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Weber State guard Tijan Saine Jr. (3) drives past Montana State's Jaden Steppe (44) in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Bozeman, Mont.

Photo supplied, Montana State Athletics

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Weber State guard Viljami Vartiainen (8) lets a 3-pointer fly over Montana State's Jaden Steppe (44) in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Bozeman, Mont.

Photo supplied, Montana State Athletics

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Weber State guard Tijan Siane Jr. (3) shoots over a Montana State defender in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Bozeman, Mont.

Photo supplied, Montana State Athletics

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Saturday’s men’s basketball matchup in front of a packed Worthington Arena inside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse had more big moments than could be recounted as Weber State visited Montana State in a Big Sky Conference tilt.

A back-and-forth first half gave way to two massive runs to set up the finish. Montana State scored 27 points in 9 minutes to go up 74-60 with 8:18 left, mirroring the torrid run Montana put on Weber two days before by making seven straight shots, including four straight 3-pointers.

But unlike Thursday’s blowout loss, this time WSU turned the valve off and not only got back in it, but took the lead. Freshman guard ArDarius Grayson hit a 3 to get things going, tallied a 3-of-3 free-throw trip late in the run, Tijan Saine Jr. and Malek Gomma each scored five in the stretch, and freshman Duce Paschal drove and dished to senior Nigel Burris for a bucket to put Weber up 82-80 with 2:25 left — a 22-6 run in just 6:30 of game time.

Like in the first half, the game got back to each team trading baskets and hung on which team would blink first.

Weber State blinked. In a deciding possession, Saine got past his man on a drive but didn’t have clearance to shoot, so bounced to Grayson in the corner who, with one move, was past his defender too. An open shot for somebody was nearly certain, but Grayson had stepped out of bounds on his set-up step.

Then, playing the free-throw game, Saine made two to make it 89-88 and WSU fouled senior Jed Miller with 5 seconds remaining. The 88% career free-throw shooter missed the front-end of the one-and-one, but it hit hard off the back iron. The four-on-zero Weber State rebounders were slow to react, lost the handle, and Miller won the ball back.

This time, Miller made two freebies and sealed the 91-88 victory to keep the Bobcats in second place and send the Wildcats home with a 0-2 road trip.

Weber State head coach Eric Duft said he believes his team will be more refined, and winning games, as the season progresses, while many opponents at the top, in his evaluation, are a finished product playing extra-year seniors. (Portland State, Montana State and Montana all fit this description.)

WSU was playing its second of many to come without junior starting guard Jace Whiting due to a foot injury, putting true freshman Paschal in the starting lineup. The Wildcats have one senior while MSU starts four, for example — three of whom are in their fifth year and one in his sixth.

So, Duft says, his team’s trajectory will always be up.

“We’re getting a little out-experienced in some of these games,” Duft said. “We make more mistakes than our opponent does. But a couple things can be true at the same time: we’ve got to be highly accountable for those mistakes and we’re going to coach those guys hard, and we have to understand we’re growing as a team.

“I think we have a team that’s really bought in, that’s really connected … and as long as we can just be consumed by growth — that’s our motto, consumed by growth, keep getting better.”

The Wildcats (10-11, 4-4 Big Sky) blistered the nets in a tight first half, shooting 8 of 11 from the 3-point line but trailed 45-42 at the break thanks to two ultimately big buckets by senior guard Patrick McMahon to close the frame.

Montana State (13-8, 7-1) suffered a rough injury with 1 second left in the first half, however. Starting point guard Davian Brown — the brother of former MSU star Darius, and who led the Bobcats with 11 first-half points — drove the lane and wrenched his left knee on a stop. After staying down for some time, Brown was slowly helped off and put weight only on his right leg. He did not return.

The result seemed to favor Montana State, for a time. The Bobcats had to turn to a larger lineup of Miller, McMahon (a 6-foot-7 guard), and forward Christian King, and that group put a hurt on Weber. Miller scored 10 straight points in one stretch and, despite showing a hot hand, walked into an open 3 to cap his personal run.

King hit consecutive 3s after that for the 74-60 tally with 8:18 to go, setting up WSU’s run and the tight finish.

“This is a very good basketball team; they’re difficult for us to guard with their matchups because they’ve got those big wings,” Duft said. “We got going there when we went a little bit smaller, actually, and faster.”

Saine scored 24 points to lead Weber State, adding four assists; he’s averaging 20.3 points per game in conference play.

Viljami Vartiainen and Trevor Hennig each added 15 points, but 24 of their combined 30 came in the first half. Vartiainen, 4 of 8 from distance, is shooting 45.6% from 3 in Big Sky games but was a minus-14 in the second half.

Gomma had eight points. Edwin Suarez Jr. totaled four points, six rebounds, two assists and three steals but had a few misses and shots blocked that led to MSU getting out in transition.

Paschal again scored WSU’s first five points of the game in his second straight start; he finished with seven points, two rebounds, two assists and was plus-12. Grayson had six points and was plus-16 in 12 minutes. Burris, under the weather, tallied nine points and five rebounds in 23 minutes.

Miller’s hot second half provided 18 of his game-high 27 points; he shot 5 of 9 from distance. King, a Washington transfer, added 20 points and was 4 of 6 from 3. Weber State, which was one of the top 3-point defenses in the country until this week, gave up 23 made 3s against the two Montana squads.

Weber State has the coming Thursday off before hosting Idaho State (10-11, 3-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday. That begins a stretch of four games in eight days, three of which are at home.

Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Portland State (13-5, 7-0) survived yet another low-scoring scuffle by winning 69-66 at Idaho (12-8, 4-3) to remain unbeaten. Montana (12-9, 6-2) dispatched Idaho State 69-60 to stay in third place.

Eastern Washington (5-15, 3-4) eased past Sacramento State (6-13, 2-5) by a 75-67 score. And in a surprise battle at the bottom, Northern Arizona (7-14, 1-7) won at home 81-77 over Northern Colorado (11-10, 1-7).