THE GAME: The University of Montana Grizzlies (5-5/10-9) start the second half of their Big Sky Conference schedule at home, hosting the red-hot Portland State Vikings (6-4/11-8), Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7:05 p.m. in UM’s Dahlberg Arena.
UP NEXT?: The Griz host Eastern Washington on Saturday, Feb. 8.
GRIZ-VIKINGS EARLIER THIS SEASON: At PSU 81, MONTANA 78 (3 OTs): Guard Gary Winston made a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds to go to give PSU the win. .
Montana took a 78-77 lead with 1:08 remaining in the third OT on a 14-foot jumper in the lane by Jordan Gregory. Winston then made a free throw to tie the game up at 78-78 with 54 seconds left to play in the third OT and then hit the game-winner.
Gregory scored a game-high 25 points, while Kareem Jamar added 19 points, and Keron DeShields scored 17. Mario Dunn had game and career-highs of 9 rebounds 7 assists, and also chipped in 6 points.
Winston and senior guard Marcus Hall led the Vikings with 21 points each, while junior guard Tim Douglas added 18 points.
TINKLE THIRD IN CAREER WINS: Griz head coach Wayne Tinkle’s 151 career wins are the third most ever at UM. Tinkle needs four more wins to move up to second and pass Mike Montgomery, who had 154 career wins in eight seasons from 1979-86.
JAMAR EIGHTH IN CAREER SCORING & SEVENTH IN ASSISTS: Jamar has 1,477 career points which ranks him eighth in school history. He needs eight more points to move up to seventh past former guard Will Cherry, who scored 1,484 points from 2010-13. Jamar has 372 career assists, which ties for the fifth most all-time with Micheal Ray Richardson, who had 372 from 1974-78. (See add 3-3-3).
SERIES: The Griz lead 31-21 (14-3 in Missoula). Montana has won nine of the last 10.
PSU FACT: The Vikings have won six of their last seven games, including two in OT.
QUOTING GRIZ HEAD COACH WAYNE TINKLE:
ON PSU: “It’s nice to be back home. We’ve been on the road for awhile, and we need to get things cranked up here in the second half of our conference season. We’ve got six of our 10 (remaining regular-season league games) right here. We did a nice job of going out and getting some wins on the road to make up for some of our early losses.
“Portland State is riding a pretty high wave right now. They’re playing with a lot of confidence with four wins in a row. They’ve got a lot of talent. They really look to spread you out, and they have a lot of guys who can score – so it’s going to be a challenge.
“They’re going to shoot threes; and they like to drive and kick to their shooters or drop the ball to their bigs. They also like to drive, get fouled, and then go to the line. We’ve got to contain penetration and get into their shooters, and also rebound the ball.”
ON THE GRIZ: “We’re building and getting better from week-to-week. We’re the only team in the league that has won three road games so far in conference. Now we’ve got to take that same mentality and not slip up because we are at home. We have to stay focused and hungry, and we’re looking forward to hopefully having success here at home on Thursday night, and again hopefully on Saturday.”
RADIO: Longtime “Voice of the Griz” Mick Holien calls the play-by-play, and Greg Sundberg is the color commentator. UM’s flagship station is KGVO 1290 AM/ & 101.5 FM on the Grizzly Radio Network from Learfield Sports. (Network listed on add 4).
AUDIO STREAMING: gogriz.com/all-access.
LIVE STATS: gogriz.com/all-access.
TWITTER: @umgrizzlies_bb & umgrizzlies_sid.
VIDEO STREAMING: www.watchbigsky.com.
TV: There is no TV for the game.