By BRENT RESER for GoGriz.com
Senior guard/forward Kareem Jamar registered his third double-double of the season, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, to lead the University of Montana Grizzlies to a 70-66 Big Sky Conference victory over the host Montana State Bobcats Monday evening in Worthington Arena.
Montana finished the first half of its league season at 5-5 and is now 10-9 overall, and the Griz have now won three of their last four games – all on the road. It was the Grizzlies’ seventh win in a row over the Bobcats and fourth straight at MSU (5-5/10-11).
The game took a strange twist in the first half, when a fire alarm alert went off in the arena with 11:26 left to go. Many of the Bobcat faithful started to immediately leave the arena at that time, but the public address told the fans to wait and see if it was in fact a legitimate fire alarm. A few minutes later the PA announcer said it was a false alarm and play resumed soon after that.
The Griz took a 44-32 halftime lead due to solid shooting, as they were 14-of-26 (53.8%) from the floor and 12-of-12 from the line. UM’s lead at intermission was also thanks to 13 points by Jamar and 10 points by true freshman Mario Dunn.
Photo by Austin Smith for Make it Missoula.
Montana maintained the lead for the entire second half, but MSU stayed within striking distance, and when senior guard Antonio Biglow made two free throws the Cats cut the Grizzlies’ lead to one point (56-55) with 4:50 remaining in the game.
The Griz scored 8 unanswered points after Biglow’s charity shots cut their lead to just a point, and when UM junior forward Mike Weisner canned a 3-pointer he gave UM a 64-55 lead with 3:31 left to play.
The Cats cut the Griz lead to 67-63 with 40 seconds to go, but three-of-four free throws, two by junior guard Jordan Gregory and one by Jamar, opened up a 70-63 lead with 22 ticks left to put the game out of reach.
Jamar’s 20 led the Griz, while true freshman point guard Mario Dunn scored a career-high 13. Also in double figures for UM were Gregory with 11 points, and Weisner came off the bench to tally 10 key points – all in the second half.
The Cats were led by senior forward Flavien Davis’ game-high 22 points. He was the only MSU player in double figures.
The Grizzlies are back home for their next two games, hosting Portland State on Thursday, Feb. 6 and Eastern Washington on Saturday, Feb.. 8. The Cats are also hosting the Eagles and Vikings.
