MISSOULA, Mont. – The Idaho men's basketball team (7-15, 1-7 BSC) held a seven-point lead with under six minutes to go, but Montana stepped up defensively and made shots from the foul line late to help earn a 73-70 victory on Thursday night at Dahlberg Arena. 

Junior guard Quinn Denker found his groove offensively, scoring a game-high 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. The offensive output by Denker was the third game of 20 more points by the San Jose native this season. He also added five rebounds, five assists and one block. 

Julius Mims and D'Angelo Minnis scored in double figures to help Idaho on the offensive end. Mims posted 15 points and seven rebounds while Minnis added 12 points and three assists.

Right from the opening tip, the Vandals looked comfortable on the offensive end making three of their first four shots from behind the arc. After trailing by five (6-11) in the early going, Idaho used a 15-0 run powered by six points from Minnis and four points by Mims to jump out to a 21-11 lead with 11:30 to play. The Vandals kept the Grizzlies at bay for the next six minutes of action before Montana went on a 10-3 run to bring it to a one-possession game (36-33) with just over three minutes to play.

The remainder of the half saw Denker hit a hook shot in the paint, a layup by EJ Neal and four made free throws by Montana to make it a 40-37 lead for Idaho at the break. 

The Vandals were effective shooting the basketball in the opening 20 minutes, totaling a 55.2 percent (16-29) clip from the field and 54.5 percent (6-11) from three. 

Idaho led by no more than two possessions for over 14 minutes in the second half. A pair of threes from Denker and Mims made it a seven-point game (66-59) with 5:31 remaining before Montana answered with back-to-back threes to make it 66-65. 

Denker made a driving layup on the following possession before each team went scoreless for almost two minutes of action. Montana scored the next five points to take its first lead since the 15:22 mark in the first half. 

Idaho answered with a layup by Minnis on the other end to tie it at 70-70 but the Grizzlies finished the job at the foul line. 

Montana took advantage at the charity stripe, shooting 17-of-23 compared to just 5-of-6 by the Vandals.

Up Next
Idaho will look forward to another matchup down the road in Bozeman, as the team travels to face Montana State on February 3 at 5 p.m. PST. 

POSTGAME WITH COACH PRIBBLE

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