Grizzlies extend win streak with victory at Eastern Washington

Thursday, January 6

Cheney, Wash.

7 PM (MT)

Montana

11-5, 4-1BSC

Eastern Washington

8-7, 2-2BSC

Montana

Eastern Washington

Photo by: Bridget Underwood/EWU Athletics

Grizzlies extend win streak with victory at Eastern Washington

1/6/2022 9:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

CHENEY, Wash. – Montana earned a road win over the defending Big Sky Conference tournament champions on Thursday night, beating Eastern Washington, 90-78, at Reese Court.

In a battle of the top-two teams in the Big Sky Conference over the past eight years – including the past three tournament champions – Montana came out on top, leading the Eagles for all but 1 minute, 47 seconds, including the entire second half.

For Montana, it snapped a three-game losing skid to its rivals to the west and was just the Grizzlies' second road win of the season.

Montana started slow offensively, but still scored the game's first nine points behind a strong defensive effort. The Eagles were held scoreless through the first 5:37, missing their first six shots while turning the ball over four times as well.

A 9-0 run to start the game for @MontanaGrizBB pic.twitter.com/qa2HX0fw7B
— SWXRightNow (@SWXRightNow) January 7, 2022

After Montana's slow start on offense, it then made its next six shots to build a double-digit lead.

The Eagles, though, fought back, scoring 11 points in just 1:43 to take a 34-33 lead late in the first half. A corner 3-pointer from Josh Vazquez was the answer Montana was looking for, giving the Griz a halftime lead, but that was just an appetizer for what was to come after the break.

The Grizzlies scored 17 points in the first 4:07 of the second half to build a game-high 53-38 advantage and force an early Eagles timeout. The spurt came entirely from the trio of Josh Bannan, Robby Beasley III and Derrick Carter-Hollinger – including a 3-pointer from each – as Montana made its first seven shots of the second half.

Montana leads @EWUMBB by double digits now with this three.

Timeout Eagles with 16:49 left in the second half. pic.twitter.com/T02NgXDjeS
— SWXRightNow (@SWXRightNow) January 7, 2022

The Eagles had one more run in them, holding Montana to 1-of-8 shooting to get within a possession, 59-56, with 7:54 to play, before junior Lonnell Martin Jr. answered on the other end, followed by takeover mode from sophomore Brandon Whitney, who scored back-to-back buckets, part of his 19 points on the night.

As a team, four Grizzlies were in double figures for scoring as Montana scored a season-high for points against Division-I competition, with the final 17 points coming from the free-throw line as Eastern Washington fouled 10 times over the final 2:17.

Whitney's 19 points were the second-most of the season for the sophomore, trailing only his 30-point outburst at North Dakota. He shot 7-of-11 from the floor, in addition to 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. Beasley also scored 19 points while adding a career-high nine rebounds. Bannan recorded his third straight double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Over the past three games, he is averaging 16.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Carter-Hollinger, playing nearly two years to the day in the same venue as his 20-point, 14-rebound performance as a freshman, added 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.

Montana made nearly half of its shots (.491, 28-of-57), plus 26-of-30 (.867) from the free-throw line, with two-thirds of those attempts coming in the game's final 2:17. Montana forced Eastern Washington into 17 turnovers while also limiting the Eagles to 3-of-18 shooting (.167) from deep.

Montana will now travel back to Missoula for a pair of practices before taking another bus trip to another rival, facing Montana State on Sunday evening in Bozeman.