Latest Montana sports: BSKY-ALL TOURNAMENT

UM's Johnson named MVP of Big Sky tourney

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - University of Montana guard Anthony Johnson was named the MVP of the Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament.

Johnson scored a career high 42 points as Montana rallied for a 66-65 win over Weber (WEEB'-er) State in the title game, earning the league's automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Montana trailed 40-20 at halftime before Johnson broke through with 34 points in the second half. Weber State scored just 25 points after the break.

Montana forward Derek Selvig also earned all-tournament team honors along with Damian Lillard and Franklin Session of regular season champion Weber State, Julius Thomas of Portland State and Will Figures of Northern Colorado.

WAC-BOISE ST-UTAH ST

Utah State's streak hits 16 with 84-60 victory

RENO, Nev. (AP) - Tai Wesley, Brian Green and Pooh Williams each scored 18 points to lead Utah State to its 16th win in a row, 84-60 over Boise State in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament Thursday.

Jared Quayle added 13 points and 13 rebounds and Wesley also notched a double-double with 10 rebounds for the top-seeded Aggies (26-6), who outrebounded Boise State 47-27. Utah State advances to Friday's semifinal against Louisiana Tech.

Daequon Montreal had 16 points and Robert Arnold 14 points and eight rebounds for the Broncos (15-17), who shot 38 percent from the field compared to Utah State's 53 percent.

Green was 7 of 10 from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

He had two 3-pointers and a 17-foot jumper during one late stretch to give Utah State a 69-53 lead.

BSKY-MONTANA ST-SACRAMENTO ST

Katie Bussey's 21 points help MSU defeat Sac State 89-66

CHENEY, Wash. (AP) - Katie Bussey scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers, to lead Montana State to an 89-66 win over Sacramento State in the first game of the Big Sky Conference tournament Thursday.

Sarah Strand added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Bobcats (17-13), putting her at the 1,000-point career mark. Her three blocks also pushed her past Alaina Bauer as MSU's career leader in blocks at 111.

The Bobcats shot 50 percent from the floor. Meanwhile, they took advantage of poor shooting by the Hornets, who hit only 29 percent from the field. MSU also out-rebounded Sac State 55-41 and had five players score in double figures.

Charday Hunt and Emily Christensen led the Hornets (15-15) with 15 points apiece. Christensen also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.

MSU will face host Eastern Washington on Friday evening.

FREESTYLE KAYAK TRIALS

US Freestyle Kayak Team to hold trials in Missoula

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) - The nation's best freestyle kayakers are scheduled to gather in Missoula this summer to try out for a spot on the U.S. Freestyle Kayak Team.

More than 200 kayakers are expected to compete in the trials, which will be held June 30 through July 2 at Brennan's Wave in the Clark Fork River.

In freestyle kayaking, competitors have 60 seconds to throw as many different technical moves as possible. The trials will determine which kayakers advance to the World Freestyle Kayaking Championships in Plattling, Germany in 2011, USA Freestyle Kayaking announced.

Brennan's Wave is a whitewater play pool in the Clark Fork River named for Brennan Guth, a world-class kayaker who died in a river accident in Chile in 2001.

He was 32.

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Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-03-12-10 0331EST

Latest Montana sports: MONTANA-WEBER ST

Montana rallies for 66-65 win over Weber State

OGDEN, Utah (AP) - Anthony Johnson scored 34 of his career-high 42 points in the second half, leading Montana back from a 22-point deficit and into the NCAA tournament with a 66-65 win over Weber State on Wednesday night in the Big Sky tournament championship.

Derek Selvig added 12 points and Brian Qvale pulled down 14 rebounds for the Grizzlies (22-9), who will return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since last winning the Big Sky in 2006.

After committing 14 turnovers in the first half, Montana had just six in the second, slowly chipping away until Johnson hit what turned out to be the winning shot, a short jumper with 10 seconds left.

Damian Lillard scored 16 to lead top-seeded Weber State (20-10), which led 40-20 at halftime.

MONTANA ST-SAC ST

Montana St women only Big Sky team to beat Sac St twice this season

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - The Montana State women open the Big Sky tournament against Sacramento State.

Tip off is set for 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Cheney, Wash.

The Bobcats are the sixth seed in the tournament. Sacramento State is the third seed.

Montana State is the only conference team to beat Sacramento State twice during the regular season.

The winner advances to play host Eastern Washington on Friday night.

Montana State is led by guard Erica Perry, who was named First Team All-Big Sky this week.

MONTANA STATE-AUSTIN

MSU hires running backs coach

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - Montana State football coach Rob Ash has hired former West Virginia player Milo Austin as running backs coach.

Austin has also coached running backs at Hampton and Midwestern State in Texas, where he worked with current Bobcat assistant Justin Gaines.

Ash says Austin is an outstanding young coach who cares about the game and the young men who play for him.

Austin takes over for Bryan Applewhite, who left the Bobcats after one season to become running backs coach at Louisiana-Monroe.

Ash says the Bobcats hope to begin spring drills on March 24.

BCS-CONGRESS

Head of BCS fires back at Senators who sent letter

WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of college football's Bowl Championship Series says Congress "has more important things to do" than look into his group's revenue distribution.

That said, BCS executive director Bill Hancock will respond to a question-filled letter sent to him by two U.S. Senators.

Hancock says in a telephone interview Wednesday that "the BCS is fair" and "we welcome the opportunity to tell our story."

Senators Orrin Hatch of Utah and Max Baucus of Montana sent Hancock a letter this week, asking for details about how the BCS calculates which conferences get automatic bowl bids, how money will be divvied up under a new TV deal and what sort of legal status the organization has.

AIR FORCE-WYOMING

Air Force defeats Wyoming 59-40, ends 9-game skid

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Air Force Falcons love play-in games. For the second straight season, they won in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference tournament, beating Wyoming 59-40 Wednesday.

Last year they snapped a 17-game losing streak with a win over Colorado State in the tournament opener. This time they snapped a nine-game skid.

They also beat Wyoming on Jan. 30, which ended a league-record 22-game regular-season conference losing streak.

The ninth-seeded Falcons (10-20) will face top-seeded and eighth-ranked New Mexico (28-3) on Thursday.

Air Force, which built a 32-21 halftime lead and never trailed in the second half, was led by Grant Parker's 15 points and Michael Lyons' 11.

The eighth-seeded Cowboys (10-21) got 18 points from Desmar Jackson and 12 from Adam Waddell.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-03-11-10 0332EST