In a tough battle for the third-place spot in the Big Sky Conference, the University of Idaho Vandals and Montana Grizzlies fought until the end in a late-game thriller. The Vandals started the game off strong by scoring eight-straight unanswered points.
However, due to long scoring runs and massive momentum swings, Idaho dropped a Saturday afternoon contest to Montana 73-68 and fell to (13-11, 5-6). For the Vandals, this marks the ninth straight loss against the Grizzlies, and they haven’t beaten them on the road since 2017.
The Vandals had a great first half defensively, allowing the Grizzlies to put up only 19 points, which is the lowest total allowed by a Vandals defense since the 2015-16 season opener against San Jose State.
Something clicked for Montana in the second half because they put up 54 points against the Vandals. Montana closed out the 10-point deficit from the first half early into the second half, and the Vandals almost came back at the end of the game just to end up losing by five points.
After a tough last three games, senior guard Biko Johnson found a couple of much-needed buckets during the first four minutes, putting four on the board during the run. The senior pulled a turnaround floater out of his bag of tricks to give the Vandals a quick 8-0 lead.
Johnson ended the game with 22 points while shooting eight of 14 and recording six rebounds, leading the team in both categories. This is Johnson’s eighth time scoring 20 or more points this season.
The Vandals are currently in fifth place in the Big Sky Conference and are fighting for a first-round bye in the conference tournament, which starts on Mar. 7, as the top six placers are awarded a bye for the first round.
The rest of the Vandals’ seven games until then are conference games, so it is crucial for them to win as many as possible. The next game the Vandals have is against Weber State, who, after the loss to Montana, the Vandals are right behind.
Idaho will return to Idaho Central Credit Union Arena in need of some confidence and some wins in the win column.
The Vandals will battle the (12-13, 6-6) Weber State Wildcats. The Vandals and Wildcats will tip off on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m.