By DAVE GUFFEY / Photos by MEGHAN NOLT
Junior guards Jordan Gregory and Keron DeShields combined for 37 points and senior guard/forward Kareem Jamar chipped in 14, as the University of Montana Grizzlies defeated the Sacramento State Hornets 82-70 Saturday night in a Big Sky Conference game in UM’s Dahlberg Arena.
It was a nip-and-tuck contest in the opening 16-plus minutes, with Montana holding a slim 24-23 lead with 3:37 left in the first half. But the Griz (1-1/5-4) out-scored the Hornets 13-4 over the next three-and-a-half minutes to take a 37-27 lead at halftime.
It was more of the same results in the second half, but the Hornets (0-2/4-7) did make a comeback bid and cut the Grizzlies’ lead to six points with 7:05 left to play on a 3-pointer by sophomore forward Zach Mills, making the score 61-55, UM.
Senior guard/forward Kareem Jamar. Photo by Meghan Nolt.
But after Mills’ trey Montana out-scored Sacramento State 14-0, and when Griz junior forward Chris Kemp followed an offensive rebound with a dunk, the Griz led 70-55 with 4:15 remaining in the game and they maintained a substantial lead the rest of the way. UM’s largest lead was by 18 points twice in the final half at 76-58 and 79-61.
Montana has now won five of its last six games.
Gregory scored a game-high 20 points and DeShields tallied 17. Gregory was 6-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the line, and had 3 assists and 2 steals. DeShields made 7-of-10 shots from the floor and was 1-of-1n from the stripe.
Kemp made 5-of-8 from the floor and tied his career-high with 10 points, and he pulled down a team and career-high 7 rebounds, and also had a career-best 3 steals. Jamar made 5-of-8 shots and had a game-high 6 assists.
Jamar now has 1,320 career points which ranks him 10th in school history, and he needs just two more points to pass former center Ken McKenzie (1,321 points, 1973-74) to move up to ninth. Jamar is now tied for 10th in career assists with 339 with Tony Reed, who had 339 assists from 1985-89.
Mills led the Hornets with 14 points, while junior guard Mikh McKinney had 11, and senior forward Jordan Salley added 10 points and grabbed 6 boards off the bench.
Montana is on the road next week for a pair of Big Sky games, playing at Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 9, and at Portland State on Saturday, Jan. 11. The Hornets are at Northern Arizona and at Southern Utah next week.
SACRAMENTO STATE (4-7, 0-2 BSC): MILLS, Zach 5-10 2-2 14; McKINNEY, Mikh 4-10 3-7 11; SALLEY, Jordan 4-4 2-3 10; RADA, Case 3-9 0-0 9; GARRITY, Dylan 3-8 2-2 9; QUIGLEY, Joey 3-3 0-0 7; TIFFIN, Alex 2-3 1-2 5; DEMPS, Cody 2-5 1-2 5; STUTEVILLE, Eric 0-0 0-0 0; HORNSBY, Nick 0-0 0-0 0; BARLETT, Dreon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 11-18 70.
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA (6-5, 1-1 BSC): GREGORY, Jordan 6-11 6-6 20; DESHIELDS, Keron 7-10 1-1 17; JAMAR, Kareem 5-8 3-6 14; KEMP, Chris 5-8 0-0 10; WEISNER, Mike 3-6 1-1 7; HUTCHISON, Eric 1-2 5-5 7; DUNN, Mario 1-2 2-2 4; MARTIN, Andy 1-1 1-2 3; GFELLER, Brandon 0-1 0-0 0; LOPEZ, Jack 0-0 0-0 0; BRADSHAW, Riley 0-0 0-0 0; EMERSON, Nick 0-1 0-0 0; YOUNG, Morgan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-50 19-23 82.
Sacramento State……………… 27 43 – 70
University of Montana……… 37 45 – 82
3-point goals–Sacramento State 7-23 (RADA, Case 3-8; MILLS, Zach 2-5; QUIGLEY, Joey 1-1; GARRITY, Dylan 1-5; DEMPS, Cody 0-2; McKINNEY, Mikh 0-2), University of Montana 5-16 (DESHIELDS, Keron 2-5; GREGORY, Jordan 2-5; JAMAR, Kareem 1-3; EMERSON, Nick 0-1; WEISNER, Mike 0-2).
Fouled out–Sacramento State-None, University of Montana-None.
Rebounds–Sacramento State 28 (SALLEY, Jordan 6), University of Montana 25 (KEMP, Chris 7).
Assists–Sacramento State 10 (GARRITY, Dylan 4), University of Montana 12 (JAMAR, Kareem 6).
Total fouls–Sacramento State 18, University of Montana 18. Technical fouls–Sacramento State-None, University of Montana-None.
Attendance: 3,647.
CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE
*****