Griz cap trip to paradise with win over Oral Roberts

Monday, November 21

St. Thomas, USVI

10:30 AM (MT)

Montana

1-4

Oral Roberts

1-4

Oral Roberts

Montana

Griz cap trip to paradise with win over Oral Roberts

11/21/2016 5:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies picked up the team's first win of the year on Monday, shooting 11 three-pointers en route to a 68-47 win over Oral Roberts at the Paradise Jam tournament in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The win puts the Griz in seventh place at the eight-team tourney and puts UM at 1-4 on the year. Oral Roberts of the Summit League also moves to 1-4 on the season.

Montana's depth at guard was on full display as the Griz picked up 42 points off the bench, led by a season-high 19 from senior guard Brandon Gfeller, who went 5-8 from behind the arc to lead all scorers.

Following a tough 87-63 loss to Washington State in the second round of the tournament, head coach Travis DeCuire and his charges hit the reset button with the team's mental preparation heading into the Oral Roberts game, and came away with a 21-point victory.

"Our energy on the bench – I don't know I've ever had a game where our bench was as loud as it was today," said DeCuire. "It allowed us to play through some stuff, and when they had their chance, they came in and gave us a lot. It was a fun game to coach."

Defensively, the Griz were a menace, holding the normally 40 percent three-point shooting Golden Eagles to just 9.5 percent from behind the arc and 31 percent from the field, while outrebounding them 44-29.

Montana didn't feature one dominant rebounder in the post as in years past but instead collected 27 boards from their stable of guards, led by freshman Sayeed Pridgett with eight.

"We pushed the ball very well," added DeCuire. "Even when we didn't score, we ran them into the ground a little bit by pressing and pushing it right up their back. They didn't have enough depth to run with our guys. That's where our bench came in and gave us 42 points."

Montana had only beaten Oral Roberts once in school history heading into the contest, now 2-5 all-time against the Golden Eagles. UM's only other win over ORU came in the 2005-2006 season when the Eagles visited Missoula in an ESPN "Bracket Busters" game, with the Griz winning 88-74.

Jack Lopez opened the scoring with a three from the corner as he has done in three of UM's five games this season, getting the Griz out to the early 3-0 lead.

Montana then went on to build a 20-11 lead halfway through the first period when Gfeller began heating up. The senior from Colfax, Wash., drained a pair of threes and a jumper to score eight-straight points on top of a pair of jumpers from Sayeed Pridgett and another three from Ahmaad Rorie.

That momentum carried over to the next five minutes of play, with Gfeller using his hot hand to drain another triple from long range, followed by another three from Mario Dunn as the Griz went 6-9 from behind the arc to go up 29-16 with five minutes to play in the opening half.

Redshirt freshman Jared Samuelson put a punctuation mark on the first half, throwing down a big dunk on an assist from Pridgett to give UM a 13-point lead with under two minutes to go in the half.

Rorie added another three and Samuelson added a turnaround hook shot to put the Griz up 38-24 at the break, shooting 58 percent from the floor, and going 7-of-13 from the three-point line headed into the lockers.

Rorie – who finished with 16 points and six rebounds - kept UM's hot hand going in the second half, draining another three from the elbow to pad Montana's lead to 15 points, 43-28.

Gfeller then hit his fourth triple of the day and Montana's ninth overall soon after, as the Griz asserted themselves on the boards, outrebounding Oral Roberts 24-16 while increasing the lead to 16 with 13 minutes left to play.

The Grizzlies' hot had was destined to cool off at some point, but the defense picked up where the shooting left off.

Montana was in the middle of a 2-for-13 slump when Bobby Moorhead hit his only three-pointer of the day to snap a four-minute scoring drought for the Griz to go up 49-35.

With the Grizzly defense holding ORU to 2-of-10 from the field during that stretch, the Griz were able to increase their lead to 18, and Montana never looked back, finishing with the 68-47 win.

The Grizzlies' road trip continues on Thanksgiving Day as Montana heads to Oxford, Miss., to take on Ole Miss of the SEC. Mississippi was another of the teams participating in the Paradise Jam, needing overtime to defeat Oral Roberts 95-88 in the first round of the tournament.

Overall, coach DeCuire and the Grizzlies leave the islands with a smile on their faces, going 1-2 as the most difficult schedule in program history rolls on.

"Our guys played well against USC, they played well against Wyoming and played well against NC State. The Washington State game is the one that we walk away from feeling bad about because we didn't perform. But other than that, this team has been playing pretty good basketball," says DeCuire. "As long as we stay focused on the things that are important and know that March is more important than November, we'll be fine."

Tipoff from Mississippi is set for 2 p.m. MT on Thanksgiving Day. The Griz then stop off in Vermillion, South Dakota to face the USD Coyotes on Sunday, Nov. 27 at noon.