MISSOULA, Mont. -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team started their final road trip of the 2018-19 season on Saturday, which resulted in a 70-54 loss to the Montana Grizzlies.

The result moves the T-Birds to 14-13 on the season and 9-9 in the Big Sky Conference. With the victory the defending Big Sky champs remain on top of the league standings.  

The entirety of the first half stayed close, as neither team led by more than five points through the opening 20 minutes. The Grizzlies led the contest 29-28 at the break.

Montana started the second half hot, building an eight point lead with 15:30 to play. The T-Birds responded quickly, and free throws by Brandon Better cut the Griz lead back down to one. The two teams traded baskets, but a 7-0 run by Montana that featured a lob dunk and a three pointer pushed the Griz lead to 13.

The Thunderbirds weren't able to push the Montana lead back under double-digits, giving the Griz a victory at home. Montana outscored SUU 41-26 in the second half.

"It was the tale of a couple halves," SUU head coach Todd Simon said following the contest. "I thought we did a pretty good job for most of the first half. Obviously foul trouble really hurt us, especially in the second where Andre (Adams) gets his third early on and that changes our defensive scheme. To their credit they took advantage, and they had a good day on their senior night."

Cameron Oluyitan led SUU in scoring with 10 points. Better and Maizen Fausett both finished with nine points for SUU.

The T-Birds shot just 40 percent from the field, compared to Montana's 53 percent.  

Sayeed Pridgett led the Griz in scoring with 20.

The T-Birds will be back on the hardwood Monday as they'll face off against the Montana State Bobcats in Bozeman.

"We've just got to bring a consistent 40 minute effort," Simon said. "We've got to keep our key guys out foul trouble and we've got to battle. We can't give them anything easy. And we've got to make shots, shooting on the road has been an issue for us all year long and we've got to do a better job with that."

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Read all about the Thunderbirds on www.suutbirds.com.

Individual game tickets for the 2018-19 Season are available at www.tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.