Weber State basketball: Wildcats fall to surging Montana

MISSOULA, Mont. — Anthony Johnson scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and surging Montana topped league-leading Weber State 75-61 in Big Sky Conference men's basketball action Friday night.

Johnson sank 12-of-14 free throws in the second half. Montana enjoyed a 21-for-28 outing from the foul line for the game. The Wildcats made just 10 trips to the foul line. The Grizzlies also outrebounded the Wildcats 38-27.

Ryan Staudacher provided the shooting touch for the Grizzlies (16-7, 7-4), who have won six of their last seven and snapped an eight-game losing streak to Weber State dating back to the 2006-07 season.

"Montana was the more aggressive team, they played hard from start to finish and deserved to win," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe.

Staudacher hit five 3-pointers and finished with 16 points. His 3-pointer with 5:14 left gave Montana a 68-52 after Weber State had closed within eight on a 9-0 spurt. Will Cherry added 14 points.

Damian Lillard scored 24 points to lead the Wildcats (14-8, 8-2), who hold a one-game lead over Northern Colorado in the Big Sky chase. Lindsey Hughey and Franklin Session had 12 points apiece for Weber State, which had beaten the Grizzlies 64-56 last month in Ogden. Session also had 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season.

The Grizzlies never trailed in the game and eventually built up an 11-point halftime lead at 37-26. They kept the momentum going out of the locker room and pushed the lead up to 17 at 60-43 with 10:59 remaining.

The Wildcats then went to work and put together an 9-0 scoring run on a 3-pointer by Lindsey Hughey, two layups from Franklin Session and a jumper by Darin Mahoney at the 7:28 mark to make it a 60-52 game.

Montana answered with a 10-0 run over the next three minutes with Johnson making 5-of-6 free throws and ending with a lay up.

Sandwiched in between was a long three-pointer by Staudacher, which closed the door on the Wildcats, who play Saturday night at Montana State.