Battle of the Bears

Tuesday night’s Big Sky Conference semifinal game between the University of Montana Grizzlies and the University of Northern Colorado Bears was decided in the final four minutes of the game, with the Grizzlies coming away with a 68-63 victory.
In spite of holding a 14-point lead with eight minutes remaining in the game, UM had to fight off a 17-3 run by the Bears before capturing the victory Tuesday night. UNC, the No. 2 seed in the conference, and UM, the No. 4 seed, battled through eight ties and six lead changes before final buzzer sounded.
“They showed the heart of a lion tonight,” said UM Head Coach Wayne Tinkle, “and I’m just super proud of our guys tonight. Watching that run and not panicking, and we ended up on our own little run to secure the victory.”
UM jumped out to a quick lead in opening minutes of the game, holding an 11-5 lead before UNC went on a 16-4 run to take a 21-15 lead. The Grizzlies responded quickly with an 8-2 run to tie the game again at 23. At halftime, UM held a narrow 33-32 lead.
The Grizzlies came into the second half with renewed drive, pulling away with a 14-point lead and seemingly easy victory with eight minutes remaining on the clock.
“Nobody felt worse than (UM guard Will Cherry) after the first half,” Tinkle said. “I grabbed him before the start of the second half and said, Will, if you want to play in the championship game tomorrow, you need to step up for us this half. He gave me a little wink and a shot in the arm, and certainly did that for us.”
The Bears answered, using three consecutive three-point shots to help tie the game with just less than four minutes to go. After four traded possessions with no score, UM scored a layup, taking a two-point lead. UNC responded with another three-point shot, resulting in a one-point lead for the Bears.
A pair of UM free throws put the Grizzlies up by one point. On their next possession, UM’s Cherry made a jump shot over UNC guard Will Figures to expand the lead to three.
“I almost slipped,” Cherry said, “and when I got up I looked at the clock, and it was at five seconds. I heard Coach Tinkle yelling, and I just went left. They know I go left a lot, so I just spun back and shot it over Figures, and as it went in, the whole team just jumped up in excitement.”
Two more free throws gave the Grizzlies the 68-63, as well as the win.
“We’re obviously very disappointed,” said UNC Head Coach Tad Boyle. “We had a great year, and we hate to see it end like this. We’re disappointed, but our hats are off to Montana. Congratulations to them. I’m proud of our guys. I don’t think experience was a factor tonight. Tradition might have been, but experience wasn’t.”
UM guard Anthony Johnson said even when the game was close, he believed the Grizzlies would come away with a victory.
“It doesn’t matter how well you play the first 30, or even 35, minutes of the game,” he said. “It’s all about closing out the game, and we had the opportunity to do it. I had faith in our team, and I knew we were going to win the game. I knew we were going to make the plays down the stretch. That’s all I said, and the guys bought into it.”
The Grizzlies now look forward to facing Weber State University in the Big Sky Championship game Wednesday night.
“I was asked to pick one word to sum up the season,” Johnson said, “and the word I chose was destiny. I really feel that we’re in this moment for a reason, and everything we’ve gone through to this point has been battle-tested. We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”