Montana at Idaho State postgame

Montana 59, Idaho State 54

Here's the Journal's full game recap.

And here's Doug Lindley's photo gallery from the game.

Star of the game: Montana's coaching staff. The Grizzlies went to a zone defense in the second half and it worked perfectly. UM head coach Wayne Tinkle said they had planned to zone ISU after halftime. It's not that it surprised Idaho State (ISU head coach Bill Evans said they prepared for it) but the Bengals never found a comfortable rhythm against the zone as they scored 10 points in the last nine and half minutes of the game.

Star of the game No. 2: Kareem Jamar. The Big Sky's third-leading scorer recorded a season-low seven points on 3 of 11 shooting. In 16 games, it's the first time Jamar has not reached double figures this year.

But Jamar tore apart ISU's zone in the second half when he picked up six of his nine assists. Afterward, Evans estimated seven of Jamar's assists came on Montana 3-pointers.

Jamar assisted two of Jordan Gregory's 3s when the Grizzlies roared back in the last nine minutes, and he found freshman Mario Dunn for the game's biggest shot when Dunn buried a corner trey to give Montana a 55-54 lead.

Reason for concern: Against Weber State Monday and Montana Thursday, opponents have gone 24-51 (.471) from 3. Idaho State, meanwhile, has made 12 3-pointers combined.

That means the Bengals have faced a 72-36 disadvantage from the arc, and they have to make up that margin with free throws, layups and jump shots. So far this week, they haven't been able to do it.


Wrapping up the Big Sky:

We're down to co-leaders in the Big Sky after Northern Colorado beat Northern Arizona and Weber State pasted Montana State.

Northern Colorado 87, Northern Arizona 82

Eastern Washington 90, Southern Utah 83

Weber State 86, Montana State 57

North Dakota 82, Sacramento State 71