Montana
3-7
University of South Dakota
5-8
Coyotes defeat host Grizzlies 67-62
12/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
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The depleted University of Montana Grizzlies suffered a shooting drought in the final few minutes of their Sunday matinee game, and the result was a 67-62 loss to the University of South Dakota Coyotes in UM's Dahlberg Arena.
The Grizzlies (3-7), who were playing without three starters, missed a handful of crucial three-point shots in the last few minutes of the contest, and the Coyotes (5-8) outscored them 5-0 in the late-going for the victory.
Montana had taken its fifth and final lead at 62-60 on a jumper by forward Fabijan Krslovic with 4:10 left to play. But, those two points were all the Griz could muster the rest of the way, as they missed their next few shot attempts - all six of them coming from behind the arc.
After Krslovic had given the Griz that fifth lead o(62-60) f the back-and-forth game, USD knotted the game up at 62-62 on a jumper by guard Tyler Larson with 2:06 remaining. Larson then gave the Coyotes their sixth and final lead (64-62) on a pair of free throws with 1:22 to go, and 40 seconds later he hit a jumper, giving USD a 66-62 advantage with 42 seconds left.
The Griz were missing three starters, as junior forward Martin Breunig (injury), senior forward Mike Weisner (injury), and sophomore guard/forward Jermaine Edmonds, Jr. (academics), did not play.
It was a back-and-forth, emotional game, which featured 11 lead changes along with nine ties. The Grizzlies' biggest lead of the game was 10 points, at 52-42, when sophomore guard Brandon Gfeller nailed a three-pointer with 9:58 to go. But after Gfeller's trey, the Coyotes out-scored the Griz 14 to 4, and tied the game for the seventh time at 56-56 with 5:50 remaining on a three-pointer by junior guard Casey Kasperbauer. UM led 37-33 at halftime.
Montana was led by senior guard Jordan Gregory's game-high 18 points. Griz senior post man Chris Kemp, who started for the second time this season, added a career-high 12 points, and was UM's only other double-figure scorer. Krslovic, a 6-8 freshman, recorded career-bests of 8 points and 9 rebounds.
Larson, a 6-3 senior, led USD with 15 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. Senior guard Brandon Bos added 11 points for the Coyotes, while junior guard Trey Norris chipped in 10.
In the second half, the Griz made just 8-of-25 shots (32.0%) from the field, were 7-of-12 (57.9%) from the line, and were limited to 2-of-14 (14.3%), three-pointers. USD had a 37-35 edge on the boards.
Montana opens its Big Sky Conference season at home in 10 days, on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015, playing the Northern Colorado Bears, and North Dakota on Saturday, Jan. 3. Both games tip off at 7:05 p.m. in UM's Dahlberg Arena.
