Golden Eagles remain unbeaten with win over Griz

Tuesday, November 29

Hattiesburg, Miss.

6 PM (MT)

Montana

3-5,0-0Big Sky

Southern Miss

8-0,0-0Sun Belt

Montana

Southern Miss.

11/29/2022 10:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies hung tough with one of the 18 remaining undefeated teams in the country on the road Tuesday night, but a late rally would come up short against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles as they remained unbeaten with a 64-54 win that dropped the Grizzlies to 3-5.

For the second time on the cross-country road trip, the Grizzlies faced a double-digit point deficit in the second half. And for the second time, they staged an impressive comeback down the stretch. The Grizzlies held Southern Miss without a field goal for the last 6:20 of the game, limiting them to just one make in their final eight shots.

On the offensive side, Dischon Thomas had 8 out of 10 points for the Grizzlies as his shot found its range to get the Griz back within six points in the final minutes. The comeback was only made possible from a huge effort out of Lonnell Martin Jr., who has excelled in the matchup against the Golden Eagles the last two years.

After a career-high 20 points against them last year, Martin Jr. had a stretch of 15 out of Montana's 19 points from the end of the first half through 10-plus minutes of the second half. The Golden Eagles may have run away with it if not for Martin Jr. and his shooting, matching a career-high with four threes made and scoring a season-high 18 overall.

It came in a losing effort, as Montana dropped its second game on the road trip. But after a game on Sunday against Air Force that felt like it should have been a win, there was a different mood for the Grizzlies after a close game against a very talented Golden Eagles team.

"Positive and disappointing at the same time. I'm happy about the effort and the attention to detail. We took 10 to 12 points off the board against a team that has been scoring a ton of points," Head Coach Travis DeCuire said. "Defensively, we made a jump. I think execution-wise we were better. This is one of the best defensive teams in the country at turning people over at a high rate. They are scoring about 30 points a game off turnovers and they scored two tonight. We grew in some areas and there's some areas where we won."

As DeCuire pointed out, there were a couple of categories that were going to be crucial for Montana to have a chance in the game. One of them was turnovers. Southern Miss entered Tuesday second in the country in turnover margin (+9.9) while forcing over 20 turnovers per game.

The Grizzlies gave the ball up just eight times, recording a positive assist-to-turnover ratio, and it led to just two points for the Golden Eagles. Montana also held Southern Miss to its second lowest point total of the season. The difference maker came off the bench, as Donovan Ivory scored 20 for Southern Miss while Montana had just three total bench points.

Gallery: (11-29-2022) MBB: Montana at Southern Miss

Montana struck first on a Dischon Thomas three, as the redshirt-junior came out of the gates aggressive. He had a block on the defensive end before the triple, and it quieted a good crowd inside Reed Green Coliseum. The silence didn't last long, as the Griz would go the next 6:40 without a point as Southern Miss raced out to an 11-3 advantage.

They would finally get an answer out of freshman Jaxon Nap, who came into the game and hit a triple to make it 11-6. Nap had perhaps his best performance in his young Grizzly career, playing a season-high 21 minutes and making some winning plays. It was a night where Montana was looking for answers with Aanen Moody missing his third straight game. DeCuire noted after the game that missing Moody and Whitney for multiple games each has forced players into roles that aren't typical for them. Nap had a chance to step into a larger role Tuesday.

"We talk about opportunity and you have to take advantage of them. They don't present themselves again often," DeCuire said. "I think some guys have been struggling a little bit and he has not had as much opportunity as some so we thought why not. This is going to be a tough one to get and if someone can jump up and play a little better than what we've seen or take advantage of an opportunity then we've got a shot."

The Griz endured another scoring drought and fell behind by nine at 15-6, which is where the deficit would continue to hang for most of the game. The two side were trading triples early. There were 21 attempted threes out of the first 34 total shots in the game.

Brandon Whitney scored late to cut the lead to five, but it had been extended back out to eight points (32-24) at halftime.

Out of the break, Martin Jr. caught fire right in front of a loud student section to keep Montana in it. The Golden Eagles would take their largest lead of the game at 11 points, but he knocked down a three to get it back to eight. He was then fouled on a three-point attempt, hitting all three from the line. In the opening 10 minutes of the second half, he was the only Grizzly to score.

It looked to be getting out of reach with just about six minutes remaining as the Golden Eagles extended the lead to a game-high 13 points at 53-40.
46-33 USM, largest lead of game. 6-0 run.

Thomas then had five points in two possession and Bannan made a driving lay-up to get the deficit back into the single digits for the first time in eight minutes. Thomas hit another three to cut it down to eight points. The Griz would get within six with just over a minute to play on a pair of free throws from Bannan.

The Griz were some missed free throws away from climbing back into it, but similar to the Air Force game they wouldn't get a chance. Southern Miss knocked down the final seven free throws of the game and held on for the 64-54 win.

There were plenty of positives to take away for the Grizzlies, who close a very busy opening month of the season at 3-5. The results may not have gone in favor of Montana as often as they would like, but it has come against a loaded schedule. Four of the teams Montana has lost to this year - Southern Miss (8-0), Duquesne (6-1), Troy (6-2) and Xavier (4-3) – combine for a 24-6 record with five of the six losses coming to ranked opponents.

"November has never really been favorable to us. We draw a tough schedule, we go on the road, we play good teams," DeCuire said. "We're not dodging teams and we had a year where we came into league with the worst record and still won the league. There's a lot out there for us we just need to continue to grow."

Martin Jr. led the Grizzlies with 18 points while Thomas added 15. The duo scored 20 of Montana's 30 second-half points. Brandon Whitney had eight points, six rebounds and three steals. The top four player for Montan combined to score 51 of the 54 total points.

Josh Bannan nearly had another double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. The junior hit a couple of major career milestones on the night, grabbing the 500^thcareer rebound and making his 200^th career free throw.

The Grizzlies were perfect from the free throw line as a team, making all 10 attempts. It improves them to 80 percent on the season, which would break the school record for the third consecutive season if it holds.

Montana has a week off before returning to play with a home game against South Dakota State on Tuesday, Dec. 6.