Sacramento State slips past Montana with late rally 83-79

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Marcus Graves and Jiday Ugbaja scored 18 points each to lead Sacramento State in a second half rally to edge Montana 83-79 on Thursday night.

Sacramento State (10-10, 3-6 Big Sky) trailed by as much as 20 in the first half but chipped steadily away at the deficit after the break. Graves' jumper late in the second half sparked the rally and put the Hornets on top 79-75 with 13 seconds left. Ugbaja had the go-ahead jumper during the 12-1 run.

Montana (13-8, 8-2) got two more buckets, one from Walter Wright and the other from Martin Breunig, but Sacramento State answered each time with a pair of free throws to seal it.

Eric Stuteville added 15 points for Sacramento State, Justin Strings had 13 and Jeff Wu 11.

Montana was paced by Brandon Gfeller's 21 points on six 3-pointers. Breunig added 20 points, Gavin DeJong 10 and Wright had 11 rebounds.