SLIDESHOW: Weber State vs Montana
OGDEN -- They only trailed for about 25 seconds of the Big Sky Conference championship game, unfortunately 10 of those seconds were the last of the game.
Despite leading most of the contest, including a 20-point halftime advantage, top-seeded Weber State couldn't stop a mighty comeback by Montana as the No. 4-seeded Grizzlies beat the Wildcats 66-65 on Wednesday to win the Big Sky Conference championship tournament.
"Anytime you get to the last game, the championship game, and you can't capitalize on being here and everything throughout the game and come out with a win, you feel bad," said WSU guard Damian Lillard, who led WSU with 16 points.
The bad news is the Wildcats (20-10) didn't earn the Big Sky's spot in the NCAA Championship tournament. The good news is their season is not over, since they'll get an automatic spot in the National Invitational Tournament. The Wildcats will have to wait until Sunday night to find out the specifics of their next game, and they weren't in the mood to think about it following Wednesday's loss.
"We'll think about that down the road," said WSU coach Randy Rahe, whose team also played in the NIT last season after winning the league's regular-season title, but losing to Montana State in the tournament's semifinals in Ogden. "It will take a while to get over this one.
"It obviously hurts. When you've got a group of guys like I've got that invest so much into something it's supposed to hurt. If it didn't hurt then there's something wrong."
It looked like the Wildcats had the game in the bag.
WSU did everything right in the first 20 minutes as the 'Cats took a 40-20 lead into the locker room. WSU shot 46 percent from the field while holding the Griz to just 28 percent while also forcing Montana to turn the ball over 14 times.
"We had a pretty good half and we were playing well," said WSU center Steve Panos. "We had high energy and high intensity, and we were really excited to get after it in the second half."
But that changed.
"It was definitely a tale of two halves," Rahe said. "We came out and played well in the first half and what we did to them they did to us in the second half. They became the aggressors and we got back on our heels and (Anthony) Johnson made every shot known to man, which he's capable of doing."
The Grizzlies (22-9), who are making their eighth trip in school history to the NCAA tournament and first since 2006 when they beat Nevada in the first round, shot nearly 70 percent from the field in the second half while holding WSU to just 28 percent. Thanks to a 42-point output from tournament MVP Anthony Johnson, who scored Montana's final 21 points including the game-winning basket with 10.2 seconds left, the Griz are going to the Big Dance.
"We sent the bus back to the hotel at halftime and went and got our real team," joked Montana coach Wayne Tinkle. "We had some imposters there in the first half."
The comeback took the entire second half as the Griz chipped away at WSU's lead. While they were up big, the Wildcats weren't expecting the Griz to give up.
"It's anybody's game," said WSU guard Nick Hansen. "Even with our first half, we were all really excited and ready to start the second half, but it goes to show that you can't be lackadaisical about anything because as soon as you give up at all they're going to make their run."
Johnson's layup with 1:03 left in the game gave Montana a 65-64 lead, and that was the first time Montana led all game. WSU reclaimed the lead when Lillard hit a pair of free throws with 48.2 seconds left, however Johnson answered with the game-winning jumper.
Franklin Session finished with 10 points and was named to the All-Tournament team along with Lillard, Derek Selvig (Montana), Will Figures (Northern Colorado) and Julius Thomas (Portland State).
After Johnson hit his last basket, WSU still had a chance. But that opportunity was lost as Will Cherry hounded Lillard as he crossed midcourt with the ball and after the two got tied up the Griz gained possession on the jump ball.
Johnson's 42 points set a record for most points scored in a Big Sky tournament game, the most scored by a Grizzly in any game and the most scored in a game at the Dee Events Center passing Harold Arceneaux's 40-point performance in 2000 against Montana State.
Comments