2015 Big Sky Tournament: Day 1 recap - Montana survives upset scare in OT

Weber State finally had its revenge. Meeting Montana for the fifth time in six conference tournaments, Weber was 0-4 coming in. But the hometown Grizzlies had finally been vanquished.

Jeremy Senglin hit a stepback three with 31 seconds left to put Weber State up 67-65. Ten seconds later, Richaud Gittens stole an inbound pass and had two free throws to extend Weber's lead. This was finally the time the Wildcats got one on Montana.

But Gittens missed both.

With 19 seconds left, Montana scrambled offensively and a Weber deflection led to a loose-ball melee. In a play atypical of usual basketball proceedings, the scramble ended when refs whistled Weber's Joel Bolomboy for taking out Montana senior Jordan Gregory's legs. It was a tough break for Weber, but in a game that saw 47 often-questionable fouls whistled, it was unclear what other choice the refs had on this one.

Gregory hit both of his free throws, and the game went to overtime at 67-67.

Montana took control early in overtime, but Bolomboy hit a three with 58 seconds left to cut Montana's lead to 74-73.

Montana answered by throwing the ball to Martin Breunig in the post, a good choice as the big man had 24 points. Weber doubled, and Breunig found guard Riley Bradshaw in the corner. Bradshaw drove baseline and converted his only points of the game for a 76-73 lead with 19 seconds left.

Senglin would get one more look. Weber's sophomore guard and leading scorer, who was playing for the first time in seven games after breaking his jaw, had 25 points including the huge regulation three. His stepback three was short, and Montana survived.

Breunig added 12 rebounds, while Gregory scored 18 in the win. Bolomboy added his 18 points and 10 rebounds to Senglin's 25.

Related: Big Sky bracket and schedule

(2) Eastern Washington 91
(7) Idaho 83

Tyler Harvey scored 26 in the second half en route to tie the Big Sky tournament record with 42 points. Full recap here.

(3) Sacramento State 70
(6) Portland State 60

Gary Winston scored 26 on 10-of-14 shooting, but it wasn't enough to keep up with the Sac State guard duo of Mikh McKinney and Dylan Garrity. The two scored 24 and 22 respectively, and McKinney was 3-of-3 from deep and every one seemed timely.

Sacramento State held advantage throughout the second half, with Portland State making several runs to tie or pull within one possession. The dagger came with 2:27 remaining when McKinney nailed his final three to give the Hornets a six-point lead. Sac State advances to play Eastern Washington.

(4) Northern Arizona 63
(5) Northern Colorado 57

Aaseem Dixon scored 16 and Kris Yanku added 15 to push Northern Arizona into the semifinals. The game was a battle from tip to buzzer, but Dixon clinched the win with a three-pointer at the 2:17 mark to give NAU a 58-51 lead.

NAU improved to 19-13 and has a chance for its first 20-win season since 2007-08.

The semifinals tip Friday at 5:30 pm MT.