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MISSOULA- The biggest game of the season so far didn't go the Grizzlies way. Montana's men made the always difficult trip to Weber State carrying a perfect 4-0 record in Big Sky play while the Wildcats brought a 5-0 mark into the showdown.

The Griz kept it close at first, and led by two 10 minutes into the game, but then the Wildcats finished the first half on a 30-15 run and the Griz never got closer than eight down the stretch.

Montana lost 80-64 and also let go of their hold on first place in the conference. Head coach Wayne Tinkle wishes his team had a do-over.

"We're the best team in the league defensively, and I think we gave up 40-something and low 50's in the previous two games. To give up 49 in a half was just way out of character. And our guys weren't disappointed in the loss. They were disappointed in how we lost," Tinkle said.

They knew that we didn't give them our best. And so, we'll go back. We don't need to change anything. We just need to continue to practice hard, and improve in those areas. And know that we'll be a little different team the next time we meet up with them," he concluded.

Meanwhile they Lady Griz had better luck over the weekend and ended up turning in a perfect week on the court. Montana handled both Northern Arizona and Weber State for a pair of victories in Dahlberg Arena, improving their Big Sky record to 3-1.

Robin Selvig's club struggled offensively, but won once again with stout defense against NAU on Thursday. They then used a completely different script on Saturday, out-scoring the Wildcats with 77 points, their second highest total this season.

The ladies now head out on the road, but lately Montana has played even better away from Missoula.

"We have a lot of players back from last year. We were 4-4 in the league last year at home, and 6-2 on the road. We went out and got some huge road wins. So I'm hoping that kind of confidence is there still. Obviously we opened beating a very good Eastern team there. So I kind of figure we're good on the road, and we're going to need to be," Selvig said.

The men play host to Northern Colorado on Thursday and Sacramento State on Saturday with both games starting at 7 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena. The Lady Griz will be in Greeley to take on Northern Colorado in a 7 p.m. Thursday start and then take on Sacramento State Saturday in a 2p.m. local time start.

Contact Derek Buerkle