Chase Jeter has career night, Arizona routs Montana to snap losing streak

Chase Jeter scored a career-high 21 points as the Arizona Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak with a 61-42 win over the Montana Grizzlies on Wednesday in McKale Center.

After being badly outmuscled by Baylor on Saturday, the Wildcats flipped the script against the reigning Big Sky champions, logging 42 points in the paint and outrebounding the Grizzlies by 10.

The Wildcats, who have generally lived and died by the 3 this season, only hoisted 12 triples, clearly making a point to pound the ball inside and, more specifically, to Jeter.

The UA center went 9 for 15 from the field and tracked down six rebounds.

Arizona also made a starting lineup change, replacing Brandon Williams with Dylan Smith, likely Sean Miller’s way to generate some sort of spark after a listless performance against Baylor.

It worked. Arizona grabbed a 16-7 lead through eight minutes, thanks in part to Williams, who seemed unfazed, and perhaps even energized, by the benching. He hit a 3 and dished out a trio of assists.

Two of those dimes were alley-oops to Jeter.

But then Montana switched to zone and the deer-in-the-headlights look, as Miller called it Saturday, returned.

Arizona got sloppy and went 10 minutes without a field goal, committing seven turnovers in that span. Still, Jeter was there to buoy the offense. He scored twice underneath to keep the Wildcats afloat, converting an and-one to extend UA’s lead to 22-15 with 1:27 left.

Jeter had 11 first-half points.

Montana, which was without leading scorer Jamar Akoh, had plenty of offensive issues of its own, shooting just 28 percent in both halves.

The Grizzlies had a chance to whittle down UA’s lead just before the first half ended, but Brandon Randolph soared for a chase-down block to erase a would-be layup, keeping it a 22-15 game.

Arizona opened the second half not unlike it opened the first half, continuing to attack the paint.

After a couple more baskets by Jeter, Justin Coleman knifed into the lane for two, extending UA’s lead to 32-21, then Coleman scooped in another layup to put Arizona up 16 with 13:47 to play.

Coleman scored all six of his points in the second half. The Wildcats did not experience a mid-half lull, shooting 50 percent in the period, building and building on their lead.

Montana’s 42 points were the fewest Arizona has allowed in a game since a Dec. 2015 win over NAU.

The Grizzlies only shot 26.9 percent for the game and, unlike Baylor, were unable to make a dent on the offensive glass, being held to four second-chance points.

Miller stressed the importance of rebounding as a team, and Arizona heeded his instruction. Four players grabbed six rebounds, Jeter, Ira Lee, Emmanuel Akot and Ryan Luther.

The scoring was not so balanced. Randolph, the only non-Jeter Wildcat to score in double figures, dropped 15 points on nine shots. Lee was a bright spot with seven points. Best of all, he only turned the ball over once and did not commit a foul.

Arizona wraps up non-conference play Saturday against UC Davis.

This story will be updated.

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