Missoula, MT - There was more excitement inside Dahlberg Arena on Monday night than there was in Mercedes-Benz stadium. 

That's because the Idaho Vandals did what Notre Dame couldn't: compete with a high-level opponent from tip-off to final buzzer. The contest went the way of the host Montana Grizzlies with a score of SCORE. 

You only needed the edge of your seat early, as both teams took shots from beyond the arc within the first few minutes. Ultimately, the shooting proved to be the difference in the first half, as Montana went 13-23 (56%) in 20 minutes while Idaho posted 9-31 (29%), led in large part by the first-name duo of Tyler Mrus and Tyler Linhardt. Mrus was 3-5 (60%) from beyond the arc halfway through, while Linhardt went 2-4 (50%).

Unfortunately for the black and gold, the maroon and silver was hot in front of their home crowd and answered every Idaho point with more of their own. The Griz shot PERCENT while holding the Vandals to NUMBER

That means this thing got away, right? Not so fast.

In some of the greatest basketball ever played by the Vandals in this arena, they began a massive 11-0 run to bring the score within three at 61-64, bolstered by Kyson Rose coming off the bench and putting up eight points in the second half alone. Despite the efforts, the Griz put up a few more crucial points and the final buzzer rang with the score of 72-67 Montana.

Tyler Mrus led the way for the Vandals with 12 points off of shooting 4-6 (66%) from three. Isaiah Brickner and Tyler Linhardt each came off the bench and put up 10 of their own as the team shot 40% altogether. Idaho also had more steals (6) than Montana (5) and also grabbed more rebounds (33) than the foe (31).

The Vandals return to action with a quick turnaround, hosting the Northern Colorado Bears on Thursday night and the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Saturday in the ICCU Arena.