-1 12; SALDIVAR, Stallon 4-7 0-0 8; ROGERS, Gabe 2-6 0-0 6; SMITH, Austin 1-3 2-2 4; JONES, DeAngelo 2-5 0-0 4; NORMAN, Durrell 1-2 0-0 2; UMODU, Ify 1-1 0-0 2; LEPLEY, Josh 0-0 1-2 1; FLORES, Luis 0-0 0-0 0; OLUBUYI, Julian 0-0 0-0 0; DUNN, Michael 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-59 3-5 70.
University of Montana......... 27 26 - 53
Northern Arizona.............. 34 36 - 70
3-point goals--University of Montana 2-12 (Selvig, Derek 2-5; Jamar, Kareem 0-2; Stockton, Shawn 0-2; Wood, Jordan 0-1; Autry, Vaughn 0-2), Northern Arizona 7-14 (PLATT, Eric 4-6; ROGERS, Gabe 2-4; JONES, Cameron 1-3; SALDIVAR, Stallon 0-1).
Fouled out--University of Montana-None, Northern Arizona-None.
Rebounds--University of Montana 26 (Qvale, Brian 8), Northern Arizona 33 (NORMAN, Durrell 6; SALDIVAR, Stallon 6; JOHANNSEN, Shane 6).
Assists--University of Montana 11 (Jamar, Kareem 5), Northern Arizona 19 (SALDIVAR, Stallon 11).
Total fouls--University of Montana 12, Northern Arizona 11.
Technical fouls--University of Montana-None, Northern Arizona-None.
Attendance-1,064
