Big Sky roundup: Northern Colorado upsets Montana

Anthony Johnson scored 29 points and Jordan Wilson had 17 and Northern Colorado took control in the second half to end the regular-season with a 78-72 win over conference co-leader Montana on Saturday in Missoula.

The Bears (10-20, 7-11), down 40-33 at the half, made 27 of 30 free throws, all but four in the second half. Jordan Davis added 13 points for Northern Colorado, which was locked into the ninth-seed for the tournament in Reno.

Walter Wright had 18 points and seven assists for the Grizzlies (19-10, 14-4), who will be the two-seed. Jack Lopez added five 3s for 15 points, Michael Oguine had 14 and Martin Breunig had 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Northern Colorado took its first lead, 46-44, on a 3 from Wilson with 13:35 left to play and he added another at 11:16, ending a 20-7 run, that put the Bears up 53-46 with 11:16 to go.

APNewsNow. Northern Colorado 78, Montana 72.

Sacramento State 64, Northern Arizona 51: Marcus Graves had 10 points and five assists and the host Hornets beat the Lumberjacks.

Sacramento State (13-16, 6-12) is the No. 10 seed and face seventh-seeded Montana State, and Northern Arizona (5-24, 3-15) is the 11th seed and plays No. 6 seed Eastern Washington on Tuesday in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

Justin Strings had 13 points and Eric Stuteville added 11 to lead Sacramento State.

Torry Johnson scored 13 points for Northern Arizona. Felix Rivera-Vega had 10 rebounds and chipped in nine points for the Lumberjacks.

It was tied at 31 early in the second half. The Hornets used a 15-2 run to take a 46-33 lead with 10 minutes left and they had a double-digit lead for nearly the rest of the way.

The Lumberjacks shot just 18 of 57 overall for 31 percent, and was 5 of 27 from long range.

Montana State 89, North Dakota 82: Marcus Colbert scored 29 points and Zach Green added 23 as the Bobcats topped the Fighting Hawks.

Tyler Hall hit a 3 to give Montana State (14-16, 9-9) an 80-66 lead with 3:41 remaining before North Dakota began chipping away. Quinton Hooker followed with a 3, Geno Crandall added a dunk and Drick Bernstine made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the deficit to eight.

Off a Montana State timeout, Colbert hit his fifth 3 with 1:17 left to seal the win.

Colbert scored eight of the Bobcats’ first 10 points, and Tyson Kanseyo’s layup gave Montana State a 28-15 lead. Colbert continued his scoring attack and had 16 first-half points as the Bobcats led 39-30 at the break.

Hooker led North Dakota (15-14, 10-8) with 25 points and Crandall added 15.

Portland State 88, Southern Utah 86: Cameron Forte scored 25 points, Isaiah Pineiro added 19, and the Vikings held off the visiting Thunderbirds.

Forte, Pineiro and Calaen Robinson each made a pair of free throws in the final 30 seconds for Portland State (12-17, 8-10) to keep Southern Utah (5-23, 3-15) at bay.

James McGee led the Thunderbirds with 17 points.