Freshman Tyler Copp

Men’s basketball

Tyler Copp scored 18 points and Will Bond added 10 in Saint Martin’s 73-57 exhibition loss to Division I Montana on Sunday night in Missoula.

The Grizzlies jumped out to a 20-4 lead and led by double digits for most of the game. They took a 17 point lead, their largest of the game, with 15:21 left in the second half but the Saints chipped away and closed to within eight points on a Copp jumper at the 8:52 mark and again with a Lucas Shannon layup at the 8:13 mark.

Montana built their lead back to 13 before Copp hit another three and Ryan Rogers hit the first of two free throws to cut the lead back to nine with 4:37 left. But that’s as close as the Saints would get with the Grizzlies closing on a 12-5 run.

With the loss, Saint Martin’s wrapped up a nine game road trip. They will finally play their first non-exhibition home game on Wednesday, December 18th when they host former University of Oregon star Luke Jackson’s Northwest Christian Beacons at 7:00 PM.