MISSOULA — Martin Breunig scored four of his 24 points in overtime and grabbed 12 rebounds as top-seeded Montana beat Weber State 76-73 in the first round of the Big Sky tournament on Thursday night.
Montana (19-11) faces fourth-seeded Northern Arizona in a semifinal game on Friday.
Breunig’s jumper gave the Grizzlies a 74-70 lead with 1:17 left in overtime. Joel Bolomboy answered with a 3-pointer to pull Weber State within one with 55 seconds to go. Montana’s Riley Bradshaw made a layup with 25 seconds left before Weber State’s Jeremy Senglin missed a 3 at the buzzer.
Senglin scored 25 points, and his 3-pointer gave Weber State (13-17) a 67-65 lead with 31 seconds remaining in regulation. Montana’s Jordan Gregory made a pair of free throws with 3 seconds left to tie it at 67 and force overtime.
Gregory gave the Grizzlies a 69-67 lead early in the overtime, and Montana would hang on to that slim advantage for the rest of the extra period, but the Wildcats did not go down easily.
There were 17 leads changes and the score was tied 10 times in the see-saw contest.
The other semifinal game Friday is No.2-seed Eastern Washington (24-8) against No. 3-seed Sacramento State (20-10), which tips off at 5:30 p.m. EWU beat Idaho 91-93, while the Hornets defeated Portland State 70-60.
Northern Arizona rolls to 63-57 win over Northern Colorado
MISSOULA — Aaseem Dixon hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points to help No. 4 seed Northern Arizona beat fifth-seeded Northern Colorado 63-57 in the first round of the Big Sky tournament on Thursday night.
Northern Arizona (19-13) will play top-seeded Montana in a semifinal game on Friday.
Kris Yanku scored 15 points and Ako Kaluna chipped in 10 for Northern Arizona, which never trailed. The Lumberjacks shot just 22 of 58 (38 percent) from the field but hit 12 of 13 free throws, including 12 straight, compared with the Bears 12-of-18 shooting from the line.
Northern Colorado tied it twice in the second half, and was within 52-51 with 5:26 to play. Back-to-back 3s by Quinton Upshur and Dixon pushed the Lumberjacks’ lead up to 58-51 with 2:17 remaining.
Tevin Svihovec and Cameron Michael scored 13 points apiece for Northern Colorado (15-15).