Montana's Brian Qvale (41) scored eight points in the Grizzlies' Quarterfinal win over Northern Arizona on Saturday.
Sixth-seeded Portland State and No. 4 seed Montana won Quarterfinal games on Saturday night in the 2010 America First Credit Union Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
Two-time defending champion Portland State upset No. 3 seed Montana State in Bozeman 68-65 thanks to a 3-pointer from Melvin Jones with 3.7 seconds to play. Jones finished with 17 points. Julius Thomas netted 19 with six rebounds.
Bobby Howard and Danny Piepoli each scored 16 for Montana State (15-14)
Over in Missoula, senior Anthony Johnson scored 22 points as the Grizzlies ran away from Northern Arizona 81-60. Freshman Will Cherry had a great all-around game for Montana, netting 11 points with nine rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Northern Arizona junior Cameron Jones scored 21 points and became the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. NAU finished its season 14-14.
Portland State (13-18) and Montana (20-9) advance to the semifinals on Tuesday in Ogden, Utah.
In the first semifinal game, No. 2 Northern Colorado (24-6) meets Montana at 4:30 p.m. That game will be televised on Altitude.
In the second semifinal, top-seeded Weber State (19-9) plays host to No. 6 Portland State. Tip is slated for 7 p.m., and it will be televised on Altitude 2.
No. 4 Montana 81, No. 5 Northern Arizona 60 | Stats
No. 6. Portland State 68, No. 3 Montana State 65 | Stats