BOISE, Idaho — They may not have quite the depth and savvy of their Big Sky Conference tournament championship team from last season, but the Montana Grizzlies are still plenty dangerous this time of year.
And when you have a scoring machine like the aptly named Money Williams, you're already in great shape.
Montana's Williams, the league's leading scorer, poured in a career-high 40 points and the fourth-seeded Griz hung on to beat No. 5 Northern Colorado 95-89 in their second-round matchup at the Big Sky men's basketball tournament Monday at Idaho Central Arena.
With the win, UM (17-15) advanced to Tuesday's semifinals to face top-seeded Portland State. The Griz swept the Vikings in two regular-season matchups this year.
It was the first 40-point game by a Grizzly since the late Anthony Johnson had 42 in the Big Sky championship game against Weber State in 2010.
Williams was asked afterward when he knew he was destined for such a high-output performance.
"Since I woke up," Williams said with a laugh. "I've been here before. We won the whole thing last year, and having younger guys I just want to play for them and just play my heart out for the coaching staff as well."
The Grizzlies took the lead early and never relinquished it despite Northern Colorado's best efforts in the late stages.
A driving shot by Te'Jon Sawyer put Montana up 28-20 at the 7:58 mark of the first, and then Brooklyn Hicks hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to make it a double-digit advantage.
Montana closed the first half with a flurry, as Tyler Thompson splashed two 3s in the final 1:22 before the break to send the Griz into the locker room with a 49-32 lead.
And, of course, there was Williams. The junior guard made 10 of 21 from the floor but was especially deft from the foul line, making 18 of 19 at the stripe.
Williams, who came in averaging a Big Sky-high 19.6 points per game, eclipsed his previous career-high output of 36 points, which he achieved in a game against Portland State on March 1 of last season. It was his eighth career 30-point game.
He had just four second-half field goals but was true on 14 of 15 foul shots after halftime. Williams now ranks 12th in the country with 190 made free throws.
"That's just kind of what Money does," said UNC coach Steve Smiley. "And he's a great player. We told the guys, you know, we're getting the A++ version of him tonight. And they've got a great coaching staff and they were going to find some different ways to get him loose and get him open."
"I knew they were going to be ultra aggressive," Williams said. "So just matching that intensity, I knew I was going to be able to get angles and get to the foul line."
Northern Colorado pared its deficit to 58-49 at the 15:29 mark of the second half after a 3-pointer by Ibu Yamazaki. And it became a four-point game — 76-72 — after Quinn Denker hit one from the arc with under 5:00 remaining.
UNC kept hanging around, making it an 81-78 game with a layup by Denker with 2:07 on the clock. Two Williams foul shots gave Montana a five-point cushion, but Yamazaki then hit a corner 3 off a pump fake and suddenly the Grizzlies' advantage was down to 83-81 with 1:31 to go.
A Brock Wisne shot pulled UNC within 91-89 with 12 seconds left, but the game was essentially sealed on a press-breaker dunk by Kenyon Aguino.
Trapped in the corner, Thompson rose over two defenders and found Aguino leaking down down the floor all alone. It was the second time the Griz found Aguino for a breakaway dunk against UNC's press.
Montana coach Travis DeCuire called the play "huge."
"It takes a level of toughness to be trapped in the corner and the two closest guys are being denied," DeCuire said. "There's a level of patience and toughness to fight off a double team.
"It just shows signs of wanting to win when you make yourself available at tough times, and Kenyon found open spots — twice — when we were kind of in a hard spot."
Williams added two more free throws with 1.1 seconds left to reach the 40-point plateau just for good measure.
Montana's game against top-seeded Portland State (21-10) tips off Tuesday at 7 p.m. Northern Colorado's overall record dipped to 20-13.
Big Sky men's tournament scoreboard
Saturday, March 7
Game 1: No. 9 Idaho State 73, No. 10 Northern Arizona 65
Game 2: No. 7 Idaho 68, No. 8 Sacramento State 45
Sunday, March 9
Game 3: No. 1 Portland State 85, No. 9 Idaho State 78
Game 4: No. 7 Idaho 78, No. 2 Montana State 74
Monday, March 10
Game 5: No. 4 Montana 95, No. 5 Northern Colorado 89
Game 6: No. 3 Eastern Washington vs. No. 6 Weber State, 8:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 11
Game 7: No. 1 Portland State vs. No. 5 Montana 7:00 p.m.
Game 8: No. 7 Idaho vs. Game 6 winner, 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 12
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 9:30 p.m., championship
