SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Montana men's basketball team continued its hot streak Thursday, beating Sacramento State on the road to give coach Travis DeCuire Division-I victory No. 222 to set the all-time wins mark at UM.
The Grizzlies survived a late Sac State push to prevail 60-54. It was Montana's 10th consecutive victory as it improved to 21-8 overall and 14-2 at the top of the Big Sky Conference standings.
DeCuire, head coach of the Griz since the 2014-15 season, passed the previous victories record owned by George "Jiggs" Dahlberg, a Butte native who won 221 games as Montana's coach from 1937-1955.
The Grizzlies led by 22 points at the 16:49 mark of the second half, yet had to fend off the Hornets down the stretch. Sacramento State got within four points at 58-54 after a 3-pointer by E.J. Neal with 19 seconds left, but got no closer.
Brandon Whitney had 18 points and four assists for the Griz, while teammate Te'Jon Sawyer had 12 points. Joe Pridgen added 11 points and Money Williams grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Montana continued the hot shooting it has enjoyed during its winning streak, making 50% from the floor (19 of 38) against Sac State. Pridgen and Whitney both made 5 of 6 attempts while Sawyer hit 4 of 6 from the field.
Jacob Holt's 16 points led the way for Sacramento State, but the Hornets shot just 37.6% and made only 4 of 23 3-point attempts.
Montana will look to continue its winning streak on Saturday with a game at Portland State, which defeated Montana State 69-52 on Thursday night. UM will finish the regular season at home on Monday night versus Eastern Washington.
