Basketball's a team game, but that doesn't preclude one player from deciding the outcome.

Yahosh Bonner was that player Saturday night.

Bonner scored a game-high 19 points to lead Northern Colorado to a 59-48 Big Sky Conference men's basketball win over Montana at Dahlberg Arena.

But it was what he did at the other end of the court that really made the difference.

The 6-foot-1 senior guard blanketed Griz senior Anthony Johnson, holding last season's Big Sky scoring leader to seven points, his lowest total since he scored four in the third game of last season. Johnson entered the game averaging 20.3 ppg.

"He single-handedly beat us, there's nothing else to say," Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said of Bonner, who the Griz tried to recruit out of Salt Lake Community College. "He's averaging six points a game and he gets 19, he totally disrupts us defensively and he took us out of our game. It's too bad when you let one guy beat you. I don't want to discredit the rest of their guys' effort, but he was the one guy who won a major battle that was very important in tonight's outcome."

Bonner got help from Will Figures and Mike Proctor, who added 11 points apiece.

Montana's only consistent threat was junior center Brian Qvale, who led the team with 16 points and 11 rebounds, his fourth double-double in the last five games.

The Bears led 24-21 in a first half in which neither team shot better than 33 percent. They then held the Griz to just four points over the first seven minutes of the second half while building a 35-25 cushion.

The closest the Griz could get thereafter was at 42-36 when Qvale scored on a baby hook.

But UNC responded with layups from Proctor and Taylor Montgomery to restore the 10-point lead and the Griz never seriously threatened again.

Montana shot just 32 percent for the game - 27 percent in the first half - and looked flat from the opening tip.

"I'm going to blame the staff," Tinkle said. "It's our job to get them fired up. No excuses. I tried to get them to fire themselves up a little bit ... and they didn't respond for us. When your players don't come out ready to play, there's only one thing to blame and that's the coaches."

Johnson finished 2-for-10 from the field with two assists and three turnovers.

"He's definitely a great player," Bonner said of Johnson. "This is a matchup I always look forward to because I know it's going to challenge myself. He's a great player and a good sport. I always know I get better every time I play against him. I was looking to not let him catch the ball and when he caught the ball to make him really work for it."

Johnson said he knew he'd have his hands full.

"He's just a wild defender, very physical," Johnson said. "I knew coming in he was going to face-guard me every time. He's just a really physical guard and I have to raise my intensity. I just wasn't ready to play tonight. You best believe we'll come ready to play next week."

The Bears were coming off an 87-63 loss at Montana State on Friday, their first loss of the season.

"This was huge," Bonner said. "We were really excited, especially coming off a bad game last night, so we gave it all we had and left it on the court. We just didn't recognize ourselves last night."

Johnson was disappointed with the Grizzlies' effort and talked to the team afterwards.

"Keep your heads up," Johnson said of his message. "We have to band together as brothers. Bottom line, this is my family. We all trust each other. ... Please believe, we're going to take it out on another team."

The Griz return to nonconference play for the next six games before returning to league play on Dec. 31 at Idaho State.