Arizona center Chase Jeter scored a career-high 21 points to lead the otherwise poor-shooting Wildcats to a 61-42 win over Montana on Wednesday at McKale Center.
Jeter shot 9 for 15 from the field while his teammates combined for just 38.4 percent shooting. Jeter also pulled down six rebounds to help the Wildcats move past their minus-32 rebounding margin effort they put up on Saturday in a 58-49 loss to Baylor.
Arizona outrebounded Montana 40-30 overall and gave up only six offensive rebounds that led to four second-chance points for the Griz. The Wildcats also held Montana to just 26.9 percent shooting.
Ahmaad Rorie led Montana with 19 points and six rebounds.
The win moved Arizona to 8-4 with one nonconfernence game remaining, Saturday at McKale Center against UC Davis (3-7). The Wildcats will open Pac-12 play on Jan. 3 against Colorado at McKale.
Montana dropped to 6-4.
MORE: Chase Jeter's career game, strong team defense help Arizona Wildcats get back on track
Leading just 22-15 at halftime, Arizona held Montana scoreless for five minutes and 30 seconds early in the second half while going on an 11-0 run to take a 38-21 lead.
Justin Coleman and Jeter dominated that run with inside scores and, after Montana cut it to 38-26 on a 3-pointer from Timmy Fallas and a layup from Rorie, Jeter returned to hit a hook shot high off the glass to break his career high of 19 points, set on Dec. 9 at Alabama.
Jeterβs shot gave him 20 points for the game and put UA ahead by 17, and the Wildcats maintained a comfortable margin the Wildcats the rest of the way.
In the first half, Arizona went without a field goal for over 10 minutes but still managed to take a 22-15 halftime lead.
The Wildcats shot just 37.5 percent from the field but held the Griz to 26.1 percent and just 1 of 8 from 3-point territory. UA also outrebounded Montana 19-13 in the half after being outrebounded 51-19 in all on Saturday against Baylor.
Jeter led UA with 11 points and two rebounds in the first half, which ended on a typical note: UA forward Ryan Luther received the ball under the basket but his layup attempt rolled off the rim.
The Wildcats held leads of up to nine points earlier in the first half but missed nine straight shots toward halftime to hold on to just a 17-15 lead with 3:28 to go. At that point, the Wildcats were shooting 33.3 percent from the field and had missed four of their five 3-point shots but were outrebounding the Grizzlies 14-12.
Jeter finally made a hook shot with 2:29 left to give UA a 19-15 lead, ending a span of 10 minutes and 30 seconds between field goals.
At the beginning of the game, possibly in response to Arizona's meltdown on the glass against Baylor, McKale Center fans cheered enthusiastically when Brandon Randolph pulled down a missed shot on Montanaβs first possession of the game.
The Wildcats missed their first three shots but took an 8-4 lead later after Jeter scored inside twice and Randolph made a layup on the break.
Montanaβs Kendal Manuel hit a 3-pointer to cut UAβs lead to one, but the Wildcats scored eight straight points to go ahead 16-7 and stopped two potential Griz baskets afterward β one when Dylan Smith blocked a shot under the basket from Michael Oguine and another when Coleman drew a charge from Oguine as he drove inside on Montanaβs next possession.
Montana then cut it to 16-13 with 7:33 left while UA went on a scoring drought of over five minutes.
In an apparent attempt to shake up the Wildcats after their dreary performance in a loss to Baylor on Saturday, UA coach Sean Miller startedΒ Smith in place of Brandon Williams at shooting guard.
In their 58-49 loss to Baylor on Saturday, the Wildcats shot just 35.8 percent against Baylor's zone defense β with Williams going 1 for 9 β and were outrebounded 51-38.
Miller has also given the Wildcats' gold practice jersey for the overall top producer in practices and games to reserve forward Ira Lee, who led the Wildcats in rebounding with five against Baylor.
Arizona also received an advantage on the glass Wednesday when Montana sat out its leading rebounder, Jamar Okoh, because of a wrist injury.
It was Smithβs first start of the season, though he started eight of 34 games last season, with six of the starts coming during the Pac-12 season.
