Weber State basketball: Vartiainen, WSU throttle Montana in home finale
MBB final: Weber State 92, Montana 72
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- Weber State guard Viljami Vartiainen, right, walks down court next to Montana’s Tyler Isaak in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State center Malek Gomma (7) throws down an alley-oop dunk over Montana’s Te’Jon Sawyer (32) in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Tijan Saine Jr. (3) drives around a screen from Viljami Vartiainen (8) against Montana’s Brooklyn Hicks, center, in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Trevor Hennig, left, drives while Montana’s Connor Dick (10) pulls his jersey in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Viljami Vartiainen shoots a 3-pointer against Montana in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State forward Nigel Burris (5) drives the paint against Montana’s Kenyon Aguino, center right, and Brooklyn Hicks (3) in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State forward Nigel Burris (5) jumps past Montana’s Kenyon Aguino (24) for a shot in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Tijan Saine Jr. (3) drives against Montana’s Grant Kepley (11) in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Edwin Suarez Jr. (0) and Montana’s Connor Dick (10) fight for possession in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Viljami Vartiainen (8) starts to dribble up court after a rebound in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State players Tijan Saine, left, and Viljami Vartiainen, top, help up teammate Trevor Hennig, right, in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — He is human, after all.
Weber State junior guard Viljami Vartiainen couldn’t make seven straight 3-pointers Saturday night, but he was close. Teammate Edwin Suarez Jr. was there to rebound his first miss, and threw back out to Vartiainen who was charging back toward the 3-point line for another attempt.
No chance he was missing that one. Vartiainen was 7 of 8 from distance to that point, just 23 minutes into Saturday’s home finale against Montana — one he helped become a 92-72 laugher and continue the down-the-stretch crunch of the Big Sky standings.
Vartiainen finished with 25 points, six rebounds and three steals in the win, with seven 3s tying his career high, to send off the lone Weber State (15-14, 9-7 Big Sky) senior in Nigel Burris.
“Today, I thought every shot felt good,” Vartiainen said. “My team did a really good job finding me … once I see one go in, especially when it feels good, it’s easier to get a couple more.”
Even with intense defensive focus on Vartiainen that often includes constant grabbing and bumping off the ball, the Finnish sharpshooter is now 48 of 102 (47.1%) from the 3-point line in conference games.
“Just having the same mentality, not letting them push me around, sometimes giving it back to let you know like, ‘I’m here, you’re not just going to run over me,'” Vartiainen said. “And when I get that open shot, I’m not going to think about it too hard. … I put on over 20 pounds this offseason and that has really helped me not get pushed around.”
Tijan Saine Jr. added 16 points and seven assists, Trevor Hennig scored 16 points, Malek Gomma had 12 points (including three alley-oop dunks) and six rebounds, and Suarez totaled 10 points and six rebounds to give WSU a sweep of the two Montana squads to close the home schedule.
The Wildcats shot 33 of 56 (58.9%) and outscored Montana 42-30 in the paint. Freshman guard ArDarius Grayson added seven points, five rebounds and two assists in 16 minutes; the WSU bench crew of Hennig, Suarez and Grayson shot 12 of 17 from the floor.
Burris, in a bit of foul trouble for senior night, had four points, five rebounds and one steal in 20 minutes.
“Really proud of him and all that he’s given to our program over the last two years, who he is and how he represents himself and our university and our program,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said about Burris.
Burris came into this season noticeably more athletic and built his stamina to stay on the floor for long stretches. He flourished in an early role as a backup center this season before returning to the starting lineup. He’s averaging 10.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 84.1% at the foul line on a career-high 3.1 attempts per game.
WSU has won four of its last five while Montana (14-14, 8-7) has lost five of its last six. The Griz got 15 points from freshman post Kenyon Aguino and 15 from star guard Money Williams.
Elsewhere, Eastern Washington (11-17 9-6) won its sixth straight game with a 12-point win at first-place Portland State (18-8, 12-3). The Vikings secured at least a share of the regular-season title, however, because Idaho State crushed Montana State (15-13, 9-6) behind 36 points from sure conference player of the week Gus Etchison. So EWU and MSU are tied for second place.
Weber State is a half-game behind them in fourth place. WSU is a half-game ahead of both Montana and Northern Colorado (18-10, 8-7); the Bears survived Northern Arizona at home for a seventh straight victory.
That means spots two through six in the standings are separated by one game.
At the Dee Events Center, Brooklyn Hicks scored nine early points on 4-of-6 shooting to make it 18-16 with 9:40 left in the first half — but the rest of his teammates struggled to find the net. That’s when Weber State started gashing the Griz defense, scoring 23 points in the next seven minutes and building a 45-32 halftime lead.
Vartiainen made all seven of his 3s in a stretch of 14 minutes. He hit immediately out of halftime and made three in the first 3 minutes of the second half, capped with the second-chance triple from Suarez.
Weber scored 17 points in the first 4:15 of the second half and never looked back. Hennig’s baseline drive and three-point play put WSU up 73-48 with 10:55 left, and Montana never put together a run of better than 5-0 at any point in the contest.
WSU led 82-53 with 6:30 left and Montana scored 19 points, including three of its 8 3-pointers, in the remaining garbage time. Gomma said the team took a hard look at its rebounding and defensive effort after an 18-point loss at Eastern Washington.
“We really just tried to emphasize defense in practice, and just going out there and guarding, the offense comes natural to us,” Gomma said. “When we’re getting stops, we’re able to play in transition, we’re able to have so much more flow. It really helps us.
“And Vil just got going, and you can’t really do much about that.”
Duft said WSU’s noticeable improvements have come by having Hennig back after an absence — which allows his team to play faster because they’re deeper — and getting their hands around an adjusted defensive scheme following injury to Jace Whiting. WSU’s 16-point loss at Montana one month ago was its first without Whiting; Tyler Thompson hit seven 3s for the Griz in that game but Saturday, he got just two attempts and his first make came with 1:20 left in a 23-point game.
Most teams close the regular season with three games in six days, but Weber State and Idaho State have two games left. The duo has a bye Thursday before facing off in Pocatello on Saturday, Feb. 28. After that bus ride, WSU will fly to Portland State to close the season against the Vikings on Monday, March 2.
WBB: WSU 86, UM 79 (OT)
The Weber State women scored 17 points in overtime to claim the team’s second road win and first in league play, beating Montana in Missoula.
A wild overtime saw WSU miss a layup to potentially go up seven, Montana’s Mack Konig drove twice to cut it to one, then Weber answered with a five-point possession: Sydney White swished a 3 while Antoniette Emma-Nnopu was fouled in the paint; she made her free throws to go up 79-73 with 2:20 left.
Paris Lauro banked in a wing 3-pointer to put WSU up 82-79 with 38 seconds left.
Emma-Nnopu scored 28 points in 32 minutes. Lanae Billy scored 23 points and Lauro 15; each hit five 3-pointers. Hannah Robbins totaled 10 assists.
WSU (9-20, 3-13) finishes the regular season at home, hosting Idaho State on Feb. 28 and Portland State on March 2.
