Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
at Montana
Wildcats drop final road game 74-63 at Montana
2/22/2015 4:55:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MISSOULA, Mont. -- Weber State dropped its final regular season road game, falling 74-63 at Montana Saturday night in Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.
The Wildcats now sit at 11-15 overall and 6-9 in Big Sky Conference play with three games remaining. WSU remains in eighth place in the league standings, a half game behind Idaho and a half game ahead of Southern Utah.
Weber State jumped out to an early lead and took its largest lead of the game at 24-16 with 6:21 to play in the first half. From then on it was all Montana as the Grizzlies closed the half on a 20-5 run and took a 36-29 lead at halftime.
Weber State was never closer than nine points in the second half and Montana led by as many as 17.
“We got off to a good start and came out ready to go, we just got a little worn down in the end of the first half” said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. “I was really proud of our effort and we made some pushes, but we had too many turnovers and Montana played a great game.”
Montana shot 50 percent from the field and held Weber State to 45 percent shooting. The Wildcats were 10-of-21 from 3-point land and both teams pulled down 27 rebounds. WSU did have 18 turnovers on the night.
Junior Chris Golden broke out for a career-high 18 points to lead Weber State. He was 6-of-11 shooting and made three 3-pointers and dished out a team-high four assists. Freshman Ryan Richardson added 15 points off the bench and knocked down five 3-pointers.
Richaud Gittens added 12 points and Joel Bolomboy had five points and 10 rebounds.
Montana's Martin Breunig had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies. Montana improved to 16-10 overall and 12-3 in Big Sky play with its sixth straight win. The Grizzlies moved into a tie for first in the league standings with Sacramento State.
All three of Weber State's remaining games will be at home. WSU will host Idaho State on Saturday, Feb. 28 in a game that will start at 8 p.m. Weber State will then host Idaho and Eastern Washington in the final home games. The top eight teams in the league standings will advance to the conference tournament which will be held at the site of the regular season champion.
