krobinett@journalnet.com

MISSOULA, Mont. - After an afternoon of fighting through defenders who played with everything they had and an afternoon of fighting back from never-ending deficits, Idaho State's hopes for a road sweep in Montana were blown to pieces in less than a minute and a half.

That's when the 3,821 fans at Dahlberg Arena rose to their feet on Saturday for one minute and 20 seconds and roared as the Grizzlies turned a fiercely contested basketball game into a 79-64 runaway victory over the Bengals.

What a pity. Up until then, Idaho State players had shrugged off the fact that they never once possessed a lead and really thought they were going to run their winning streak to four and move within reach of a second-place conference finish.

"We were so close so many times," senior center Lucas Steijn said. "Then they scored again and again and again. It's tough, because you look at a four-point hole like it's nothing. But they're very physical and good defensively just like we are. In a game like this, a four-point hole is huge. We couldn't ever overcome it, and they got us in the end."

That's because when Idaho State got its chance to really push Montana with 4:17 to play trailing 62-58, the Bengals couldn't capitalize on back-to-back-to-back possessions, and the Grizzlies came through in a big way.

The sequence began when Steijn caught a pass in the lane, and he decided to drive to the basket rather than spot up and take an open jumper. Steijn was having a fabulous day shooting mid-range jumpers - he made 7-of-11 shots for a team-high 14 points - and Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien had just finished telling him to keep it going by shooting every time he found space.

But at that moment, Steijn thought he could get an "and-one" layup, so he attacked.

The decision did not go well.

Steijn badly missed a running layup from the left side of the hoop, and Montana quickly answered on the other end with Ryan Staudacher's fourth 3-pointer of the game.

"I hadn't been to the line yet, and in my last few games when I have driven it, I went to the line a lot," Steijn said. "I was hoping for a foul there, but I didn't get it."

Still, Idaho State was only down seven points. A basket on its next possession would have silenced the crowd. But the Bengals couldn't get anything on that trip either.

In a melee under the basket, Idaho State grabbed four offensive rebounds in a row but missed five shots to walk away empty. In the scramble, junior guard Austin Kilpatrick fouled Montana's Anthony Johnson and sent him to the line for two shots.

That did not go well either for the Bengals. Johnson finished the game with 26 points and made all 12 of his free-throw attempts.

"That was frustrating," Kilpatrick said. "I mean, he didn't miss. Yet, we kept putting him on the line."

Now the Bengals were in trouble. Down by nine points, they needed a basket in the worst possible way. But again, Idaho State didn't go with what was working for them. This time, Kilpatrick went away from the outside shot, which he made four of on the day for 12 points, and also attacked the basket.

He dribbled into the lane and missed a floater off the back rim.

Continuing the current trend, Montana took the ball up the court and Jack McGillis drained a 3-pointer to put the Grizzlies up 70-58 with 2:53 remaining.

The game was never close again.

"I thought that shot was going down for sure, but basketball is a funny game. It will play tricks on your eyes," Kilpatrick said. "If we had hit those shots, it would have been a big momentum change and the game probably turns out different."

Instead the Bengals fell to 10-18 overall and 7-7 in the Big Sky. Montana improved to 17-10 and 11-4.

Mostly because of that key run.

"They threw us a great punch there," Montan a coach Wayne Tinkle said. "We countered it and kinda broke their spirit in that stretch."

But the Bengals hardly seemed broken after the loss. Unlike setbacks to Weber State and Sacramento State in which players looked demoralized, this time they stayed upbeat.

Their offense is still working well. For yet another game, they had multiple players score in double figures. Joining Steijn and Kilpatrick were Chron Tatum (13), Amorrow Morgan (12) and Matt Stucki (10).

And they only turned the ball over 10 times. In most games, that would mean victory for Idaho State. But on this day Montana only turned the ball over three times.

No wonder it led the whole way and held a 31-24 advantage at halftime.

That's where O'Brien pointed his finger after the loss. Without that deficit, Montana's late surge wouldn't have meant so much.

"You can look at a lot of possessions. We cut it to four points on a lot of possessions, but that game was probably lost in the first five minutes," O'Brien said. "We spent the whole rest of the afternoon trying to catch-up, and we just couldn't do it."