SLIDESHOW: Weber State vs Portland State
OGDEN -- Despite having one of its worst shooting games of the season, Weber State did just enough to earn a spot in the Big Sky Conference's championship game.
While they shot just 33 percent from the field, the top-seeded Wildcats walked off the court with a 69-60 win over No. 6 Portland State on Tuesday night at the Dee Events Center in the semifinals of the Big Sky's championship and earned a meeting with the No. 4-seeded Montana Grizzlies tonight after the Griz topped No. 2 seeded-Northern Colorado 68-63 in the earlier semifinal.
"It's not all about shooting," said WSU coach Randy Rahe. "Success is because of defense and rebounding and making winning plays. There're so many other aspects to the game that allow you to win and that's what we did tonight."
The 33 percent shooting tied WSU's second-worst shooting night of the season, which came in the opening game against Utah State. WSU shot 29.7 percent in a loss at UC Santa Barbara in November.
It was the other stuff, according to WSU guard Damian Lillard, who led WSU with a game-high 23 points, that helped WSU get the win over the Vikings even though PSU shot 45 percent.
"When a lot of teams have a bad shooting percentages most times they lose but we were able to make a lot of game-winning plays," Lillard said.
WSU (20-9) outrebounded PSU 48-32, which was huge considering the Vikings (13-19) outrebounded WSU in both meetings during the regular season, while the Wildcats also made 22 of their 31 free throws compared to PSU's 6-of-17 shooting from the foul line.
The winner of tonight's tournament championship game earns a spot in the NCAA Tournament, however should WSU lose the Wildcats would get a spot in the National Invitational Tournament since they won the Big Sky's regular-season title.
But the Wildcats had to settle for the NIT last season after losing in the semifinals of the Big Sky tournament to Montana State at the Dee Events Center, and that memory still serves as motivation.
"We've got to win another game," Lillard said. "Ever since we lost this game last year we wanted to work hard to get back to this moment and redeem ourselves. Now that we have, it's on to the next thing."
Tonight will be the 13th time WSU has reached the tournament's final game and the eighth when the tournament has been in Ogden. WSU is 8-4 in title games, and 6-1 at home. WSU is 3-1 against Montana in the championship game.
WSU, which won 20 games in a season for the 24th time in the history of the program, used a 12-2 run early in the second half to take a 47-37 after the Vikings scored nine straight points to tie the game at 35-35.
The Vikings fought back and came within 50-47 with 6:33 to play after an offensive putback from Julius Thomas. However WSU pulled away and made 8-of-10 free throws in the final 1:06 to seal the win.
Franklin Session finished with 13 points and eight rebounds while Trevor Morris had 10 points off the bench.
Dominic Waters led PSU with 19 points while Thomas scored 18 and grabbed 11 rebounds.
It was an unlikely hero that helped the Wildcats score on the Vikings' zone defense early. Session, not really known for his long-range shooting, hit a 3-pointer a little less than five minutes into the game for WSU's first field goal. The Wildcats missed their first six shots -- four of which were 3-point attempts -- and had a pair of turnovers on their first seven offensive possessions
"We got really good looks at the basket and shots that these guys would make in their sleep," Rahe said. "It didn't affect how hard we played or our intensity or how we rebounded the ball."
* MONTANA 68, NORTHERN COLORADO 63: Anthony Johnson scored 19 points in the first semifinal to lead the No. 4 seeded Grizzlies to their first spot in the championship game since 2006.
Will Cherry and Ryan Staudacher each added 10 points for the Griz (21-9).
Trailing 63-62 with 1:21 left, Johnson hit a pair of free throws to give Montana the lead. Cherry hit a tough jumper as the shot clock expired with 23 seconds remaining to give Montana a 67-63 lead with 23 seconds left, and then Johnson hit another pair of free throws with 11 seconds remaining to seal the win.
"We've had our share of close ball games," said Montana coach Wayne Tinkle. "We've lost a couple and we've won a few."
Will Figures scored 23 points for the No. 2 seed Bears (24-7), who needed a big comeback in the second half to make the game close at the end.
Montana lead 33-32 at halftime, and quickly took a 44-37 lead following a 3-pointer from Staudacher five minutes into the first half. Staudacher and Anthony Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Griz a 57-43 lead with 8:21 left in the game.
The Bears came storming back tanks to a 17-3 run to tie the game at 60-60 before Yahosh Bonner's 3-pointer gave UNC a 63-62 lead with 1:45 remaining.
"I'm proud of our guys for squashing that run and handling it well," Tinkle said.
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