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Montana cruises past Idaho 78-55 in Big Sky tournament semifinals

Idaho Vandals guard Kolton Mitchell (14) glides past the defense of Montana Grizzlies guard Money Williams (0) and guard Brandon Whitney (12) for a basket during their semi final matchup at the Big Sky tournament in Boise, Idaho. Photo by Steve Conner (Steve Conner)
Idaho Vandals guard Kolton Mitchell (14) glides past the defense of Montana Grizzlies guard Money Williams (0) and guard Brandon Whitney (12) for a basket during their semi final matchup at the Big Sky tournament in Boise, Idaho. Photo by Steve Conner (Steve Conner)
By Jason Chatraw The Spokesman-Review

BOISE — Idaho proved it is fast improving after knocking off No. 3 seed Portland State on Monday in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament.

On Tuesday night, the sixth-seeded Vandals learned they still have a ways to go to join the conference’s upper echelon.

No. 2 Montana led wire-to-wire as the Grizzlies solved the Idaho zone defense with a balanced offensive attack and a stifling defense of their own, claiming a 78-55 victory at Idaho Central Arena.

Montana (24-9), which has won 12 of its last 13 games, will meet No. 1 seed Northern Colorado in the finals Wednesday with a berth in the NCAA Tournament at stake. The Grizzlies haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2019 when it last won the conference title.

Idaho (14-19), which won a Big Sky tournament game for the first time since 2017, lost for the third time this season to the Grizzlies. However, the first two were much closer than this one (73-71 and 72-67).

Idaho coach Alex Pribble made it clear Monday what the Vandals hoped to do against Montana—force them to beat them from the outside. And beat Idaho from the outside, Montana did.

With the score tied at 7, Montana made three straight 3-pointers in just over a minute to take command at 16-7 with 14:30 left in the first half.

The Grizzlies’ success from the outside forced Idaho to stretch its zone defense—and Montana took full advantage, driving the lane and getting to the basket for easy layups.

But it was Montana’s outside shooting prowess that proved to be too much for Idaho to overcome. The Grizzlies made 14 three-pointers, two more than they did in the two teams’ tilt on Jan. 20th.

Although Montana was in control for most of the game, Idaho didn’t go quietly.

After the Grizzlies pushed its lead to their largest of the first half at 33-15, the Vandals began to chip away, whittling the deficit down to 39-28 when Jack Payne hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer.

But Montana stormed back, scoring the first seven points of the second half to grow its lead to 19.

Idaho battled back to get within 51-39 with 13:16 remaining in the game on a layup by Kristian Gonzalez. But that was as close as the Vandals would get the rest of the way.

The Grizzles answered with a quick 9-2 run, putting Idaho back in another deep hole, a hole to deep to climb out of.

Montana, which shot 46 percent from the floor, was led offensively by Austin Patterson with 20 points and Money Williams and Kai Johnson with 13 points each.

Idaho finished the game shooting 31 percent from the floor and 5-of-26 shooting from 3-point range.

After a 20-point performance Monday, sophomore Jack Payne followed it up with an 18-point performance to lead the Vandals. Gonzalez, who had 24 on Monday, contributed eight points.