Two separate errors in the official scorekeeping during Weber State’s 76-67 overtime win over Idaho State on Thursday night allowed two players to finish the game with five fouls. Weber’s Daviin Davis and Idaho State’s Felix Caspari were incorrectly credited with just four fouls, according to a post on the Ogden Standard-Examiner’s WSU blog.

Weber State took over sole possession of first place in the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball standings with its 76-67 overtime win over Idaho State on Thursday in Pocatello. The Wildcats improved to 5-0 on the road in league games. Weber State trailed by 13 in the second half as they watched ISU’s Matt Stucki explode for a career-high 29 points. But it sounds as if the rest of the Bengals began to stand around and watch the show, according to Kellis Robinett’s story in the Idaho State Journal.

Montana State coach Brad Huse pushed the right buttons in the Bobcats’ 69-65 home win over Eastern Washington on Thursday. Huse brought senior center Divaldo Mbunga off the bench and he responded with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Huse also got a key contribution from freshman Austin Brown, who scored 11 points off the bench. Mbunga came off the bench for what were termed “internal issues,” according to Pete Delmoe’s story in the Bozeman Chronicle.

Things returned to normal in Sacramento, where the Sac State Hornets failed to score for the final 3 minutes, 41 seconds, watching at Northern Colorado closed the game on an 8-0 run to deny Sac its second straight win. First-year coach Brian Katz said told the Sacramento Bee’s John Schumacher his team is making the same mistakes it made early in the season.

Less than 48 hours after suffering their first Big Sky Conference loss at Portland State, the Montana Lady Griz will be put to the test at Eastern Washington Saturday afternoon. The Eagles, currently third in the league standings, will play a physical brand of defense and force UM to cover the perimeter. On Thursday EWU nailed 13 treys — just one shy of the school record — in whipping Montana State. Read what coach Wendy Schuller had to say about the game in a recap on the Eagles’ web site.

1. Portland State (6-1, 15-5): The Vikings are up to No. 7 in the mid-major rankings and face a tough test this weekend with games at Montana and Montana State. A split would keep them on track for a second straight regular-season crown.

2. Weber State (6-1, 12-8): The Wildcats barely escaped Sacramento with a win last week, then took care of a down Northern Arizona team. Coach Randy Rahe seems to get the most out of the talent he has.

3. Montana (5-3, 11-9): The Grizzlies face a huge weekend at home, starting Thursday with a Portland State team that has dismantled them in their previous two meetings. If the Griz could seep PSU and Eastern Washington, you’d have to consider them contenders.

4. Idaho State (4-3, 7-14): Yeah, I know the Bengals suffered the embarassment of becoming Sac State’s first league victim, but somebody was going to lose in the Hornets Nest. I still like the Bengals, especially guard Amorrow Morgan, who seems to be the best player in the league at willing his team to win.

5. Northern Colorado (4-4, 8-13): The Bears’ loss to the Grizzlies did nothing to diminish my opinion of them as a player in the league race. They have potent guards and Jabril Banks might be the most underratted player in the league.

6. Montana State (3-4, 9-9): A home loss to Northern Colorado could come back to haunt the Bobcats later in the season when they’re battling for postseason position. A win over Portland State in Sunday’s TV game would do the rest of the league a huge favor and give MSU a great tie-breaker.

7. Eastern Washington (3-5, 9-11): The Eagles are headed in the wrong direction and now face the Montana road trip. Looks like EWU will have to put something together soon to vie for a postseason berth.

8. Northern Arizona (2-6, 5-14): After being swept at home by Idaho State and Weber State, the Jacks are in dire straights.

9. Sacramento State (1-7, 2-19): Hornets win! Hornets win! Although they’ve already been reduced to the role of spoiler, the Hornets could prove to be pests, at least at home.

Bill Speltz’s power rankings for 1/27/09:

1. Montana (6-0, 17-3): Montana has steamrolled through January, winning nine straight games. To put that in perspective, the second longest win streak in the Big Sky, including the men and women, is three wins in a row. The second longest streak among Big Sky women’s teams is two straight wins by Portland State. Montana is 6-0 in road games and has yet to be seriously tested in league play.

2. Portland State (6-0, 13-6): The Big Sky has become a two-team race, with Montana and Portland State holding a three-game lead over the field. But the Vikings aren’t dominating in league games the way the Lady Griz have the past few weeks. Portland State nearly let one slip away last Saturday at Eastern Washington, and had a close call at Idaho State on Jan. 10. If the Vikings are to beat the Lady Griz Thursday, they’re probably going to have to shoot well because their defense is not nearly as strong as Montana’s.

3. Eastern Washington (3-3, 8-11): The lack of parity in the Big Sky is troubling. The Eagles are No. 3 in this week’s power rankings by default. However, for a team that’s three wins under .500, Eastern Washington did show promise in pushing Portland State Saturday. The Eagles were within four points with under three minutes to play, eventually losing by 10 points.

4. Northern Colorado (3-3, 9-10): The youngest team in the Big Sky showed flashes of its potential with an overtime home win over Montana State on Thursday. But the Bobcats were without their talented post, Nubia Garcia. The Bears need to make hay at home this week with games against Sac State and Northern Arizona. After that it’s back on the road for two games where UNC has posted a paltry 2-6 mark.

5. Idaho State (3-4, 6-14): Down to seven scholarship players because of injuries and academic issues, the Bengals showed resilience last week with a 64-57 win over Sac State. Up next are two more winnable home games against Weber State and Northern Colorado. The Bengals will find their way into the Big Sky tournament this season because of the experience and grit of their veteran players.

6. Montana State (2-4, 8-10): Loss at Northern Colorado last week was a big blow to a team that seemed to turn a corner. With any luck the Cats will get Nubia Garcia back this week and use their high-flying offense to perhaps pull an upset at Eastern Washington on Thursday or Portland State on Saturday.

7. Northern Arizona (3-4, 6-14): Loss at Weber State last week was a mystery. The Jacks had won three straight going into Ogden. NAU needs to find its shooting rhythm this week if it hopes to win at Northern Colorado.

8. Sac State (2-5, 4-16): Hornets have been inconsistent. One night they’re good enough to beat Montana State, the next they lose at Northern Arizona. After a strong showing against Montana two weeks ago, you’d expect more.

 9. Weber State (1-6, 6-13): Home win over Northern Arizona was a nice first step, but the Wildcats need to do more to climb out of the cellar in the power rankings. 

Northern Colorado coach Tad Boyle said Montana junior guard Anthony Johnson is the best player he’s seen this season in the Big Sky Conference. Johnson, who scored 18 in the Grizzlies’ 68-59 win over the Bears on Sunday, is averaging 22 points a game in league play.

“The Johnson kid is terrific,” Boyle said. “In my opinion, he’s the best player in the league this year. He controls the tempo of the game, he gets to the free-throw line; he’s just a good player.”

Boyle also said the Big Sky is a three-team race between current leaders Portland State and Weber State, and Montana.

“To me it’s Portland State, Weber State and Montana,” Boyle said. “They’re the contenders in this league and everybody else is pretenders.”

Boyle was understandably disappointed in the Bears’ play.

“We laid an egg today,” he said. “We weren’t ready to play emotionally; it was a disappointing performance. I thought we’d come in here and give Montana a game and we didn’t. They played well. They came out and made shots. They’ve been struggling at times to make shots like we have recently. When they get their shooters going early, they’re tough to guard.”

On Saturday the Vikings almost got caught looking past Eastern Washington and ahead to Thursday’s showdown with the Montana Lady Griz. Portland State led the Eagles by just four points with 2:53 to play before pulling away to a 65-55 victory. Coupled with Montana’s win at Northern Colorado, it set the stage for a battle between two 6-0 Big Sky Conference teams in Portland at 8:05 p.m. (MST) Thursday. Read about Portland State’s escape in a story on the Eagles’ web site.

Look for the Montana women’s basketball team to keep a close eye on Northern Colorado junior guard Whitley Cox in Saturday’s game. After being pulled from the starting lineup on Thursday, Cox responded with a season-high 31 points off the bench in an overtime win against Montana State. Read about Cox’s big night in a story by the Greeley Tribune. One footnote: Cox is identified as a senior in the headline, but she is actually a junior who redshirted last season.

The Northern Arizona men’s basketball team has lost five league games after Thursday’s 60-52 home loss to Idaho State. In four of those games, the Jacks have held double-digit leads at one time or another. They lead both Portland State and Montana by 16 points in the second half before losing both contests. It was more of the same against the Bengals, reported Keith Jiron of the Arizona Daily Sun.

Montana State struggled mightily on the offensive end for the second straight game in its 65-55 home loss to Northern Colorado on Thursday. The Cats shot 34 percent from the field and have now scored just 98 points in their last two games combined. They scored just 12 first-half points in a road loss at Idaho State last week. Against UNC, the Cats were just 2-for-17 from 3-point range, reported Pete Delmoe of the Bozeman Chronicle.

Weber State made it 3-for-3 for the visiting teams Thursday night, pulling away from upset-minded Sacramento State in the final minutes for a 67-59 win. The Hornets did things teams with 19 losses do at the end of the game, reported John Schumacher of the Sacramento Bee. It was the 14th straight loss for the Hornets, who watched the Wildcats go on an 8-0 run late in the game. An ill-advised shot and two turnovers fueled the run.

It might be a case of be careful what you wish for, it might come true. Eastern Washington’s men got off to a 6-2 start despite the absence of projected starters Chris Busch and Adris DeLeon, who both had eligibility issues. Coach Kirk Earlywine made no secret of the fact that he wanted those two players back on the court and who could blame him? But since that 6-2 start, the Eagles are 3-8 with many of those losses coming since DeLeon and Busch returned to the active roster. Following Wednesday’s loss to Montana, Earlywine was bemoaning the fact that his team had yet to gel and here it was mid-January. It can’t all be placed on the shoulders of DeLeon and Busch, but there’s little doubt that the playing status of the two players hindered the team’s ability to come together. It’s an interesting dilemma and one that might soon face Montana coach Wayne Tinkle. Now that Ceylon Elgin-Taylor has been reinstated, how much time should he get and at who’s expense? Certainly the Griz want Anthony Johnson to keep getting his touches and he’s probably better at the two than the one. Elgin-Taylor is a better ballhandler, but he’s been shaky at the free-throw line this season after finishing last season strong. So who do you want on the floor while protecting a lead late in the game? Any ideas?