Mathias Ward connected on a 3-point shot to break a tie with 4:44 left in the game and Montana went on to defeat Northern Arizona 62-56 Wednesday in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Montana (5-4, 1-0 Big Sky) had four players score 12 points each – Ward, Will Cherry, Jordan Gregory and Keron Deshields. Kareem Jamar added 10 points.

Northern Arizona (4-6, 1-1) led by as many as nine points in the first half and was up by four at halftime.

DeWayne Russell hit a pair of free throws with 5:49 left in the game to knot the contest at 56 – but Ward worked his magic about a minute later.

Gabe Rogers led Northern Arizona with 16 points, including five 3-pointers, and Russell scored 12.

Sacramento State 62, Montana State 57: Mikh McKinney scored 21 points and Konner Veteto added 19 to lead the Hornets past the Bobcats in Sacramento, Calif.

John Dickson had 11 points and Joe Eberhard five points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets (6-3, 1-0 Big Sky), who never trailed in their first home game since Nov. 27 and first contest in 11 days due to final exams.

Xavier Blount scored 15 points and Paul Egwuonwu 10 points and seven rebounds for the Bobcats (2-7, 0-2), who shot 20 of 62 (32.3 percent) from the floor and were outrebounded 43-34.

Antonio Biglow’s 3-pointer got Montana State within 57-54 with 58 seconds remaining, but Sacramento State made 5 of 6 free-throw attempts down the stretch to protect its lead.