UI shooting woeful in loss

MISSOULA – Will Cherry scored 24 points and Brian Qvale added 21 as Montana routed Idaho 75-33 in nonconference men’s basketball Monday night.

The Vandals shot a woeful 12 percent from the field, making just 6 of 50 shots. The Grizzlies (2-2), meanwhile, went 20-of-31 in the first half in building a 47-12 lead.

Montana scored 42 points in the paint and 27 points off 16 UI turnovers.

Luiz Toledo had nearly half of Idaho’s points, scoring 16. He also had eight rebounds. Toledo was 4 of 10 from the field, but the rest of his teammates were an ice-cold 2 of 40.

The Vandals (1-3) scored 20 of their 33 points from the free-throw line, with Toledo (eight) and Deremy Geiger (nine) accounting for most of them. Geiger was 0 of 8 from the field, missing six 3-point attempts. Brandon Wiley had Idaho’s only 3-pointer of the night in 13 tries.

“I think what’s most disappointing about this game is we didn’t compete,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “The bottom line is that they made the first two 3-pointers of the game, and we didn’t compete.”