Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
*Montana
Weber State Stifles League-Leader Montana, 68-52, Thursday Night In Ogden
2/4/2011 5:26:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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OGDEN, Utah -- Weber State used a stifling interior defense, and 14 points off the bench from Byron Fulton, defeating Montana, 68-52, Thursday night in Ogden, snapping a six-game win streak by the Grizzlies. It marked the second straight game in which the Wildcats have defeated the Big Sky Conference leader. Last Saturday night, the 'Cats beat Northern Colorado, 72-71, on a buzzer beater by Scott Bamforth. There were no heroics needed on Thursday night. After spotting the Griz an early 9-4 lead with 14:17 left in the first half, the Wildcats put together a 13-0 scoring run over the next six minutes to take a 17-9 lead. UoM's Vaughn Autry then sank a three to make it 17- |
“Our bigs did a great defensive job inside on Qvale (Brian) in that first half,” said WSU head coach, Randy Rahe. “We preached all week about making it tough for him to get position, force him back to the middle and contest very shot. To hold him to just 4-6 shooting for the game was the key to the win.”
UoM guard Will Cherry score five points in the first four minutes of the second half, bringing the Grizzlies to within seven at 36-29 at the 16:37 mark, but that would be as close as they would come. The Wildcats built up an 18-point lead over the next eight minutes to pull away.
WSU center Trevor Morris scored a career high 17 points, hitting 6-11 from the field and 5-6 from the line and had WSU's only two offensive rebounds of the evening, but it was the play of red-shirt freshman forward, Byron Fulton, off the bench which was the big difference. Fulton made 7-10 shots in just 19 minutes of playing time, scoring 14 points.
“Byron was really big off the bench tonight,” said Rahe. “He had only scored something like 11 points total in our last three games but he was really competitive on both ends tonight.”
Kyle Bullinger had another solid outing with 13 points and eight rebounds. He had 13 points and six rebounds in last Saturday night's win over Northern Colorado.
Brian Qvale, who had been averaging a “double/double” (16.2 points/10.2 rebounds) in Big Sky Conference games, was held to 10 points and just five rebounds. Derek Selvig, a 7-0, 230 junior forward who torched the Wildcats for 23 points in UoM's 75-56 win over the 'Cats on Dec. 31, 2010, was held to nine points. He led the Grizzlies with eight rebounds. Vaughn Autry came off the bench to score 10. Montana is now 16-6 overall and 8-2 in Big Sky play. They are now tied with Northern Colorado which was a 63-53 winner at home over Eastern Washington on Thursday night. Montana plays at Northern Arizona on Saturday.
Weber State snapped a three-game losing streak to Montana with the win. The Wildcats are now 11-9 overall and 5-4 in Big Sky Conference play. WSU is now tied for second with Northern Arizona at 5-4. The Wildcats host Montana State at 4:05 p.m. this coming Saturday, February 5 in an Altitude TV game. The Bobcats are coming off a 61-41 loss at Northern Arizona on Thursday night.
