Weber State basketball: Wildcats beat Montana to clinch the Big Sky

MISSOULA, Mont. — Damian Lillard scored 16 points and Steve Panos added 13 to lead Weber State to a 69-58 Big Sky Conference men's basketball victory over Montana on Thursday night.

Daviin Davis came off the bench to add 12 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats (18-8, 12-1 Big Sky), who notched their ninth straight win and improved to 7-0 in Big Sky road games this season.

Weber State clinched the conference regular-season title for the 18th time in school history — the most by any school in Big Sky history — and secured home-court advantage for next month's league tournament. This marks the second time in WSU head coach Randy Rahe's three years at the Wildcats' helm that they've won the Big Sky regular-season crown. They also won it in Rahe's first season, 2006-07.

Lillard scored 12 points before intermission, including nine straight that gave the Wildcats a 31-20 lead with 4:38 remaining. Weber State went into the break ahead 33-27.

Davis hit two consecutive layups to push the Wildcats' lead to 54-38 with 11:38 remaining in the game. They led by as many as 19 points as Montana (16-10, 10-4) shot just 36 percent from the field in the second half.

Anthony Johnson led the Grizzlies with 17 points. He shot only 6-of-16 from the field but made all five of his free-throw attempts. No other Grizzly player scored in double figures.

The Big Sky postseason championship tourney is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, March 10-11, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, with game times tentatively set for 5:05 and 7:35 p.m. on March 10. The Wildcats would play Tuesday at 7:35 p.m., with the championship showdown between the March 10 winners scheduled for March 11 at 7:05 p.m.