Cherry, Steward lead Griz in blowout

At halftime, the Montana Grizzlies men’s basketball team led Idaho State 32-23 and entered the break reeling after the Bengals turned the Griz over and added a few free throws before time expired in the first.

Then, in the second half, everything changed.

After the intermission, the Griz revitalized the crowd at Dalhberg Arena on Monday night with a 21-1 run early in the second half that ended ISU’s hopes of knocking off another formidable Big Sky opponent. The Bengals dealt Weber State – tied with Montana atop the Big Sky Conference – its lone league loss of the season last week.

Senior forward Art Steward was instrumental to the run, and he capped it off when he caught the ball at the top of the key, ripped the ball, blew by Idaho State’s Chase Grabau and finished the play with a two-handed flush to put the Grizzlies up 51-29 with 11:35 to play.

“It makes a statement in our conference, this win. They go down and beat Weber and Montana State. Those are two big games right there,” Steward said.

“We came out a little sloppy in the first half. The second half we came out a little better and played Grizzly basketball.”

Head coach Wayne Tinkle said going into the game his team had to prevent a 3-point onslaught from ISU and make sure to take care of the ball on the offensive end.

Message received.

Idaho State finished the game shooting 16.7 percent from beyond the arc, and the Grizzlies turned the ball over 12 times – right on par with their season average.

“Our guys came out second half on a mission and played like there was something in front of them that they really cared about.” Tinkle said. “And then Will [Cherry] was just not gonna let things slip away that second half.”

Cherry, who won ‘player of the game’ honors after a 21-point effort, also contributed to Montana’s second half spark. Cherry opened up the second period scoring for the Griz with a step-back jumper. A few possessions later on defense, Cherry chased down an Idaho State player slashing to the rim, and blocked his shot. Then, next time down the court, Cherry rose up and hit a three in his defenders face for good to measure, and sent Dalhberg into near delirium.

“Coming out second half we wanted to crank up the intensity and keep it on them for whole 20 minutes of the whole second half,” he said.

The Idaho State Bengals entered the game having won four in a row, including an overtime 87-86 win against Montana State in Bozeman and a home 64-62 win over Weber State. The last time Montana and Idaho State matched up, the Griz left Pocatello, Idaho, with a 68-44 victory and all five Griz starters recorded double figures.

The win moves the Griz to 17-6 overall and 10-1 in Big Sky play, while dropping Idaho State to 8-15 overall and 6-5 in conference. The Griz will take on (7-15, 4-7 BSC) Northern Colorado in Greeley on Thursday.

erik1.anderson@umontana.edu