Montana
Portland State
Cherry leads Griz to 81-68 road win over PSU
1/31/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2013
Box Score
The University of Montana Grizzlies entered the second half of the Big Sky Conference season on Thursday night with a 81-68 victory over the Portland State Vikings at the Peter W. Scott Center.
The first-place Grizzlies remain undefeated in league play at 11-0 this season, and extend their Big Sky winning streak to 22 games.
Senior guard Will Cherry led Montana with 16 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds. Cherry's 3 steals on the night move him into third place overall in the Big Sky Conference with 246 steals.
Senior forward Mathias Ward added 15 points while junior forward Spencer Coleman scored 12 points for the Griz.
Sophomore guard Keron DeShields had one of his strongest games of the year coming off the bench to score 13 points in 18 minutes played.
Ward, from Gig Harbor, Wash., hit a layup with two minutes remaining to give the Griz their largest lead of the game 77-60. Sophomore Mike Weisner, who scored 5 points, then knocked down a jumper to seal the Grizzlies' 11th consecutive win.
Portland State took an early 25-17 lead halfway through the first half before the Griz went on an 8-0 run and took a 39-31 lead into halftime.
Viking junior forward Aaron Moore, a junior college transfer from San Bernardino Valley, lead Portland State with 14 points, one assist and one block.
PSU fell to 3-8 in the Big Sky, 5-13 overall.
Both teams shot around 50 percent from the field. Montana shot 28-50 (56 percent) while PSU shot 26-55 (47 percent) in the game.
Montana, ranked 16th in the most recent Mid-Major Top 25 Poll, went 6-13 from the three-point line and 19-23 from the foul line.
Montana (15-4, 11-0) will travel to Eastern Washington on Saturday, Feb. 2. The Griz will then host Northern Colorado on Thursday, Feb. 7.
