GAME NOTES: The Montana Grizzlies will play five of their next six games at Dahlberg Arena, beginning on Sunday night with a non-conference matchup against the North Dakota State Bison.

NDSU had won four straight games prior to its most recent contest when it lost on the road to Southern Miss on Wednesday, 78-65. The Bison, the reigning Summit League champions, are 4-3 on the season.

Montana avenged an 0-2 start to the season with back-to-back wins in late November, but it has since fallen back on its losing ways with two straight setbacks to dip to 2-4. The Grizzlies put together a great fight at California on Wednesday night but came up short in double overtime, 78-76.

Montana leads the all-time series with NDSU, 5-2, although the sides haven't met up since the 1988-89 season.

The Bison dug themselves a big hole early in their latest game, as they went into intermission trailing by 18, and while they showed improvement after intermission they could never get closer than 10 points of the lead. It was a solid shooting night for the squad, which shot 46.3 percent from the field and made nine 3-pointers, but it had no answer for red-hot USM, which shot greater than 64 percent. Lawrence Alexander was on point from beyond the arc at 7- of-11 on his way to 23 points. Carlin Dupree poured in 16 points and Dexter Werner came off the bench to contribute 13 points and eight rebounds.

Putting points on the board has been a struggle for NDSU all season long. It shoots less than 40 percent from the field for 64.1 ppg, a showing that isn't good enough to support its scoring defense (69.3 ppg). Alexander has transcended the struggles of most of his teammates by scoring 16.0 ppg while knocking down 23-of-50 from 3-point range (.460). A.J. Jacobson (10.0 ppg), Kory Brown (9.2 ppg) and Paul Miller (8.9 ppg) have also been solid.

The Grizzlies trailed by two points in the second overtime but lost out on an opportunity to extend or win the game by missing four straight free throws in the final few seconds. It was part of a dreadful 11-of-23 showing from the foul line on the night, which spoiled a solid 42.6 percent field goal effort. They were also outrebounded by a convincing 45-33 margin. Jordan Gregory was outstanding in spite of the loss with 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Martin Breunig also scored 23, while Jermaine Edmonds netted 12.

Much like its opponent in this matchup, Montana has not had much success on the offensive end of the floor this season. It shoots only 41.9 percent from the field (including 31.6 percent from 3-point range) en route to 67.8 ppg, and to make matters worse it doesn't have a great scoring defense either (70.5 ppg). Breunig (15.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg) is one of the few standouts, as he shoots greater than 61 percent from the field. Gregory (12.7 ppg) is the only other player in double figures. Mario Dunn and Mike Weisner chip in 8.2 ppg apiece.

In what is excepted to be a low-scoring affair, figure for the Grizzlies to bounce back from their tough road defeat in their return home against the up- and-down Bison.