Idaho came out strong in its opening game of the Big Sky Conference tournament and held off the Montana Grizzlies to win 81-77 and seal a ticket to the semifinals.
Idaho head coach Don Verlin said his team played with a lot of spirit while getting the tough win.
“I thought our guys played extremely hard tonight, with a lot of heart,” Verlin said. “Pat coming up with those big offensive rebounds. The gameplan was to go down low early and I thought Ark delivered early. Time and time again. I thought Montana did a really nice job of pressuring us and not allowing us to get it down there that easily.