GAME NOTES: The Montana Grizzlies close out a three-game road trip with a rare Sunday afternoon date against Big Sky Conference rival Eastern Washington in Cheney. The Grizzlies were in action three nights ago and had a modest two-game win streak snapped by Portland State at the Stott Center, 70-68. The loss dropped the team to just 3-5 in league play, with three straight home dates coming up in the next couple of weeks. As for the Eagles, they lost their third game in a row on Thursday night when they bowed to Montana State at home by a final of 64-57. It was the fifth setback in six games for EWU, the only win during that span being an overtime decision against Northern Colorado at home on January 17th. Montana won the first game of the season between the these two squads with an 80-61 triumph at home back on January 24th, which means the Grizzlies are now ahead in the series by a count of 50-39.

Down by a dozen points midway through the second half, Montana battled back to tie the game at 68-68 with just over two minutes to play on a jumper by Brian Qvale, but the team failed to score again in the disappointing outcome on Thursday night. Ceylon Elgin-Taylor and Matt Martin both finished with 15 points for the visitors, while Andrew Strait and Ryan Staudacher accounted for 11 and 10 points, respectively. Jordan Hasquet remains the top scorer for the Grizz, even though he failed to hit for double digits versus Portland State, posting 14.9 ppg while also leading the group on the glass with more than seven and a half rebounds per contest. Strait adds 12.1 ppg and is also a force in the paint with 6.2 rpg. The team is posting a modest 68 ppg, which is just enough to get the job done with foes putting up 64.2 ppg over the course of 21 games.

Eastern Washington's offense failed to show up against the Bobcats on Thursday night, the team hitting just 35.6 percent from the field and 4-of-20 behind the three-point line on the night. Trey Gross and Brandon Moore both tallied 12 points in the outing, with the former making a mere 3-of-10 shots from the floor. Kellen Williams registered a double-double with 11 points and a team- best 10 rebounds, but he too struggled from the field (3-of-12) and missed all five of his three-point tries. Williams hasn't been much of a perimeter threat this season at 32.9 percent, but he still leads the team in scoring with 13.0 ppg and is first with eight and a half rebounds per game. As an imposing force on the inside for the Eagles, someone should let Williams know that his 6-of-26 three-point effort in league play really isn't doing anything to help the team. Adris DeLeon, who has come down with a bout of the flu and is questionable for this contest, actually leads the team in scoring in league play with 18.3 ppg, so getting along without him will not be easy if it comes to that.

Digging out from such a deep hole and then losing in the final minutes is not an easy pill to swallow, so expect Montana to still be feeling that when they try to turn it around on the road this afternoon.