Semis up next for UM men's basketball

For The Daily Inter Lake

The University of Montana men's basketball team (17-14) will play Northern Arizona (17-11) in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals tonight in Ogden, Utah.

The Grizzlies and the Lumberjacks are scheduled to tip-off at 5:05 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.

Montana, the tournament's No. 3 seed, is coming off a 70-63 overtime win over No. 6 seed Idaho State in quarterfinal action Saturday night in Missoula.

No. 4 Portland State (19-12), which won 96-71 over Montana State in the quarterfinals, takes on No. 1 seed Weber State (18-11) at 8:05 tonight.

NAU, the No. 2 seed, and Weber State had byes into the semifinals.

The two semifinal winners meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ESPN2) with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

The Grizzlies are making their 27th career trip to the Big Sky Conference's postseason tournament. Montana, the two-time defending BSC tournament champions, has won six tournaments as a member of the Big Sky Conference. UM has advanced to the last six conference tournaments.

Junior forward Andrew Strait is approaching the top 10 in career points and rebounds for Montana. Strait has scored 1,197 points (27 shy of ranking No. 10) and hauled in 517 rebounds (144 from No. 10) in 90 games.

Northern Arizona (17-11) has won five consecutive games, including seven of its last eight, entering this week's postseason tournament. NAU defeated Montana (88-81), Montana State (92-84 OT) and Northern Colorado (89-77) to close the regular season.

NAU is among the league leaders in 10 major statistical categories. They rank first in five categories: 3-point field goal percentage (.420), free throw percentage (.744), assists (18.50/game), defensive rebounds (25.18/game) and rebounding margin (+3.1). NAU is second in field goal percentage (.495), scoring offense (83.3/game) and rebounding offense (36.4/game). They are third in scoring margin (+2.4) and assist to turnover ratio (1.11).

Senior forward Ruben Boykin Jr. leads the Lumberjacks in scoring at 16.3 points per contest and is the league-leader at 9.0 rebounds per game. Fellow senior Tyrone Bazy ranks second on the team in scoring with 16.1 points per contest, while sophomore guard Josh Wilson is the Big Sky leader in assists (6.18/game) and assist/turnover ratio (2.06). Senior guard Stephen Sir, the Big Sky leader in 3-pointers made (114), comes off the bench to average 14.9 points per game.

Mike Adras is in his eighth year as head coach at Northern Arizona, accumulating a 127-105 all-time mark.

UM, which split this year with NAU, maintains a 52-27 lead in the all-time series.

Tuesday's Tournament Schedule

Big Sky Conference

At Ogden, Utah

Semifinals

N. Arizona vs. Montana, 5:05 p.m.

Weber St. vs. Portland St., 8:05 p.m.

Horizon League

Championship

Butler at Wright St., 7 p.m.

Mid-Continent Conference

At Tulsa, Okla.

Championship

Semifinal winners, 5 p.m.

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

At Raleigh, N.C.

First Round

Coppin St. vs. Bethune-Cookman, 4:30 p.m.

Hampton vs. Howard, 7 p.m.

Mountain West Conference

At Las Vegas

First Round

TCU vs. New Mexico, 8:30 p.m.

Sun Belt Conference

At Lafayette, La.

Championship

Semifinal winners, 7 p.m.

Western Athletic Conference

At Las Cruces, N.M.

First Round

San Jose St. vs. Idaho, 7:30 p.m.