Friday, December 6
Missoula, Mont.
7 PM
Montana
4-5
77
vs
70
North Dakota
4-6
1
2
F
North Dakota
25
45
70
Montana
32
45
77
Photo by: Tommy Martino
Montana picks up another home win over North Dakota
12/6/2019 10:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MISSOULA, Mont. – Montana earned its third consecutive home win with a 77-70 victory over North Dakota on Friday night.
While so much has been made of Montana's freshman class this season, it was the veterans who paced the Grizzlies against the Fighting Hawks. Sayeed Pridgett scored 20 points – his fourth straight game with 19 or more – in addition to leading Montana for rebounding, steals and blocked shots. After scoring just four points in the opening half, fellow senior Kendal Manuel also finished with 20 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line.
Junior Timmy Falls scored a season-high 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting while chipping in with team highs for assists (3) and fouls drawn (8).
Overall, Montana's three returning upperclassmen scored 71.4 percent of the team's points.
The two teams were in a back-and-forth contest for much of the first half, before the Grizzlies went on a 13-3 run while forcing North Dakota to miss six of seven shots. During the stretch, Pridgett and Falls combined for 11 of the team's 13 points.
Montana led at the break, 32-25, but North Dakota quickly tied the score at 36-36 to force a Grizzlies timeout.
Moments later, though, Josh Vazquez inbounded the ball underneath the Griz basket before swinging around and hitting an open three. That gave Montana a 41-38 lead, and the Grizzlies would lead for the final 14 minutes.
The Grizzlies were far from finished, though. Two possessions after Vazquez's triple, Falls had a nice spin move past his defender for two points. Quickly, the Grizzlies got two more points on a breakaway dunk by Pridgett, from Manuel, which forced a North Dakota timeout.
From there, Montana pushed its lead to 10 points on multiple occasions and never fewer than two possessions. North Dakota's final lead came with 9 minutes remaining in the first half.
Montana made nearly 50 percent of its shots (49.1) while winning the turnover battle, 17-10. The Grizzlies also blocked six shot attempts.
Gallery: (12/6/2019) MBB: vs. North Dakota (12.6.19)
Quoting DeCuire
(on his team's intensity and focus)
"We keep track of hustle points – deflections, offensive rebounds, loose balls – we were struggling to get in the 70s and last year I think our lowest point total was 64. We knew we needed to get 70, 80, and tonight we were at 95. When we play hard, and we focus on the details more so than the offensive end, it tends to work out for us."
(on Montana's run early in the second half to take control of the game)
"We took that timeout before the media, which I swore last year I would stop doing that. We took two early timeouts, and there was a common effect with both of them that led to our victory. I thought it allowed us to regroup and refresh."
(on slowing down UND's top player Filip Rebraca)
"We crowded him, and I thought (Jared) Samuelson and Big Mack (Anderson) did a good job fighting the touch and making him take a lot of dribbles to get what he wanted. The six turnovers were big."
(on encouraging performances from his two post players)
"He (Samuelson) had pop, he had lift, which we haven't seen up to this point. I thought a lot of that had to do with the focus out of both of them. Tonight, Mack (Anderson) didn't care about offense, and that showed how good he can be defensively."
Montana will have 11 days off to prepare for final exams before closing non-conference play on the road: at Oregon (Dec. 18) and at Omaha (Dec. 21).
While so much has been made of Montana's freshman class this season, it was the veterans who paced the Grizzlies against the Fighting Hawks. Sayeed Pridgett scored 20 points – his fourth straight game with 19 or more – in addition to leading Montana for rebounding, steals and blocked shots. After scoring just four points in the opening half, fellow senior Kendal Manuel also finished with 20 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 performance from the free-throw line.
Junior Timmy Falls scored a season-high 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting while chipping in with team highs for assists (3) and fouls drawn (8).
Overall, Montana's three returning upperclassmen scored 71.4 percent of the team's points.
The two teams were in a back-and-forth contest for much of the first half, before the Grizzlies went on a 13-3 run while forcing North Dakota to miss six of seven shots. During the stretch, Pridgett and Falls combined for 11 of the team's 13 points.
Montana led at the break, 32-25, but North Dakota quickly tied the score at 36-36 to force a Grizzlies timeout.
Moments later, though, Josh Vazquez inbounded the ball underneath the Griz basket before swinging around and hitting an open three. That gave Montana a 41-38 lead, and the Grizzlies would lead for the final 14 minutes.
The Grizzlies were far from finished, though. Two possessions after Vazquez's triple, Falls had a nice spin move past his defender for two points. Quickly, the Grizzlies got two more points on a breakaway dunk by Pridgett, from Manuel, which forced a North Dakota timeout.
From there, Montana pushed its lead to 10 points on multiple occasions and never fewer than two possessions. North Dakota's final lead came with 9 minutes remaining in the first half.
Montana made nearly 50 percent of its shots (49.1) while winning the turnover battle, 17-10. The Grizzlies also blocked six shot attempts.
Quoting DeCuire
(on his team's intensity and focus)
"We keep track of hustle points – deflections, offensive rebounds, loose balls – we were struggling to get in the 70s and last year I think our lowest point total was 64. We knew we needed to get 70, 80, and tonight we were at 95. When we play hard, and we focus on the details more so than the offensive end, it tends to work out for us."
(on Montana's run early in the second half to take control of the game)
"We took that timeout before the media, which I swore last year I would stop doing that. We took two early timeouts, and there was a common effect with both of them that led to our victory. I thought it allowed us to regroup and refresh."
(on slowing down UND's top player Filip Rebraca)
"We crowded him, and I thought (Jared) Samuelson and Big Mack (Anderson) did a good job fighting the touch and making him take a lot of dribbles to get what he wanted. The six turnovers were big."
(on encouraging performances from his two post players)
"He (Samuelson) had pop, he had lift, which we haven't seen up to this point. I thought a lot of that had to do with the focus out of both of them. Tonight, Mack (Anderson) didn't care about offense, and that showed how good he can be defensively."
Game NotablesManuel ➡️ Pridgett 🤯 pic.twitter.com/TsjW4Ucjf3
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 7, 2019
- Montana won its third consecutive home game, scoring a season-high 77 points.
- Montana led for the final 14 minutes and did not face a deficit for the final 29 minutes.
- The Grizzlies forced North Dakota into 17 turnovers, including 12 in the first half.
- Montana scored 40 points in the paint, with the team attempting just five three-pointers.
- The Grizzlies were efficient from the free-throw line, connecting on 20 of 27 attempts (.778). Kendal Manuel, who led the Big Sky a season ago for free-throw percentage, was a perfect 10-for-10.
- Montana's three returning upperclassmen accounted for 55 of the team's 77 points – Sayeed Pridgett (20), Kendal Manuel (20) and Timmy Falls (15).
- Pridgett reached 19 or more points for the fourth game in a row. He once again led the Grizzlies for minutes (38), scoring (20), rebounding (6), steals (3) and blocked shots (2).
- Manuel finished with 20 points, including 16 in the second half.
- Falls scored a season-high 15 points, connecting on 5-of-8 shot attempts. The junior also added a team-high three assists and eight fouls drawn.
- Montana had one of its better nights down low, with Jared Samuelson scoring six points and recording two steals and a block, while Mack Anderson added five rebounds and two blocked shots.
- Montana made nearly half of its shot attempts (49.1), connecting on 51.9 in the second half.
- Montana trailed by as many as four points (17-13), but used a 13-3 run to build a 26-20 lead. During the run, North Dakota missed six of seven shot attempts.
- Following a tie at 38-38, the Grizzlies scored nine of the next 11 points to build a cushion. Pridgett scored the final four points of the spurt to push the advantage to 47-40.
- Over the final 12 minutes, the Grizzlies led by at least four points the entire time and by as many as 10.
- Travis DeCuire improved to 9-0 all-time against North Dakota.
Montana will have 11 days off to prepare for final exams before closing non-conference play on the road: at Oregon (Dec. 18) and at Omaha (Dec. 21).
A 13-3 run gives Montana its largest lead of the night! pic.twitter.com/LQHVl096KF
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 7, 2019
That'll do, @joshvazquez3! pic.twitter.com/BozJqeos4M
— Montana Griz BB (@MontanaGrizBB) December 7, 2019
Team Stats
UND
UM
FG%
.418
.491
3FG%
.409
.400
FT%
.750
.778
RB
34
31
TO
17
10
STL
4
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
10
Pts
20
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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