Delvon Anderson scored a career high 34 points Saturday night in the Dee Events Center as Montana stayed on top of the Big Sky Conference with a 77-73 win over Weber State University.
Anderson knocked down a pair of free throws with 0:02 remaining to seal the victory.For the Wildcats, it was a case of missed opportunities in the second half that spelled doom. After tying the score at 57 with 8:32 remaining, the 'Cats simply could not get a go-ahead basket despite several opportunities.
Anderson scored 12 of Montana's final 20 points after the tie.
Weber dug a hole early, dropping behind 13-2 as Anderson took control, hitting a trey to open the game and adding three straight buckets to cap the initial run.
The Wildcats then responded with a 11-2 run of their own capped by back-to-back treys from Ryan Kaps and Anthony Steward to close within two at 15-13. The Grizzlies went back up by six 23-17 as Anderson knocked down his second trey of the game from the top of the key.
The Montana lead stretched to eight at the 4:41 mark before Robbie Johnson wrapped a pair of treys around a Montana basket to trim the lead to four at 31-27. The Wildcats couldn't put together a run and went into the locker room down by nine 44-35.
Weber got back to within four early in the second half on a tip-in by Steward to make it 47-43 but Montana responded with back-to-back hoops. Weber got within a point at 51-50 following a 7-0 run only to see the Grizzlies roll off the next six points. Johnson hit his third trey of the game to spark a Weber run that tied the game at 57 on a pair of free throws from Al Hamilton.
Anderson started a Montana run with an old-fashioned three-point play when he spun in a shot on a hard foul by Dave Sivulich. Anderson capped the run with a jam moments later on a fast break.
The Montana lead went to eight at 70-62 when Roger Fasting knocked down a pair of free throws at the 4:36 mark. Weber clawed back to within one at 71-70 and had a chance to take the lead following a Montana turnover but couldn't get the ball to go down.
Another missed opportunity came when a follow by Hamilton rolled off the rim with Weber down by three at 73-71. The Wildcats got another break at the 0:38 mark when Keith Crawford missed a fastbreak jam, but Steward's trey attempt missed with 0:18 remaining and the Wildcats were forced to foul.
Anderson hit one free throw with 0:16 remaining to make it 74-71, but the Wildcats failed to grab the rebound on the second shot and moments later Crawford was at the line with 0:10 remaining. Crawford missed and Steward raced down court and nailed a 25-foot trey at the 0:03 mark to make it 75-73. But Anderson was fouled and cooly dropped in the winning free throws with 0:02 remaining to seal the win.
Fasting and Daren Engellant were the only other Grizzlies in double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively. Montana shot 53 percent from the field and 73 percent from the foul line and now stand at 9-1 in conference play and 20-2 on the year.
For Weber, Steward had 21 and Hamilton 18. Johnson added 11 and David Baldwin 10. Weber drops to 6-4 in league play and 11-10 on the year.