MISSOULA, Mont. – Northern Arizona led Montana at the half, but the Griz battled back in the second to top the Lumberjacks 64-57 at Dahlberg Arena. Montana scored 40 points in the second half to come away with the victory and improve to 9-8, 5-1 in the Big Sky.

"We dug ourselves into a hole in the second half," said head coach Jack Murphy. "There's no way we can shoot 28 percent in the second half on the road and come away with the win. We started the game off well, but that's not how we finished tonight. In order to win on the road, we're going to have to finish. We now need to learn from our mistakes and focus on our next game."

Northern Arizona (8-11, 3-3 Big Sky) was led by Quinton Upshur's 20 points, but the Lumberjacks shot 28.6 percent in the second half to stop a two-game winning streak over the Griz.

The game started off sloppy with both NAU and Montana missing shots and turning the ball over, but the teams were able to slow the pace down and run a few plays.

The Griz jumped out to a 4-0 start, but Upshur rattled off four straight points with a layup and a pair of free throws to tie the game at 4-All.  UM took the lead back with a jump shot by Martin Breunig, but that would be the last time the Griz would lead in the half. After a reverse lay-in by Gaellan Bewernick, Ako Kaluna scored seven straight points for NAU putting the Lumberjacks up by five. NAU's largest lead of the half came after Upshur hit a long range trey to give NAU the 25-14 edge.

Montana scored the final basket of the half with Jordan Gregory nailing a three-pointer, but it was NAU that entered the locker room up 31-24 backed by 12 points from Upshur.

Jordyn Martin scored the first bucket of the second half, but Montana went on an 8-0 run, including back-to-back three-pointers to cut NAU's lead to one.

It became a three-point fest for a little bit with both teams connecting on each end.

For the Griz, it was hot shooting by Gregory that kept them in the game. Gregory was hitting three-pointers from all over the court as he carried Montana to a 49-40 lead with 7:37 remaining in the game.

Free throws by Aaseem Dixon and Martin saw NAU trim the Griz' lead to 51-46 with 3:49 left to play.

Montana was able to have an answer for every NAU counter. NAU fought all the way to the end, but there wasn't enough time left in the game and with Martin and Kaluna fouling out, the Lumberjacks were running out of big men to sub in.

Gregory led Montana in scoring with 31 points, 21 from three-point range. Breunig was second in scoring for the Griz with 16 points and six rebounds. Montana shot 50 percent from the floor in the second half and 71.4 percent from three-point range to seal the win.

Notes: Double figure scoring games: Quinton Upshur (15), Jordyn Martin (4)…Gaellan Bewernick grabbed seven rebounds to move up to No. 7 on the NAU career rebounds chart with 608…NAU loss to Montana for the first time since 2013.