Cedar City, Utah - The Thunderbirds suffered a tough loss on Saturday night inside the Centrum Arena as the Montana Grizzlies handed SUU their first Big Sky Conference loss 83–66.

With the loss the Thunderbirds move to 3–9 in the regular season and 1–1 in the Big Sky Conference.

SUU head coach Nick Robinson said the Grizzlies showed how good they were during the course of the contest.

“Montana is the defending Big Sky champs, and they came out and proved it tonight,” he said. “We had two game plan options to start the game, and I chose the wrong one. We really struggled to guard (Martin) Breuning, who is one of the best players in our league and offensively we shot the same amount as they did from three in the first half in terms of attempts, and they made more than we did.”

The T-Birds and Grizzlies stayed close for a lot of the first half, but a late 7–0 run in the first frame gave Montana a 40–28 lead going into the halftime break.

Robinson said the run late in the first did have an impact on the team, and it carried over into the second 20 minutes of play

In the second half Montana took control, getting their lead to as many as 28 points. The T-Birds didn't stop fighting and made a late push to cut the lead to 14, but it wasn't enough as the Grizzlies took the contest by a final of 83–66.

Guard James McGee led the way in scoring for the Thunderbirds with 13 points, and Travon Langston and Trey Kennedy were right behind him with 12 each. Casey Oliverson was the only other T-Bird in double figures with 11.

Breunig led all scorers with 24 points and Brandon Gfeller wasn't far behind with 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting from behind the three-point line.

Montana heavily out-rebounded the Thunderbirds with a 39–20 advantage.

The Thunderbirds did find success from the free throw line, knocking down 24 of the 29 they shot in the contest.

Robinson said despite the loss there were some positive takeaways from the contest overall.

“We shot the ball extremely well from the free throw line,” he said. “I think that we were able to look at some small lineups and I liked a little bit of our fight in the second half, but once again for us we've got to play to our strengths collectively, individually, and it's got to be for forty minutes.”

Next up for the Thunderbirds will be a home matchup with rival NAU inside the Centrum Arena. Robinson said he expects to see a good Lumberjack squad next Saturday.

“Northern Arizona is a very good team,” he said. “They're extremely young, they're well coached, they've had double-overtime and overtime games, so I anticipate that it will be a close game and I anticipate that we'll have to come out and play extremely well.”

This game will be part of SUU's 'Pack the House' promotion, which gives students an opportunity to win several prizes including $1,000 cash, a meal plan from Chartwells worth $750 and a $500 gift card from the bookstore.

Attendance to all home SUU sporting events is free of charge for current SUU students. Tickets for the game can be purchased online at tbirdtickets.com or at the Centrum Ticket Office.