Griz lead entire way in 82-50 blowout of San Francisco

Friday, December 4

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

3-3

San Francisco

4-4

San Francisco

Montana

Griz lead entire way in 82-50 blowout of San Francisco

12/4/2015 10:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

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Entering Friday night's match-up, the Montana Grizzlies had never defeated the San Francisco Dons. The seven losses, including a 19-point Don's win in San Francisco last season, had apparently bothered coach Travis DeCuire and the Grizzlies to a boiling point.

Montana (3-3) started strong and led the entire way in a blowout, 82-50 victory to get them back to .500 on the season. The Griz dominated in every category, holding USF (4-4) to just 30 percent from the floor while making 54 percent of their own shots.

It was a much-needed win for Montana, who entered on a two-game losing streak. Their last win came against NAIA Carroll College on November 21, which was also the last home game for the Griz. The win against USF kept Montana perfect at home, with all three of their wins coming within the friendly confines of Dahlberg Arena.

The game began with high emotion, as the first points came by way of a thundering Martin Breunig slam-dunk just over a minute into the game.

(12/4/2015) MBB: vs. San Francisco (12.4.15)

Walter Wright then set the pace, attacking efficiently and finding open teammates. Already with four points of his own, he cut through the lane and dropped a pass off to Jack Lopez, who finished with the hoop and the harm, converting the free throw to give Montana a 9-0 lead at the first media timeout.

The Dons rallied back, scoring seven consecutive to cut the Montana lead to just two points with 11:28 remaining in the first half. The two-point deficit would be the closest the two teams got the rest of the night, as the Griz quickly jumped back ahead 19-7.

A late run made the halftime deficit just four points in favor of the hosts. The Grizzlies shot well and locked down defensively, but turned the ball over nine times while recording just eight assists.

Montana fixed up the turnover problem in the second half, quickly pushing the lead back up to 13 points at 40-27. It hung right around the 10-point mark before the Griz really started to get hot offensively.

Beginning with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game, Montana composed a 16-0 run, helped along by six points from Wright and five from Breunig. San Francisco scored a basket before the house came down, thanks to Breunig.

Bryden Boehning put up a shot attempt from the right block, as both posts crashed to him. The shot missed, but Breunig soared in from the left side, reached his right arm to full extension, palming the ball and slamming it home.

The Grizzlies would coast the rest of the way, finishing with an impressive 82-50 home win. The second half gave Montana enormous confidence, which will be needed in four day against No. 13 Gonzaga.

"Offensive execution was the biggest thing, getting good shots and taking care of the ball," DeCuire said. "Twelve assists and zero turnovers in the second half is a big reason we're able to score over 50 in the half. If we take care of the ball and execute offensively, we will get good shots and eventually make shots."

Breunig finished with player of the game honors, as he continued the hot start to his season with a 24 point, nine rebound performance. He received a lot of help from Wright, who also nearly reached a double-double with 20 points and seven assists.

Wright appeared comfortable at the helm of the offense, which was the result of a minor change in game plan from DeCuire that aimed to give his point guard more freedom.

"We just tell him to stay aggressive and to try to make the best decision you can make," DeCuire said. "You have to know where your teammates are and stay in attack mode. We loosened some things up, not running quite as much offense right now and allowing him to just make plays and be aggressive putting the ball on the floor."

Breunig and Wright starred, but they received help from everyone else on the team. The Griz had eight of their nine players score, including 22 points from the bench. Michael Oguine played a solid all-around game, finishing with nine points, four assists and four rebounds.

Fabijan Krslovic scored seven and brought down a game-high 11 rebounds. Bobby Moorehead and Riley Bradshaw each hit a pair of three's, finishing with eight and six points, respectively.

A part of the reason Breunig shot 90 percent from the floor is because he is confident giving the ball up to these guys and only shooting when he has a great look.

"I'm the not the guy that wants to take all these shots, and I don't need to, because we have so many guys on the court that can make shots," Breunig said. "We just have to make sure that they are actually hitting them, and it starts on the defensive end. We play good defense the offense will come."

The offense finished with 82 points on 54 percent shooting. They also shot 38 percent from behind the three-point line and dished out 20 assists. The box score may indicate that the offense led Montana to victory, but the defense came up just as large.

"We played as a team today, and not just offensively. I think I was more proud of our defense, we had a tough week but we just grinded it out," Breunig said. "We weren't satisfied with all those road games, so we worked on a lot of things.

Devin Watson led the way for San Francisco with 15 points. Tim Derksen connected on three shots from beyond the arc and finished with 14 total points, while Nate Renfro also reached double-digits with 10.

The Grizzlies composed their best half of basketball this season in the second, which should help out confidence coming off the two-game road skid. Coach DeCuire knows just how big this win could be as they prepare for the toughest section of their schedule, which includes two games against nationally ranked opponents and another receiving votes in the next four games.

"If you have a little streak going in the negative, the only way to fix it is to just get that one win out of the way," DeCuire said. "Now, we get back to .500 and we beat a good team at home playing as well as we did, we're back on track and now it's important for us to continue to play well and we will see what happens with these next few games."