Griz to face New Mexico in San Jose Thursday

Tools

By KFBB Sports_Team

Story Published: Mar 14, 2010 at 9:58 PM MST

Story Updated: Mar 14, 2010 at 9:58 PM MST

Griz to face New Mexico in San Jose Thursday
by: Staff of MontanaGrizzlies.Com
Sunday, 3/14/2010 Updated: 3/14/2010 10:09 PM

The Montana Grizzlies will open the NCAA® Men's Basketball Championship as the No. 14 seed in the East Region, facing off against the No. 3 New Mexico Lobos in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday at 7:50 p.m. (MT).

The Lobos (29-4, 14-2 Mountain West) enter the tournament ranked 8th in the AP poll. They are an at-large bid into the championships, losing to San Diego State in the MWC semifinals. They have a 6-12 record in 12 NCAA appearances, most recently a first-round loss in 2005. UNM has advanced to the second round six times in school history.

Montana (22-9, 10-6 Big Sky) earned the Big Sky automatic bid with a come-from-behind victory over Weber State in the conference tournament final. The Griz are 2-8 in eight NCAA appearances, most recently a second-round appearance in 2006. It is their first tournament bid under head coach Wayne Tinkle.

New Mexico is led by 6-foot-7 junior forward Darington Hobson, who has posted 13 double-doubles this season and averages 16.2 points per game. Montana standout Anthony Johnson averages 19.6 points per game and shoots 50.6% from the field and 88% from the free throw line. The 6-3 senior guard from Tacoma, Wash., is coming off a school record 42 points in the Big Sky championship game.

The game will be broadcast nationally by CBS, and will also be available live online for free from NCAA® March Madness on Demand®.

The winner of the Montana/New Mexico game will face the winner of No. 6 Marquette and No. 11 Washington on Saturday. The winner of that second round game advances to the Sweet Sixteen and a spot in the East Region semifinals in Syracuse, N.Y. on March 25.

Jerek Wolcott and Gordon Terpe contributed to this report.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 1000 Characters Left

Missoula - Bozeman - Local News, Weather, Sports and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

Missoula

Icon
Current Temp 25.0 °F
Fair
Wind : North at 5.8 MPH (5 KT)
Pressure : 1024.1 mb
Humidity : 69 %
More Weather

Butte

Icon
Current Temp 17.0 °F
Fair
Wind : Southwest at 3.5 MPH (3 KT)
Pressure : 1025.3 mb
Humidity : 80 %
More Weather

On Demand

Stock Quotes
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

Poll

Do you think Montana's DUI laws need to be tougher?

  • Yes
  • No

AP Video