A near-perfect Big Sky regular season by the Montana Grizzlies will now be rewarded in the greatest way imaginable later this month: With a trip to the NCAA tournament.
Montana's decisive 85-66 victory over No. 2-seeded Weber State officially punched the Grizzlies' ticket to the Big Dance, and proved once and for all who the No. 1 team in the Big Sky Conference was this season. Montana players connected on 12 of their 22 attempts from behind the three-point line, and only gave the ball away seven times all night.
Despite the fact that Weber State managed to take a 36-31 lead into the half, the Grizzlies used a barrage of three-pointers to change the tide and eventually put the game on ice. Montana sophomore guard Kareem Jamar played 40 minutes, never leaving the floor, and led the way with 23 points and seven assists.
Weber State junior Damian Lillard, the 2012 Big Sky Player of the Year, finished with a game-high 29 points in the defeat, and is now expected to test out the NBA draft waters. For the Grizzlies though, this is a sweet, sweet moment to bask in. Joe Lunardi's Bracketology currently lists Montana as a projected No. 15 seed, but an impressive win like this could definitely go a long way towards improving its seeding.