MISSOULA, Mont. – Montana's efficient shooting display helped propel the Grizzlies past Idaho, 81-62, on Thursday night at Dalberg Arena.

The Vandals started the game shorthanded with nine players dressed and two coaches not making the trip.

"We are a little depleted right now," Head coach Zac Claus said. "I just finished telling the team, 'I love their resiliency.' It doesn't matter what gets thrown in our way, they keep coming back for more. We lost to a really good Montana team tonight. It wasn't our night."

Junior Trevante Anderson was instrumental in keeping the Vandals within striking distance through the first half and midway through the second, scoring 22 points on 8-14 shooting from the floor. The 6-1 guard also added three rebounds and three assists on the night.

Forward Tanner Christensen was effective in the paint scoring in double figures for the sixth time this season with 10 points and seven rebounds while Rashad Smith recorded 10 points off the bench.

Montana was consistent on the offensive end all night, shooting 54 percent from the field and 80 percent from the foul line.  Eight players for the Griz scored while four recorded double figures led by Josh Bannan's 18 points.

Anderson kicked off the game with back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the score at 7-7 before Montana went on a 14-2 run to go up double digits. Later in the period with 3:47 remaining the first half and the Vandals trailing 32-18, Idaho went on an 11-3 run to go into halftime down six.

The Vandals were able to keep it within a two-possession game in the opening period by shooting 52 percent from the field and 66.7 from three. Anderson scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half.

UM pushed it to a 10 point game one minute into the second half and the Vandals were able to keep the deficit there until the 11:47 mark when Montana started a 13-4 run that extended their lead to 69-50 with 8:14 left to play. Idaho was unable to cut into the Grizzlies lead as the home team came away with a win.

Leading scorer Mikey Dixon finished the game with zero points after being in foul trouble throughout most of the game.

"You are going to have a night like that every so often where it is just not clicking for you," Claus said. "We ask so much of him physically and simply from a scoring standpoint and every once in a while the shots don't go for you. If I know that young man at all, I know he will be raring to go come Saturday."

The Grizzlies forced the Vandals into 15 turnovers, scoring 20 points off those takeaways en route to a victory.

Idaho moves to 5-15 (2-8) on the season while Montana goes to 14-6 (7-2).

Next up: The Vandals will try to bounce back from the loss when they travel to Bozeman to face Montana State for the second time this season. The game is set for Saturday, Jan. 29 at 3 p.m. Pacific Time.

--