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Ogden • Sole possession of first place was on the line Saturday night when Weber State hosted its last game of the regular season. And the Wildcats move into their last two road contests not only at the top of the Big Sky standings, but with some big confidence.

Without injured big man Joel Bolomboy, the Weber State reserves stepped up in a 60-54 victory over the Montana Grizzlies.

"I thought our bench was what won the game for us tonight," Wildcats coach Randy Rahe said.

Montana (18-9, 13-3) got off to a good start behind post Martin Breuning, who banked in four shots off the glass in the first eight minutes for an 11-8 lead. During that span, Weber State (22-7, 14-2) got production from center Zach Braxton alone — as the freshman was the only scorer.

Eventually, it was sophomore Dusty Baker who stepped off the bench and to the fore as he ended up with 20 points to lead Weber.

"It's definitely the best game I've played," Baker said. "I felt comfortable, felt confident, felt aggressive. I kind of lost that sometimes this year — I lost that passion, that aggressiveness. I think I got it back tonight."

Another bench player, freshman Cody John, gave Weber State it's first lead when he drilled a 3-pointer with 8:42 left in the first half for an 18-17 advantage. Baker followed that with a three-point play and then a 3-pointer from beyond the arc.

John, who had 13 points, then finished off the 11-point run with a hoop on a goaltending call against the Grizzlies.

"Freshmen sometimes, they're up and down, they're all over the place — and he's been that way a little bit," said Rahe of John. "But he's got the ability, and he was a big spark off the bench.

"I thought his defense was really, really good tonight," Rahe added. "He's a little bigger guard and when you put him on some of their guys who aren't quite as big, he kind of swallows them up a little bit."

The spurt that put the Wildcats ahead for good came with a 9-0 run to break a 39-39 tie in the second half.

Until three minutes left in the contest, when Montana guard Michael Oguine suddenly caught fire, scoring 12 points in the closing moments, the Grizzlies were hampered offensively. Oguine finished with 21 points while Breuning accounted for 15.

"I think both teams were good defensively. We both played hard, did a good job defending each other's sets," Montana coach Travis DeCuire said. "When we forced turnovers, we didn't necessarily score off of them. They did."

It was senior night for Weber State, but Bolomboy is the Wildcats' only player about to graduate. And his only time on the court was getting recognized along with his family in a pregame ceremony.

Bolomboy bruised a knee against Northern Arizona a week ago.

"He wanted to be out there so bad, his parents and sisters came up [for the game]," Rahe said. "He is an absolute poster child for the kind of people we want in our program. He has incredible character and tremendous values. I absolutely love him to death." Big Sky standings

Conference All Games

W L PCT W L PCT

Weber St. 14 2 .875 22 7 .759

Montana 13 3 .813 18 9 .667

Idaho 10 6 .625 18 11 .621

E. Washington 10 6 .625 16 12 .571

N. Dakota 10 6 .625 15 12 .556

Idaho St. 10 6 .625 15 13 .536

Montana St. 7 9 .438 12 16 .429

Portland St. 6 10 .375 10 17 .370

N. Colorado 6 10 .375 9 19 .321

Sacramento St. 4 12 .250 11 16 .407

S. Utah 3 13 .188 5 21 .192

N. Arizona 3 13 .188 5 22 .185

Saturday's games

North Dakota 97, Sacramento St. 71

Idaho 66, Eastern Washington 62

Southern Utah 69, Northern Arizona 59

Portland State 89, Northern Colorado 86

Weber State 60, Montana 54

Idaho State 76, Montana State 69

Weber State 60, Montana 54

MONTANA (18-9)

Breunig 7-16 1-1 15, Gfeller 0-3 0-0 0, Krslovic 1-5 0-0 2, Wright 1-7 2-4 4, Oguine 8-16 5-7 21, Dunn 3-4 0-0 6, Bradshaw 0-0 0-0 0, Moorehead 1-6 0-0 3, DeJong 0-1 0-0 0, Lopez 1-3 0-0 3, Boehning 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 8-12 54.

WEBER ST. (22-7)

Richardson 0-5 0-0 0, Hill 1-6 3-4 5, Braxton 5-6 3-6 13, Cannon 0-2 0-0 0, Senglin 3-10 0-0 8, John 3-6 6-8 13, Gittens 0-3 1-2 1, Baker 5-6 7-9 20. Totals 17-44 20-29 60.

Halftime—Weber St. 30-22. 3-Point Goals—Montana 2-11 (Lopez 1-2, Moorehead 1-4, Wright 0-1, Oguine 0-1, Gfeller 0-3), Weber St. 6-22 (Baker 3-4, Senglin 2-8, John 1-2, Cannon 0-1, Gittens 0-2, Richardson 0-5). Fouled Out—Dunn. Rebounds—Montana 38 (Breunig, Oguine 8), Weber St. 34 (Braxton 7). Assists—Montana 4 (Wright 2), Weber St. 5 (Gittens, Senglin 2). Total Fouls—Montana 25, Weber St. 14. Technical—Weber St. Bench. A—8,960.