Jan. 5, 2006
Final Stats
Missoula, MT --- Tim Henry's game-tying field goal attempt with 8.1 second left just did rim out, and Matt Dlouhy hit two free throws to ice the game as the Montana Grizzlies knocked off the Idaho State Bengals in a hard-fought back and forth game 80-76 in Dahlberg Arena.
The Grizzlies dominated the game in the paint, outscoring ISU 46-12 inside, but the game wasn't decided until the final seconds.
Idaho State took their final lead at 74-73 with 3:25 left on a pair of Kasey Winters free throws, but Montana answered on a hook shot by Andrew Strait with 2:43 to go, and they never lost the lead after that.
Montana pushed the lead to 78-74 on a Kevin Criswell layup with 1:01 left, and ISU answered with a basket by Slim Millien with 45.6 left, the last of his season-high 25 points. The Bengals then forced a turnover with 16 seconds left, and Henry got open for good looking from 12-feet, but the ball rimmed out, and Kasey Winters was called for a foul on the rebound.
The Bengals lead 40-36 at the break after shooting .577 in the opening half, but ISU committed 14 first half turnovers. Idaho State led by as much as 12 in the early going, but Montana cut it to four with a three-point play with 6.2 left in the half. They nearly cut it further when Akbar Abdul-Ahad was knocked down in the process of being fouled. Montana's bench called for the foul with one to give, but Matt Martin stripped the ball away, but the Grizzlies couldn't get a shot off.
The Bengals got huge efforts from Slim Millien, who had his conference leading seventh double-double of the year with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Tim Henry added 15, David Schroeder rebounded from an off-tournament in Logan to add 12 points, and Logan Kinghorn chipped in 11.
Kevin Criswell had a quiet 19 for Montana, and Andrew Strait added 18. Virgil Matthews had 13 and Mike Chavez had 10. Montana shot just .431 for the game, compared to .491 by ISU.
Montana improves to 11-2 and 1-0 in the league, while ISU drops to 7-5 and 0-1 in league play. ISU is at Montana State on Saturday.
NOTES: ISU hit just one three-pointer in the second half after six in the first.
