Denver Downs Montana 56-49

Nate Rohnert had 20 points, while freshman Chase Hallam scored 14

DENVER – Senior guard Nate Rohnert (Parker, Colo.) scored 20 points and freshman guard Chase Hallam (Mesquite, Texas) added 14 points, as the University of Denver downed Montana 56-49 tonight.

The game started with the National Anthem lead by a choir from Denver Slavin Elementary school. The music has greatly improved over last year, when the brass band would play and almost no one would sing.

The game tonight was fantastic! What a great team we have!

“I thought we played extremely well the whole night,” head coach Joe Scott (on left in photo below) said. “Our offense was clicking really well in the first half, and we only had five turnovers in the game, which is terrific. Our defense was good the whole game.”

Rohnert added six assists and five rebounds, while Chase Hallam also pulled down five boards and shot 6-for-7 from the field with a pair of three-pointers.

Denver (2-1) held a 36-22 lead at halftime, but Montana (3-1) stormed back to cut the lead to four with 1:42 remaining in the game. However, the Grizzlies missed shots on three-straight possessions, and the Pioneers held onto the rebounds, including two by junior forward Andrew Hooper (Lakewood, Colo.), to seal the victory.

Denver held a 19-16 advantage with 11:02 remaining in the first half, when the Pioneers ripped off a 13-0 run to take a 16-point lead.

The Pioneers hit 14-of-25 shots (56.0 percent) in the first half, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, while the Grizzlies went 10-for-20 (50.0 percent) but missed all four three-point attempts before the break.

Montana was led by preseason All-Big Sky Conference selection Anthony Johnson, who had 23 points, and center Brian Qvale had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Denver returns to action against Mountain West rival Wyoming at Magness Arena on Wed., Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on FSN as was tonight's. This is without doubt the most exciting team in Denver right now. For tickets see http://www.DenverPioneers.com