No. 25 Washington shoots its way to win at the foul line

Friday, November 22

Seattle, Wash.

9 PM (MT)

Montana

1-3

Washington

4-1

Montana

Washington

Photo by: Derek Johnson

No. 25 Washington shoots its way to win at the foul line

11/23/2019 1:43:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Montana Sports Information

SEATTLE, Wash. – Montana hung with No. 25 Washington for 30 minutes on Friday night, but in the end, turnovers and fouls ended up being the difference.

The Grizzlies turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 23 Husky points, but the biggest difference came from the free-throw line. Montana was whistled 34 times, sending Washington to the free-throw line for 46 attempts. Give credit to the Huskies, who shot 35-of-46 from the charity stripe (76.1 percent). Montana was also strong from the line, but took only 13 attempts (9-of-13).

It was the most free throws attempted by a Griz opponent in Travis DeCuire's six seasons leading Montana. The previous high was 41, which came in 2015, also at Washington.

Six of nine Grizzlies finished with at least four fouls, with two fouling out. Montana's top player, Sayeed Pridgett, received his fifth whistle with more than 8 minutes still to play. DeCuire also earned a technical foul as the Huskies took 33 more free-throw shots than Montana.

Fouls weren't the only story, but they definitely told the story.

Montana was resilient early on, tying the game at 9-9 after Washington scored the game's first nine points. Then, after the Grizzlies fell behind by double digits, 26-15, they worked back to again tie the game at 29-29, using a 14-3 run.

Montana scored first in the second half, with Pridgett connecting on a triple from the corner, to give the Grizzlies their first lead, 32-31.

"I felt like we threw the biggest punch early in the second half and we had them where we wanted them," DeCuire said. "Some foul trouble took some guys off the floor, which took away some momentum."

After hanging so close for so long, though, Washington started to create separation, with fouls playing a large role. The Huskies were already in the bonus less than 6 minutes into the second half, and the Grizzlies were called for their 11^th whistle of the second half less than 8 minutes into the period.

At that point, the fouls favored Washington, 11-3, but despite all of that, the Grizzlies were within a possession, 44-41, following a Kendal Manuel triple. Manuel finished with a team-high 15 points on the night.

From there, the Huskies started to pull away, though. Washington went on a 19-5 run over the next 8 minutes, including an 8-0 spurt in just 70 seconds.

A bright spot for the Grizzlies was their three-point shooting. Montana entered the contest struggling mightily from beyond the arc, making just 15 of 60 attempts (.250) through the first four contests. The Grizzlies connected on nine triples on Friday – coming from four different players – including three from freshman Josh Vazquez and two in a row from redshirt freshman Eddy Egun. On the other end, Washington took 11 three-point attempts and came away empty handed each time.

"I think the conversation was more, 'If we bring this type of energy every night we'll be happier with where we're sitting over a period of time," DeCuire said. "We need to state it and we need to show that we can play to the level of competition every night. We need to bring this effort for 40 minutes."

National audience.

Nationally ranked opponent.

Let's show them what Montana Basketball is all about!#GrizHoops #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/oUJqZj5vmJ
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) November 23, 2019

Game Notables

Montana changed up its starting lineup, with Timmy Falls earning his first start of the season, in addition to Derrick Carter-Hollinger starting for the second consecutive game.
Montana was called for 34 fouls, with Washington taking 46 free throws compared to just 13 for the Griz. Overall, six of Montana's nine players finished the night with four or more fouls, and two fouling out.
Montana entered the night averaging 3.8 made three-pointers per game, but connected on nine on Friday, with four players each making at least two. On the other hand, Washington was 0-for-11 from three-point range.
Washington scored the game's first nine points just 2:20 into the contest, but the Grizzlies fired back with nine points of their own, with the first six coming from the charity stripe.
During Montana's 14-3 run late in the first half, which tied the score at 29-29, Montana held Washington without a made field goal for 6:34. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, made five consecutive shots. Redshirt freshman Eddy Egun had back-to-back three-pointers during the spurt before Sayeed Pridgett tied it with a short jumper.
Spanning both halves, the Grizzlies went on a 17-5 run to take its first and only lead, 32-31, on a three-pointer from Sayeed Pridgett in the corner.
Pridgett scored 13 consecutive Grizzly points, scoring the final six of the first half before the first seven of the second half. He scored 13 points before fouling out in just 28 minutes of action.
For the second consecutive game, Kendal Manuel led the Griz for scoring. He finished with 15 points and three assists.
Egun (career high) and Carter-Hollinger tied for the team lead with six rebounds apiece.
Timmy Falls dished out a team-high four assists, in addition to stealing two passes.
Freshman Josh Vazquez connected on three three-pointers, finishing the night with nine points and two assists.
Montana was within five points midway through the second half, 48-43, with 11:01 to play, following a Manuel fast-break jumper. The Huskies didn't permanently take a double-digit lead until the final 6:19.
Senior Jared Samuelson made his season debut, returning to the floor following a knee injury during preseason kept him out of the lineup for Montana's first four games. Samuelson, a graduate transfer from Rocky Mountain College, spent two seasons with the Griz before transferring to Rocky. Samuelson played 7 minutes of action and recorded.
The Grizzlies made just 2 of their first 16 shot attempts, but finished the first half by connecting on six of their final 10. Overall, though, Montana was limited to .333 shooting on the night.
The Grizzlies turned the ball over 20 times, but forced even more turnovers. Washington finished with 21 giveaways. Both teams had 23 points off of turnovers.
The Grizzlies struggled to score down low, with the Huskies holding Montana to 10 points in the paint (UW had 38).

Looking Ahead
Montana will now play three games over a seven-day period, beginning Monday at home vs. Texas Southern – a team that advanced to the CIT postseason tournament a season ago. Montana also hosts Coppin State on Friday before traveling to New Mexico on Sunday.