Griz fall to 0-2 at Paradise Jam

Saturday, November 19

St. Thomas, USVI

4:00 PM (MT)

Montana

0-4

Washington State

3-1

Montana

Washington State

11/19/2016 7:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

Montana spent nearly 10 minutes without making a field goal against Washington State and could never recover, trailing by 20-plus for most of the second half and dropping their second game of the Paradise Jam 87-63.

A zone defense from Washington State limited Montana's offense through much of the first half, holding the Griz to just 20 points on 21 percent shooting.

On the other end, the Griz couldn't find an answer defensively for Josh Hawkinson, who scored his 1,000th career point in part of a 17-point first half. Hawkinson and the Cougars shot 55 percent from the floor in the first half and only improved on that number, finishing the game with a 58 percent clip from the floor.

The three-point line became crucial for both teams, with Washington State hitting 43 percent of their deep shots while the Grizzlies struggled to a 26 percent clip, with many of their makes coming late in the second half when the outcome had already been decided.

Montana also struggled to rebound against the bigger Cougars, losing the battle on the boards 40-26. Hawkinson, who finished the game with 29 points, also led Washington State with 14 rebounds in a double-double performance.

Jared Samuelson was the lone bright spot for Montana, scoring a team-high 14 points while missing just a single shot.

Montana controlled the ball well, committing just five turnovers in the entire game, but the cold shooting performance took the Griz out from the very start. Montana shot just 35 percent from the floor, the worst shooting night of the season so far.

"Our confidence is a little down right now, and we're really trying to get into a rhythm offensively," associate head coach Chris Cobb said. "I think it just comes back to plugging right through it. We have to keep fighting and get the ball in the basket."

The Cougars jumped out to a quick lead, scoring the first seven points of the game. Rorie answered for Montana, scoring a couple quick baskets. Jared Samuelson added a bucket to cut the lead to three, but the Griz then went through an offensive drought.

Rorie connected on a three with just under 15 minutes left, the only Montana bucket over a nine-minute stretch that saw the Grizzlies fall behind 28-13.

Walter Wright hit a pull-up jumper and later added a layup to break the drought, but a couple of free throws from Hawkinson, who finished the first half with 17 points, built the Cougar lead to 20 points with just over two minutes left in the first.

A late jumper by Charles Callison sent Washington State into halftime with a commanding 41-20 lead.

The Griz came out of the locker rooms hot, scoring the first six points of the second half thanks to some good play from the frontcourt of Fabijan Krslovic and Jared Samuelson.

"We came out in the second half and had good attacks at the rim and a good mindset going into it," Cobb said. "It is just tough when you get off to such a sluggish start."

But the shooting woes returned for the Grizzlies, who spent the next four minutes without making a field goal. This allowed Washington State to go on a 12-2 run, taking a 25-point lead with 14:30 left.

After starting the game 1-of-17 from beyond the arc, Bobby Moorehead finally started hitting threes for the Griz offense. Back-to-back Moorehead treys, followed by a driving lay-in from Rorie gave Montana an 8-0 run to get back within 17 points.

Samuelson and Rorie were the only Grizzlies in the double-digits, scoring 14 and 10 respectively. The late threes from Moorehead brought his game total to nine, and Brandon Gfeller came right behind him with eight points.

Malachi Flynn helped Hawkinson out offensively for the Cougars, hitting half of his three-point attempts and scoring 11 points. Callison also reached the double-digits with 10.

The loss drops the Grizzlies to 0-4 on the season and 0-2 at the Paradise Jam. Last night, they lost to North Carolina State 85-72 in a game that was close for much of the first half.

"If you have an emotional first game and you come up on the wrong end of it, it is tough to get going the next day on a quick turnaround," Cobb said.

The Griz will play again on Monday at 10:30 against Oral Roberts in the 7th and 8th place game. After that, they travel to Mississippi for a Thanksgiving day game and finish the road trip against South Dakota on Nov. 27.

"We have to keep the positive vibes going," Cobb said. "It has been a tough start for us, but we have to come together because it is not going to get any easier."