Win and you're in: Montana to face Eastern Washington with NCAA tournament on the line

RENO, Nev. – In November, when Montana went to Pitt and knocked off the Panthers on their home court, head coach Travis DeCuire celebrated the monumental victory over an ACC school but said it would mean little if his team didn't learn from that win and carry it over through the rest of the season and into March.

That moment reaches its pinnacle Saturday night when the Grizzlies face Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Championship finals. Tipoff is slated for 6:05 p.m. MT (5:05 p.m. local) and will be broadcast on ESPNU, ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.

The season has been historic on many levels, with Montana posting a 13-game win streak, winning a school-record seven consecutive road games, going undefeated at home and winning the 2018 Big Sky Conference regular-season title.

A win on Saturday would be the cherry on top, giving the Grizzlies the Big Sky's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

"This is a very special group," junior Bobby Moorehead said. "This is the best team I've been part of since I've been here, best team I've ever been part of. Going to the NCAA tournament has been a dream of everybody's since they were a little kid. This would be an awesome moment."

A win would also add to the team's historic season.

The team would become the fifth in program history to win both the regular-season title and tournament championship (1991, 1992, 2012 and 2013). Three of those teams, in addition to the 1949-50 team, join the 2018 Grizzlies as the only ones to win 25 games in a season.

Montana has been in this position before, and its hoping to learn from what hasn't gone its way in the past. Last month, in the team's only meeting with the Eagles, EWU snapped Montana's 13-game winning streak with a 74-65 win in Cheney. Even bigger, Saturday marks the third time in DeCuire's four seasons that his team has played in the conference championship game. Eastern Washington got the best of Montana in 2015, Weber State did in 2016.

"You lose, it's just more experience," DeCuire said. "You sleep, you dream for another opportunity. It happened again and we let it slip away. Hopefully the third time's the charm."

Montana will play in its 19^th tournament title game, more than any other Big Sky school, past or present.

SERIES VS. THE EAGLES
Montana and Eastern Washington will meet for the 110^th time on Saturday. The Grizzlies own a 66-43 advantage in the series. They are 3-4 in the past four seasons under head coach Travis DeCuire. The series dates back to the 1943-44 season. Montana lost the first 14 in the series but has gone on to win nearly 70 percent of the meetings since its first win.

In last month's meeting in Cheney, Ahmaad Rorie had a team-high 18 points and four assists, while Fabijan Krslovic scored a dozen points on 4-for-4 shooting and Sayeed Pridgett added 15. Michael Oguine has three double-digit scoring games in six tries vs. EWU. As a sophomore in 2016-17, Bobby Moorehead had 10 rebounds vs. the Eagles, then a career high.

The Grizzlies are 4-1 against Eastern Washington in the Big Sky Championship, including 1-1 in the title game. Montana won in the 2002 championship, 2005 quarterfinals, 2006 semifinals and 2012 semis. In the 2015 championship in Missoula, the Eagles closed the game on a 21-6 run to overcome a double-digit deficit with 6 minutes to play.

SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON

Eastern Washington is 20-13 overall, going 13-5 and finishing third in the Big Sky standings.
The Eagles have won eight consecutive games dating back to Feb. 15, beginning with a win over Montana. It is the school's longest win streak since 2004.
Playing as the No. 3 seed, EWU defeated Portland State (78-72) and Southern Utah (82-70) to advance to the finals.
The Eagles are led by senior Bogdan Bliznyuk, who on Friday became the Big Sky Conference's all-time scoring leader. Bliznyuk was the league's player of the year, ranking in the top five for scoring, rebounding and assists.
Montana (67.1) and EWU (69.2) ranked No. 1 and 2 in the conference play for scoring defense.
EWU ranked in the top third in the Big Sky for shooting, three-point shooting and free-throw percentage. The Eagles led the league from the charity stripe, led by Blizynuk, who set an NCAA record with 77 consecutive makes.
Mason Peatling was named All-Big Sky Conference honorable mention. He is averaging 5.7 rebounds and 7.6 points per game, shooting 51.5 percent from the field. His averages rank in the top 10 in the conference for rebounding and shooting.
Bliznyuk is the only EWU player to average double figures for scoring, but the Eagles have nine players averaging between 5.3 and 7.8 points per game.
Cody Benzel has a team-high 65 three-point makes, shooting .439 from deep.
Shantay Legans is in his first season as head coach and ninth season overall at EWU. The Eagles went 13-5 in Big Sky play in 2016-17, finishing runner-up to North Dakota.

CONFERENCE CHAMPS
Montana celebrated a conference championship on March 1, the 11th regular-season title in school history and the second in four seasons under head coach Travis DeCuire. A win on Saturday would clinch the program's 10^th conference tournament title, which would tie for the most among any Big Sky school, past or present. The Grizzlies are playing in the tournament finals for the 19^th time – more than any other school.

Regular-Season Championships (11): 1975, 1978, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018
Tournament Championships (9): 1991, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2013

GRIZ BITS

Montana won its 11th regular-season championship last week, including the second in four seasons under head coach Travis DeCuire.
Montana's 25 victories are tied for the third-most in school history, and the most since 2012-13.
The Grizzlies are led by a trio of all-conference performers – Ahmaad Rorie (first team), Michael Oguine (defensive player of the year/second team) and Jamar Akoh (third team). Montana is the only Big Sky team to have three players rank in the top 15 for scoring.
Montana is ranked No. 14 in this week's College Insider Mid-Major Top 25.
The Grizzlies won their first 13 conference games. The winning streak was one game shy of tying a school record.
Montana set a school record with seven consecutive true road wins (Dec. 28-Feb. 3).
Montana finished its home slate undefeated (14-0). It marked the first time in 26 seasons, and the fifth time ever, that the Grizzlies have posted a perfect home record.
Earlier this season, both Michael Oguine (32nd member) and Ahmaad Rorie (33rd) joined Montana's 1,000-point scoring club.
The Grizzlies are one of two NCAA Division I basketball teams to use the same starting lineup every game this season.
Montana's defense is forcing nearly 16 turnovers per game, a figure with ranks 16th nationally.
Fourth-year head coach Travis DeCuire is the fastest coach in Big Sky history to win 50 conference wins (55-17). He has led Montana to three 20-plus-win seasons.
Montana posted its first winning non-conference record since 2011-12, including a win at Pitt – its first over a Power-5 program since 2010 and first over an ACC team since 1966.
The Grizzlies, who were coming off of a 16-16 season, were picked to finish third in the preseason coaches' poll

Win and you're in: Montana to face Eastern Washington with NCAA tournament on the line

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jamar Akoh

Fabijan Krslovic

Bobby Moorehead

Michael Oguine

Sayeed Pridgett

Ahmaad Rorie

University of Montana Athletics

Win and you're in: Montana to face Eastern Washington with NCAA tournament on the line

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jamar Akoh

Fabijan Krslovic

Bobby Moorehead

Michael Oguine

Sayeed Pridgett

Ahmaad Rorie

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