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Show Sports Nathan's Notations FRIDAY MARCH 9 2012 Montana ends WSU's run Nathan Davis • The Signpost columnist • • -y Road trip to Mont. with #drewcruz Over the course of a three-day road trip to Montana, I earned a new nickname, met some new friends and got to do some indepth coverage of a conference tournament. On Monday afternoon, a van full of students from Weber State University news organizations set out to Missoula, Mont., to cover the Big Sky Conference Tournament. There were representatives from Weber State News, Weber FM and The Signpost in the van. We were also accompanied by Drew Tyler, Weber State News faculty adviser. The trip to Missoula included the slaughtering of two classic songs, Drew dancing, me trying some incredibly hot sauce called Wilbur's Revenge at Famous Dave's in Idaho and many stories. We learned a great deal about Drew and heard many stories from his life (most of which I can't print). Trevor Amicone and Jason Moffat from Weber State News made a YouTube video documenting all this. When we finally arrived in Montana, we unloaded the car and headed up to our rooms to crash. The next morning, we headed out to breakfast, where we were honked at once (possibly for being from Utah) and saw a guy on a motorcycle, wearing some apparently homemade riding chaps. They were crafted from what appeared to be a large blue tarp. Then we headed back to the hotel and everyone worked on various things till it was time to See Notations page 7 • 1 'MEL • • 4114.1 th t" • " Y4I PHOTO BY BRYAN BUTTERFIELD I THE SIGNPOST Weber State University's Scott Bamforth (4) and Byron Fulton (25) walk back to the locker room after the disappointing loss against the University of Montana, 85-66. WSU lost the Big Sky Championship and a bid to the NCAA tournament. 'Cats lose NCAA tournament bid 85-66 to Montana Grizzlies By Nathan Davis sports editor I The Signpost For the second time in a week, the Weber State University men's basketball team lost to the University of Montana, this time in the Big Sky Conference title game. WSU fell to the Grizzlies 85-66. Damian Lillard said he was disappointed with the loss and was hoping to get revenge against UM. "It's unfortunate," Lillard said. "I really had this game marked on my calendar. I wanted to get them back. I felt I owed it to the team." Head Coach Randy Rahe said he loved his team more than any other that he's coached and said the Grizzlies just played better down the stretch. "We came up short," Rahe said. "I thought Montana played an unbelievable second half. I haven't seen a team shoot like that in a long time. Our hat has to go off to them ... There's nothing to be ashamed of. We fought hard, but came up short." The Wildcats jumped out to an early 5-0 lead thanks to Lillard and Kyle Tresnak. WSU built a 7-2 lead three minutes into the game, but Will Cherry pulled UM within two with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Byron Fulton buried his first 3-pointer of the game a minute later to push WSU's lead back to six. After Lillard hit his second 3-pointer of the game, WSU held a 10-point lead with 13 minutes remaining in the half. After UM got two points back, Fulton pushed the Wildcat lead back to 10 after Lillard cut through the Grizzly defense and fed him the ball inside. Derek Selvig hit a 3-pointer for UM, cutting the lead to seven and getting the UM crowd back into the game with 12 minutes left in the first half. Kareem Jamar hit another 3-pointer four minutes later for UM, pulling them within five points. Then Mathias Ward hit a 12-foot jumper for UM to cut the Wildcat lead to three. Throughout the game, there were many contested fouls, but Rahe said that wasn't the reason for WSU's loss. "They have nothing to do with the game," Rahe said. "That's all I'm going to say." While WSU controlled the opening stages of the first half, the latter stages were tightly contested with the two teams going back and forth. The UM fans were a strong voice throughout the game. At one point, they chanted "overrated" at Lillard, who racked up See Basketball page 7 Wildcats fall to Seattle by one point Wildcats fall 4-3 By Hector Valencia sports reporter I The Signpost PHOTO BY BRYAN BUTTERFIELD I THE SIGNPOST Weber State University's Annika Karlsen hits the ball. Karlsen earned her first singles win of the season on Friday in the match against Seattle University. As a team, WSU lost 4-3 at the Ogden Athletic Club. WSU will be playing at the University of Montana today for a conference rival game. The Weber State University women's tennis team lost by one point, falling 4-3 against Seattle University last week. The matches were held at the Ogden Athletic Club. The Redhawks won all three doubles matches, which proved to be the deciding point after the two teams split the six singles matches. The Wildcats came up just shy in two of the three matches, falling 8-6 at both the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. "I think we saw improvement since the last time we played them; we saw a lot more fight, which is good," said senior Brittiny Moore. "I think if we put more confidence in ourselves, we would have beat them. We needed a quicker start and confidence, and we would have had the doubles point, which could have changed the outcome of singles." She said she thinks the team did not play as confidently as it needed to. "It was a good performance, but not a confident one," Moore said. "I think if we put more attitude into the way we play, we would see a huge difference." Moore, Ashley Tanner and Annika Karlsen each won in singles for the 'Cats. Moore took down Alexandra Farrar 6-3, See Tennis page 7 |