Montana tangles with EWU

The Daily Inter Lake

MISSOULA - It's madness time in Missoula.

The Montana Grizzlies host Eastern Washington today in a Big Sky Conference tournament quarterfinal men's basketball game today at 2 p.m. at Dahlberg Arena. In the other quarterfinal, Weber State is at Sacramento State.

The Griz are coming off a solid win at Northern Arizona on Monday in the regular season finale, shooting 55 percent from the field and outrebounding the Lumberjacks 42-27.

Eastern gained entrance to the conference tourney courtesy of the Grizzlies' win over NAU. The Eagles are just 8-19 overall, and Montana swept the season series, including a narrow 55-53 win Feb. 24 at Dahlberg.

"If we've proven one thing in the last month, it's that we can compete with anybody who is playing in the conference tournament right now," first-year Eagles coach Mike Burns said. "What we haven't proven is that we can beat them. We have a golden opportunity. "

Montana finished tied with rival Montana State for second place in the Big Sky, but was relegated to the third seed because of two losses to the Bobcats. As a result, MSU gets a first round bye, along with regular season champ Portland State.

The Griz feature a balanced offense led by forward Kamarr Davis and guard Kevin Criswell. Davis averaged 15 points on the year and Criswell scored 12.7 points a game.

Eastern's primary option is senior forward Marc Axton, averaging 16.4 points.

The winner of the two quarterfinal games advance to the semifinals at Portland's Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday.

The Vikings did not play a game at the Glass Palace. Their on-campus home, the Stott Center, isn't much bigger than a high school gym, so the former home of the Trail Blazers gets pressed into service as the 11th host city for the Big Sky tournament.