Weber State basketball: Montana rallies for 66-65 win over Wildcats

OGDEN — Weber State was on the wrong end of history on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats blew a 20-point halftime lead and were torched by Montana guard Anthony Johnson in a 66-65 loss to the Grizzlies in the Big Sky championship game at the Dee Events Center. Johnson scored 42 points to set a Big Sky Tournament record, a Dee Events Center record and a school record. Montana's rally from a 20-point deficit is believed to be the biggest comeback in Big Sky championship game history, but the conference doesn't keep such a record.

"It's tough especially after last year (when the Wildcats were upset in the conference semifinals)," said Weber State guard Damian Lillard. "This year, we came, bounced back and won that game and we got here where we wanted to be and we lost. Anytime you get to the last game here and it's the championship and you can't capitalize and not come away with a win … you just feel bad."

Johnson was mostly responsible for the disappointed feelings.

Johnson put on a performance for the ages. He scored Montana's final 21 points, and outscored the Wildcats by himself in the second half, 34-25. It was only fitting that he hit the game-winning basket, a jumper with 10.4 seconds left to put the Grizzlies up, 66-65.

"We're so used to jumping on A.J.'s back and letting him carry us, and he did it one more time," said Montana forward Derek Selvig. "I'm glad he did because it was looking abysmal there for a while."

Weber State had a final possession to try and salvage what ended up being a colossal collapse. The Wildcats quickly got the ball to Lillard, who was trapped near mid-court by Johnson and Will Cherry. Lillard, while trying to create space, dribbled the ball off of Cherry's foot. The two players then got tied up with the loose ball, and the possession arrow was in the Grizzlies' favor.

Selvig was fouled on Montana's in-bounds pass, and he missed two free throws — the second of which was intentional. Weber State collected the rebound with 2.1 seconds left and didn't get the ball anywhere near the basket on its final shot attempt.

"It's tough," said Weber State coach Randy Rahe.

The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for the Wildcats and their fans because they had everything going their way in the first half. They jumped on the Grizzlies early, forcing them to miss 10 of their first 12 shots. The Wildcats went up 30-11 after a 16-2 run that featured mostly layups.

Montana shot 28 percent in the first half. Weber State shot the same dismal percentage in the second half.

"Obviously, it was a tale of two halves," Rahe said. "We came out and played awfully well in the first half. What we did to them, they did to us in the second half. They became the aggressors, and we got back on our heels a little bit."