Washington

Montana Grizzlies surge past Eastern Washington to win share of Big Sky Conference title

Published

1 year ago

March 4, 2025

Montana Grizzlies surge past Eastern Washington to win share of Big Sky Conference title

MISSOULA — For the fourth time in coach Travis DeCuire’s tenure, the Montana men’s basketball team is the Big Sky Conference regular-season champion.

The Grizzlies overcame a slow start Monday to rally for an 83-72 win over Eastern Washington at Dahlberg Arena and clinch a share of the Big Sky title. Montana and Northern Colorado finished the regular season tied atop the league standings.

Money Williams continued his recent hot streak for the Griz, scoring a game-high 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting. He was one of five players to score in double figures for UM, which also got 19 points, on 6-of-6 shooting, from Te’Jon Sawyer, 13 from Brandon Whitney, 12 from Malik Moore and 11 from Joe Pridgen.

Slim Kimmel / MTN Sports

Montana guard Money Williams drives to the basket against Eastern Washington in the final men’s basketball game of the regular season at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula on Monday, March 3, 2025.

Pridgen added 11 rebounds to finish with a double-double, while Whitney added three assists to his stat line, bringing his career total to a program-record 436. DeCuire was the previous record-holder with 435 assists during his Griz playing career from 1991-94.

Whitney’s record-breaking assist came on a pass to Moore, who sank a wing 3-pointer to break a 70-70 tie with 2:42 to play and spark a 13-2 run to close out the game. Following Moore’s 3, Pridgen sank two free throws to push the Griz lead to 75-70.

Eastern Washington got a tough layup from Mason Williams moments later but wouldn’t score the rest of the way, as Montana iced the game at the free throw line. The Grizzlies made 23 of 33 free throws in the game, including a stretch of six consecutive made shots during the closing run.

Photos: Montana Grizzlies win share of Big Sky Conference regular-season championship

The Eagles were only 8 of 11 at the free throw line.

Eastern Washington began the game about as well as it could have, building a 19-5 lead after a Mason Williams 3 less than seven minutes into the game. But Montana responded with a 10-0 run keyed by a Whitney jumper, five points from Money Williams and a 3-pointer from Kai Johnson.

The Eagles’ lead stayed between four and eight points the rest of the first half as they shot a blistering 65.4% over the first 20 minutes. Mason Williams and Andrew Cook, a former standout at NAIA Carroll College, combined for 24 first-half points on 11-of-12 shooting.

EWU maintained its advantage for the first seven minutes of the second half before Money Williams finally gave the Griz their first lead at 53-51 with 12:01 to play. From there, the teams remained close until Montana’s late run to steal the win.

Montana vs. Eastern Washington men's basketball — Brandon Whitney (12), Te’Jon Sawyer (32) and the Montana Grizzlies celebrate after defeating the Eastern Washington Eagles at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula on Monday, March 3, 2025, to win a share of the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball regular-season championship.

Mason Williams led Eastern Washington (10-21, 6-12 Big Sky) with 20 points, and Cook contributed 19.

Next up for the Griz (22-9, 15-3) is the Big Sky Conference tournament, which starts Saturday in Boise, Idaho. No. 2-seeded Montana will play a quarterfinal game against either Northern Arizona or Eastern Washington at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington play in a first-round game on Saturday.

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Washington

Holdout Democrats leave WA House support for income tax in doubt

Published

7 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Holdout Democrats leave WA House support for income tax in doubt

The votes weren’t there yet late Wednesday for Democrats’ income tax bill in the Washington state House.Democratic members are withholding support for the proposed income tax on millionaires, saying they want to see if a new version of the controversial legislation, possibly due out Thursday, will satisfy their concerns.

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Washington

Bill strengthening Washington child sex abuse material laws focuses on consciousness, AI

Published

19 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Bill strengthening Washington child sex abuse material laws focuses on consciousness, AI

SEATTLE — A bill aimed at tightening Washington’s laws on child sex abuse material is headed to Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk after clearing the Legislature unanimously.

King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion said 2ESSB 5105 passed the House unanimously Tuesday night after the Senate unanimously approved it on Jan. 28, 2026.

SEE ALSO | Washington exempts clergy from reporting abuse learned in confession after settlement

Manion called the measure one of her public safety legislative priorities.

“People who peddle in the misery of sexually abused children must be held accountable,” Manion said. “I am grateful for the work of Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Laura Harmon – both in prosecuting these cases and advocating for these legal fixes – and Senators Tina Orwall and Manka Dhingra for championing this legislation.”

Manion’s office said the current state law has gaps that can prevent prosecutors from holding offenders accountable in some cases.

Under current law, prosecutors cannot charge defendants for creating images of child sex abuse unless the child victim was conscious or knew they were being recorded.

The office also said that possessing sexually explicit fabricated (AI) images of non-identifiable minors is not considered child sex abuse material under Washington law.

The bill would update RCW 9.68A.040 to remove the requirement that a child be aware of an abusive recording. It would also update the definition of child sex abuse material to include fabricated (AI) images of non-identifiable minors.

The legislation would also increase the statute of limitations to 10 years for depiction crimes. Manion’s office said the current statute of limitations is three years, and argued that because the images can remain online indefinitely, victims can be re-traumatized for decades.

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Washington

Utah Starts Road Trip with Win in Washington | Utah Mammoth

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Utah Starts Road Trip with Win in Washington | Utah Mammoth

Both of Utah’s power play units scored in the win. Sergachev scored his 10^th goal of the season on the power play 13 and a half minutes into the first period. Peterka scored his 21^st of the season, on the man-advantage, in the final two minutes of the middle frame.

Peterka has three power play goals in the 2025-26 campaign while Sergachev has matched a career-high with five power play goals this season. Overall, Utah’s power play has scored six goals in the last six games. That output matches the Mammoth’s total from their previous 18 games (per Mammoth PR). Tourigny discussed what’s changed with the team’s performance in recent games.

“(The) puck gets in,” Tourigny laughed. “But, no, I think there’s a number of things. The most important thing is we’re aggressive. We’re attacking.

“…If you look at our goal, the first one, it’s a direct play to the net and then on the loose puck recovery we take a shot with traffic and we score,” Tourigny continued. “On the second one, it’s a slot pass, a great shot by (Peterka). I think we had that attack mindset.”

Guenther, who is on the Mammoth’s top power play unit, agreed with Tourigny’s assessment of attacking more.

“I think just attacking, less predictable,” Guenther explained. “Shooting it more, I think (it is) just work really. Trying to play like a 5-on-5 mindset but on the (power play).”

The Mammoth made several line changes for tonight’s game and the new lines started to find chemistry, despite it being the first game with these changes.

“I like them,” Tourigny said of the changes. “Obviously (Guenther) got a goal, but Cooley’s line was really good. I was looking at the expected goals at the end, I think they were above 90%. So that’s pretty, pretty awesome. Then I think (Barrett Hayton’s) line worked really hard. They’re heavy on pucks and they play well defensively. I did like (Michael Carcone’s) line in (the) previous three games, and I did like them again tonight.”

When Washington pushed back with a power play goal and multiple close chances in the third period, Utah fought hard against the momentum swing to secure the win.

“I thought we did a pretty good job,” Keller explained. “Weathering the storm as much as we could. They’re a great veteran team. They made it hard on us. They pressured us all over the ice, but I was proud of the way we fought there towards the end.”

Utah’s bench was positive and calm throughout the game, especially late in the third. This helped the Mammoth through the momentum swings. Keller, who had two assists in the win, was one of the key voices for the Mammoth.

“He’s one of the guys who was really positive on the bench,” Tourigny explained. “(All the players) were but (Keller) was really vocal. He was really good energy on the bench. So that was really good.”

Additional Notes from Tonight (per Mammoth PR)

Guenther had two points in the win (1G, 1A) and the forward has earned a team-high nine points (5G, 4A) through six road games in 2026. He has become the third Mammoth skater to reach the 50-point mark this season (28G, 23A) and established a new career-high in goals.

Sergachev has 18 power play points this season (5G, 13A) and is tied with Keller for the team lead this season.

Keller has recorded multiple primary assists in a game for the seventh time this season and the 27^th time in his NHL career. He has now tallied multiple points in four of his last six contests (2G, 8A), with three multi-assist outings over that span.

The Mammoth continue their five-game road trip in Philadelphia on Thursday night. Game time is 5 p.m. MT and available to watch on Mammoth+ and Utah16.

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