Southern Utah broke an eight-game Montana winning streak Monday with a 74-65 victory sparked by 20-point contributions from Davor Marcelic and Dana Achtzehn.
In winning its own fifth straight game, Southern Utah capitalized on an 81.5 percent performance at the free throw line, hitting 22 of 27 compared to 3 of 5, or 60 percent, for the Grizzlies.Thunderbird Rod Dixon hit eight of those free throws in the final 1:28.
It was the second straight victory by the T-Birds over a Big Sky Conference team. On Saturday they defeated Weber State.
Southern Utah (6-2) took its biggest lead of the first half when Marcelic hit a 3-pointer with 5:05 remaining to put the score at 30-21, but Montana (8-1) pulled with 36-29 by intermission.
In the second half, Southern Utah ran the advantage to 45-33 with four points each from Marcelic and Achtzehn, only to see Montana come back with a 16-2 run to take a 49-47 lead after Roger Fasting hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
Southern Utah retaliated with a 16-5 run fueled by three points each from Marclic and Rick Roberts to lead 63-54 with 3:45 left in the game. Dixon's free throws sealed Montana's first loss of the season.
Daren Engellant led Montana of the Big Sky Conference with 20 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Fasting finished with 11.