USC outlasts Griz in season opener

Friday, November 11

Los Angeles, Calif.

9:00 PM (MT)

Montana

0-1

Southern California

1-0

Team	1	2	F
Montana	30	31	61
USC	34	41	75

11/11/2016 11:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The first four minutes of the new basketball season couldn't have gone any smoother for Ahmaad Rorie and the Montana basketball team.

On the road against USC, the Grizzlies jumped out to an early 12-3 lead behind hot shooting from Rorie. The lead wouldn't last, however, as the Trojans would take the lead before halftime and build it to double-digits in the second half, defeating the Griz 75-61.

The Trojans had an advantage down low, using their height to attack the Grizzlies around the hoop. USC made their living at the free throw line, knocking down 27 free throws in the win.

Defensively, the Grizzlies couldn't find an answer for the attacking play of Elijah Stewart. The Trojan junior scored a game-high 30 points, including a 14-for-16 clip from the charity stripe.

Montana couldn't break inside a strong zone defense from USC, attempting 29 three point attempts while struggling to get to the free throw line. The Griz attempted just 11 free throws, 27 fewer than the hosts.

"I knew their length would be an issue and I was hoping that coming out of the first or second media we'd have a chance to adjust to it," DeCuire said. "I thought their zone had some openings, but it just took us too long to adjust to them."

Ahmaad Rorie had to watch last season from the sideline, sitting out a redshirt year after transferring to Montana from Oregon. He led the Grizzlies with 21 points, 15 of which came in the first half.

It didn't take long for Rorie to establish himself in the maroon and silver. The sophomore drained his first three shot attempts, all from behind the arc, to help the Grizzlies get out to an early 14-3 lead.

The Grizzlies wouldn't score again for over six minutes, but four straight points by Fabijan Krslovic extended Montana's lead back out to six with eight minutes left in the half.

A zone defense from USC cooled the Grizzly offense, allowing the hosts to go on a long run to take their first lead of the game. Another drought, this time over four minutes, led to a 13-0 run from the Trojans.

It took another three from Rorie with just over four minutes left in the half to end the streak, but USC still led 25-21. He hit a fifth trey with under a minute left and the Grizzlies cut the Trojan lead to four, 34-30, at the half.

The Grizzly offense continued to flow through Rorie early on in the second half. He scored six of the first 10 for Montana. A three from Bobby Moorehead cut the Trojan lead to three with 12:33 on the clock.

A technical foul on DeCuire followed by a Trojan bucket pushed the home team's lead back up to seven points, but Montana still wouldn't go away.

Brandon Gfeller picked a good time to hit his first three of the game, knocking one down from the left wing just under the nine-minute mark to once again get Montana within three at 53-50.

But the Grizzlies' offense went missing for another four-minute stretch, enabling a 13-1 from the Trojans that saw the hosts take their first double-digit lead of the game. Gfeller would connect a couple more times from deep to help keep the game respectable, but the Griz could never get it back within 10 and dropped the season-opener 75-61.

Rorie not only scored a team-high 21 points, but he also shined on the defensive end, limiting the Trojans' leading scorer from a year ago Jordan McLaughlin to just seven points.

"He did a good job of getting back and containing him," DeCuire said. "He caught his moves and knew he probably was going to go right quite a bit, and he shaded that a little bit and made him go the other way."

Krslovic was the only other Grizzly player to get into the double-digits, scoring 10 and adding seven rebounds.

"Fabijan led our hustle chart. He got his hands on balls," DeCuire said. "10 points and seven rebounds tonight for him is huge. I thought we could have gotten him the ball a little more, but it happens."

Moorehead and Gfeller each finished with nine points as well, while Moorehead split the team lead with seven rebounds.

Walter Wright, a preseason All-Big Sky selection, got into foul trouble and would finish the game with just two points and zero made field goals.

Stewart led both sides with 30 points and also added seven rebounds. Shaqquan Aaron and Chimezie Metu both finished with seven rebounds while scoring 17 and 14, respectively.

"I think our guys can walk away from here feeling like they are good enough to win this game," DeCuire said. "I don't want to take anything away from USC… Their guys played well, I just would like to see some things even out a little bit here when your guys are playing so hard."