UVSC fights hard in tough loss to Montana

MISSOULA, Mont. — The Utah Valley State men's basketball team battled last year's Big Sky tournament champions hard but still fell to the Montana Grizzlies 75-59 on Tuesday.

David Heck led the Wolverines with 19 points. Ben Devoe had 14 and Matt Peterson finished with 10. Russell Wesley came off the bench to grab a team-high six rebounds.

"We got a little better from the trip to Missoula," Utah Valley State coach Dick Hunsaker said. "We will learn from our mistakes and go back to work tomorrow. We are playing the upper half of the Big Sky right now, and we just have to play better."

The Wolverines battled Montana tough for the first 12 minutes and led 26-20 following a Heck 3-pointer with 8:19 left in the half. Heck helped build the Wolverine lead by scoring 14 first-half points. Utah Valley trailed 16-13 with 12:49 left in the first half. Heck then scored 11 of his points over the next four minutes to help give Utah Valley the lead.

But once Utah Valley took the lead, Montana went on a 21-2 run to close out the first half to lead 41-28 at the break.

Montana opened the second half by jumping out to a 54-34 lead with 13:23 left in the game. Montana led by as many as 24 points before the Wolverine cut the deficit to 16 to end the game.

Utah Valley State returns to action on Saturday when they host Sacramento State at the McKay Center at 7 p.m. Sacramento State was picked to finish third in the Big Sky. They will also be the third of four straight Big Sky opponents the Wolverines face in less than a two-week period. On Tuesday, Utah Valley State hosts Weber State at 7 p.m. For ticket information call 863-SHOW.