Montana Grizzlies Sports, Football and Basketball : Grizzoulian

Griz fall to Washington State 66-55. The Griz trailed by only two at half before the Cougars eventually pulled away about halfway through the second half. Going into the game, this is about as much as you can ask for: hanging in there for as long as possible. This would've made an excellent signature win for this non-conference slate but the Griz put up a solid fight. The Cougars, who were ranked ninth going into the game are now, according to the media, the sixth best team in the nation.

Here's the lede from that article: "Tony Bennett wasn't surprised that his No. 9 Cougars had a rough time with unheralded Montana on Friday night.

'I had a feeling it would be a real good test,' Bennett said."

When your team carries that kind of a reputation into a game against a top ten team, things could be worse.

Grizzlies hold on for win against Air Force. The Falcons came into the game 5-0. They were down 18 at half and 23 with 17 minutes to play. Then things went bad. The Falcons used a 15-0 run to help get back in the game. Here's how it ended, courtesy of the Missoulian's lede on the game.

Cam Rundles thought he was going to be on SportsCenter for all the wrong reasons.

The sophomore buried a clutch 3-pointer to help blunt an Air Force rally during the Montana men's basketball team's 59-57 win over the Falcons on Saturday in the Cougar Hispanic College Fund Challenge at the Spokane Arena.

But that wasn't why the Griz guard thought he might show up in ESPN's highlight package. After receiving a football pass from Jordan Hasquet on an inbounds play with seconds remaining, Rundles passed the ball to an unsuspecting Greg Spurgetis, who watched the ball go through his legs and out of bounds with less than a second to play. The Falcons, though, could not muster a shot as time expired.

So what will Rundles do the next time he's in that position?

“I'm going to dribble it out,” Rundles said with a laugh and a shake of his head. “I'd have been on SportsCenter for the all-time record for the dumbest play in the world.”

The Griz did not show that killer instinct they needed to. Letting a team climb back into a game after being down 20+ is never good but a win is a win and it's a lot better being on the other side of these rallies.

Griz beat Mississippi Valley State, 69-62. The first half didn't go so well as Wayne Tinkle said his team was in "La-La Land." MVSU was up 30-28 at the break. On Friday, they only scored 29 points the entire game against Washington State. Yeah, it didn't go so well. They wanted to salvage their dignity before getting out of town but that didn't happen as the Griz pulled out the win.

Also, Matt Martin was named Big Sky Player of the Week.