DILLON — The Montana Western men's basketball team delivered a signature win Monday night at Straugh Gymnasium.
Kyle Gruhler poured in a game-high 27 points and Emanuel Steward added 22 as the Bulldogs used a second-half surge to upend defending NAIA national champion and top-ranked College of Idaho 96-79 to lift Western's record to 4-0.
"It was awesome," said Gruhler who nailed six 3-pointers. "We had a great game plan coming into the game. I felt like we successfully executed our game plan. We had a great crowd, it's a great environment. As a basketball player this is the type of game you want to play in."
The Bulldogs converted 51.6% of their field goals to C of I's 35.5%.
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Western built a double-digit lead in the first half before the Yotes narrowed the deficit to 40-38 at the break thanks in large part to outrebounding the Bulldogs 26-16. But the Bulldogs responded with another big run in the second half to again take a double-digit advantage and a layup from Gruhler with 3:50 left in the game put Western up 81-67.
"(College of Idaho) got after us in the first half their offense rebounds gave us some problems," said third year Western coach Patrick Jensen. "Something that we really challenged the guys at halftime and they responded. They stepped up and were the tougher more physical team in the second half."
Mark Huber added 15 points for Western to give the Bulldogs three players in double figures.
The Yotes were led by 19 points apiece from Butte Central product Dougie Peoples and Samaje Morgan who also led the game in rebounding with 9 boards. Utrillo Morris added 14 points for the Yotes and Missoula Loyola graduate Rey Johnston had 11.
The Bulldogs now face Lewis-Clark State in Butte at the Montana Tech Tip-Off Classic on Friday while the Yotes will host Rocky Mountain College on the same day.
