Montana
Eastern Washington
Griz defeat Eagles 74-66 in BSC semifinal game
3/6/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 2012
Box score 
| Photo gallery 
l Postgame video
The top-seeded Grizzlies held a slim lead throughout the opening 10 minutes of the game, but the No. 4 seeded Eagles took their first lead at 18-17 on a three-point play by senior forward Laron Griffin with 10:26 remaining until intermission.
EWU (15-17) then out-scored UM 13-3 over the next five-plus minutes, and a lay-up by senior forward Cliff Ederaine gave the Eagles a 31-20 lead with 5:15 left in the opening half. The Grizzlies whittled won the Eagles' lead, but EWU led 35-30 at the break.
It was an emotional, back-and-forth second half, with 13 lead changes and four ties. Montana did not take the lead for good until there was 1:45 left to play, as junior guard Will Cherry scored on a driving lay-up, was fouled, and converted the three-point play to give the Griz a 63-62 edge.
Cherry's three-point play was followed by a dunk by junior forward Mathias Ward and a lay-up and another three-point play on a rebound and length-of-the-floor drive by sophomore guard-forward Kareem Jamar, which put Montana ahead 69-62 with 46 seconds left to play.
The Griz then made 5-of-6 free throws in the closing seconds to ice the victory and advance to their third Big Sky tournament championship game in a row.
Ward scored a team-high 19 points, while Jamar had 18 (16 in the second half), Cherry added 16, and senior forward Derek Selvig chipped in 12. Jamar also grabbed 13 rebounds to record his fourth double-double of the season.
Selvig pulled down 7 boards, and senior forward Art Steward contributed 6 points and 5 rebounds. Ward made a career-high 12 free throws, was 12-of-12 from the line, and scored 11 points in the first half.
Cherry had 3 steals in the game, giving him 218 in his career, as he becomes the all-time leader in school history, passing J.R. Camel, who had 215 career steals in his three-year career from 1995-98. Cherry's 218 career steals rank him fifth in Big Sky history.
EWU senior guard Cliff Colimon scored a game-high 27 points, while Griffin hauled down a game-best 14 rebounds. Ederaine added 16 points, while Griffin tallied 15.
Montana was 22-of-54 (40.7%) from the field for the game, but shot 58.4% (14-of-24) in the second half. The Griz were 3-of-13 (23.1%) from three-point range, and made a season-high 27 free throws (of 32 for 84.4%). Montana had a 35-31 rebounding advantage over EWU.
EWU was 26-of-55 (47.3%) from the field, shot 3-of-15 (20.0%) from behind the arc, and connected on 11-of-13 (84.6%) charity shots.
Wednesday night's Griz-Wildcat conference championship game, which will be televised on ESPN2, pits two of the top-ranked Mid-Major teams in the nation. Montana was ranked 14th in the recent poll with 324 points, while WSU was just a notch below at 15th with 315 points. The teams split in the regular-season, the Wildcats winning 80-64 in Ogden on Jan. 14, and the Griz winning 66-51 in Missoula last Tuesday, Feb. 28.
The winner of the game will earn the Big Sky's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
