MISSOULA, Mt. – It took Montana eight tries but the Grizzlies first-ever win over USF came with an emphatic exclamation mark Friday night at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.
 
Montana, which came into tonight's game with a 2-3 record, looked every bit the team that is predicted to win the Big Sky Conference as the Grizzlies used a strong second half to run away from USF, 82-50.
 
After leading by just four points at halftime, 28-24, Montana outscored USF 54-26 after intermission and coasted to a 32point victory. It was USF's worse lost since suffering a 87-55 defeat at Santa Clara in the 2007-08 season.
 
Martin Breunig scored 24 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor while guard Walter Wright added 20 to pace the Grizzlies, which shot 54.2 percent from the field on the night.
 
Devin Watson scored 15 points, Tim Derksen finished with 14 and Nate Renfro added 10 to lead the Dons, who saw their record even at 4-4 on the year.
 
Both teams got off a sluggish starts, as two teams combined to make just six of its first 24 shots from the floor over the first 8:24 of the contest. USF missed its first six shots and fell behind 9-0 less than five minutes into the game and trailed by as many as 14 points at 26-12 with 4:50 left before the break.
 
Despite their struggles on the offensive end the floor, the Dons were able to stay in the game largely due to their defensive play and which forced Montana into nine first half turnovers. USF outscored the Grizzlies 12-2 over the last 4:50 of the first half and trailed by just four points at the break, 28-24.
 
Any hopes USF had of carrying its momentum into the second half was quickly laid to rest by the Grizzlies. After Chase Foster hit a 3-pointer to bring the Dons to within three points at 30-27, Montana delivered the knockout punch, outscoring USF 36-11 over the next 11 minutes to open a 28-point, 66-38 lead with 6:36 left.
 
Montana led by as many as 36 points at 82-46 with 2:27 remaining in the game.
 
"We have a lot of things to work on," said head coach Rex Walters after the game. "Sometimes it's never as bad as it seems and sometimes you aren't as good as you think you are. This is a good piece of humble pie. We have to eat it, accept it and get ready for Northridge on Monday night."
 
The Dons had no inside answer to defend Breunig, who came into the game averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. After scoring five points in the first half, he made all six of his shots from the floor in the second frame en route to a game high 24 points.
 
"He really got going in the second half and made a move to try to switch a match up that wasn't the best decision on my part. It really steamrolled and then we became disjointed and some guys tried to be heroes, which doesn't work."
 
USF will return to action Monday evening when the Dons play host to the CSUN Matadors in War Memorial at the Sobrato Center. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.