First of all, I was really proud of our guys tonight. After two tough losses on the road, we went right back to work on Monday and had a great attitude. We had a great week of practice and I am happy to see these kids’ hard work pay off. – Weber State head coach Randy Rahe
OGDEN — If this were a beauty contest, Montana and Weber State both would have been eliminated in the swimsuit competition.
It was that ugly.
The Wildcats, however, were able to overcome their mental mistakes and extend their lead in the second half to eventually outlast the Grizzlies 68-60 and snap a two-game skid.
“First of all, I was really proud of our guys tonight,” Weber State head coach Randy Rahe said of the win. “After two tough losses on the road, we went right back to work on Monday and had a great attitude. We had a great week of practice and I am happy to see these kids’ hard work pay off.”
After three straight games of giving up at least 80 points, Weber State came out and got after Montana (5-8, 2-1) on the defensive end to open up an early lead.
The Wildcats, led by the strong play of Joel Bolomboy and their defense, were able to open up a 30-23 lead at the break.
WSU (6-8, 1-2) then came out in the second half and looked to put the game away.
The home team went on a tear out of the gate and forced the Grizzlies into three early turnovers to extend its lead to 19 points midway through the second half before the Grizzlies came storming back.
“We came out hot. But basketball is a game of runs and we knew they would get theirs,” Bolomboy said after the game. “We feel like we executed our game plan pretty well and had the momentum for most of the game, so they were bound to go on their run.”
Montana, led by Martin Breunig’s game-high 31 points, went into a full-court press and came roaring back to eventually cut the ’Cats lead to single digits before it ran out of time.
Breunig was spectacular all game long and finished the night 14-of-18 from the field with seven boards and three dimes in the loss.
“The press messed with us a little bit. We weren’t getting to the ball and Joel had gotten into foul trouble, so that hurt us a little bit,” Jeremy Senglin said of his team’s collapse. “That was a good press. We’ve just got to work on it a little bit.”
Bolomboy and Senglin each scored a team-high 16 points and Bolomboy also grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Purple and White to their first victory of the new year.
With the win, the Wildcats snap a two-game losing streak and pick up their first conference win of the season. The ’Cats will look to win a second straight game against a tough Montana State team Saturday night.
“We’ve got to keep building our defensive foundation, because that’s the only way we are going to get a good result,” Rahe added. “I think we are starting to rebound better, and we just need to keep getting that back and keep improving those two things right there.”
Ryan Love is a full-time student at the University of Utah studying communications and has been a part-time sports writer and scoreboarder for the Deseret News since October 2012.
Follow him on Twitter @RLove7724
EMAIL: rlove@deseretnews.com