Second-half surge leads Griz past Pirates

Wednesday, November 2

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

Whitworth (exh.)

11/2/2016 11:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Montana Sports Information

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Travis DeCuire knew his Grizzlies would be in for a fast-paced dogfight against the well-coached and aggressive Whitworth Pirates in UM's season-opening exhibition.

He got exactly what he expected.

The Montana Grizzlies received everything they could handle out of D-III's No. 12 ranked Pirates before second half defensive adjustments slowed down the visitor's fast-paced attack, leading to a 90-80 win in UM's first and only exhibition of the year.

Ahmaad Rorie and Walter Wright scored 18 each in the second period, and Rorie was named Player of the Game with 27 in his first outing as a Griz to guide Montana to the scrappy 10-point victory.

The Pirates shot nearly 55 percent in the game, hanging around long enough to never let the Griz build a comfortable lead, pushing the speed with slick passing and a motion-style offense that resulted in a 38-38 tie ballgame at the half.

"We knew Whitworth was going to come in; they're going to execute offense and probably going to run offense we haven't seen. They put Oregon's motion in, which is a good offense," said DeCuire, who was forced to take a pair of timeouts in the first half to adjust to the Pirate's attack.

In the end, though, Montana outrebounded Whitworth 31 – 21, and an early second-half run by Rorie paved the way for the Griz victory.

"We did a better job in the second half, but at the end of the day, they still shoot 55 percent from the floor," added DeCuire.

"This is a team that won 26 games last year, and I think they're better than they were. They could win 28, 29 games. We're playing with fire a little bit playing these types of teams, but we're accepting challenges early, and these guys are about as good as anyone we're going to play outside of bigger conference teams."

The Griz came out on fire to open the first half with three-straight treys, one from Wright, one from Jack Lopez and a third from Rorie to put UM up 9-3 in the first two minutes.

(11/2/2016) MBB: vs. Whitworth 11/2/16

As expected, though, the Pirates came back running, answering with a brace of threes and another jumper from Pirate senior Kenny Love that brought the visitors within two at 15-13 with 12 minutes to play in the opening half.

Whitworth took a 26-25 lead for a short time with seven minutes remaining in the half, taking advantage of some of the eight turnovers the Griz gave up in the opening period.

Sophomore Bobby Moorehead put the Griz right back on top, though, stroking a three from the wing to put UM back on top 28-26.

But in a game that saw 16 lead changes, the Pirates kept attacking and went into halftime with their tails wagging.

With 15 seconds left and UM up by 2, Kyle Roach drove the length of the court and caught Moorhead on his heels, blowing by the UM defender for a dunk, tying the game at 38 at the break.

After more back-and-forth to start the second half, the Griz were holding on to a two-point lead at 57-55 with just under 12 minutes to play when Rorie decided he'd had enough.

The Oregon transfer, who missed last season due to NCAA regulations, came out of a timeout at the 11:55 mark and rattled off eight-straight points in two minutes to put the Griz up for good with a 10-point cushion.

From there, Rorie and the Griz would slow down the Pirates enough to maintain the 10-point lead, ratcheting up the defense as the clock wound down.

"The thing we were happy with is the way he (Rorie) defended in the second half," said DeCuire.

"We put him one-on-one with (Kyle) Roach who was their best player, and he did a phenomenal job of holding him to five points after he had 14 in the first half."

All told, three Grizzlies scored in double figures on the night, with Wright adding 22 and Moorehead adding 11. Not far behind however were Fabijan Krslovic with nine points and five rebounds, Lopez with nine points and freshman Sayeed Pridgett with eight points in his first collegiate game.

Pridgett and Rorie each pulled down a game-high six rebounds, and as a team, Montana allowed the Pirates only a single offensive board all night to give the Griz enough possession to pull away from the visitors.

For DeCuire, rebounding performances like that will be a key factor for UM moving forward as they face a difficult schedule without the post presence of Martin Breunig.

"We challenged our guys to get 15 rebounds tonight, and they got 16. That's the difference maker. If we can get 15 a night out of our players, I think we'll hold our own on the glass."

The Grizzlies now prepare to open the regular season at USC on Nov. 11 before returning home to face the Wyoming Cowboys on Nov. 14 at Dahlberg Arena.

Season tickets, mini-packs, and single game tickets are available at the Adams Center Box Office, at GrizTix.com or by calling 1-888-MONTANA.