Montana drops Big Sky opener

Thursday, December 29

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

6-7,0-1Big Sky

Eastern Washington

7-7,1-0Big Sky

Eastern Wash.

Montana

Photo by: Shanna Madison

12/29/2022 11:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana led for much of the second half in its Big Sky opener against Eastern Washington, but a strong finish from the field and the line for the Eagles sealed an 87-80 road victory. The Eagles utilized a 16-point advantage from the free throw line and 17 more rebounds in the win.

The Griz led by as many as seven points in the second half thanks in large part to a hot night from the arc. Montana made 14 of their 34 attempts from deep, the most in a game since 2019, but were outmatched by the size of Eastern Washington inside. The loss drops Montana to 6-7 overall and 0-1 in Big Sky play.

The contest was billed to be a close one coming in, pitting the two winningest Big Sky teams over the last decade against each other. Last year, the Griz swept the season series against the Eagles and won on a pair of last second free throws at home. It didn't quite come down to the final seconds this year, but it wasn't without drama. The teams combined for 91 second half points, including 50 from the visitors.

"A lot of points scored by both teams tonight. For us though, if we're going to win basketball games we don't give up 87 points," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "To give up 48 percent shooting in both halves you're going to put a lot of pressure on yourself offensively and when we hit a dry spell it cost us and we lost the lead."

Josh Bannan scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and Dischon Thomas added 20 of his own, 15 of which came in the second half, for a new season high. Aanen Moody contributed 17 points with four made threes, but it wasn't enough for the Griz.

Bannan's 10 rebounds were a game-high, but they also accounted for more than a third of Montana's total as the rest of the Grizzly lineup struggled. A team that has held opponents under 30 rebounds on average this season gave up 45 total boards to the Eagles and 13 on the offensive end.

"Very disappointing because that hadn't happened all year in terms of that big of a difference," DeCuire said. "But some of that was off ball, we had a couple guys in help positions and they lost their guys running in from the three-point line which is a little different for our posts. I just don't think our juice was where it needed to be."

Eastern Washington jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start, but the Griz responded with a seven-point run of their own to tie it back up on a Thomas three. Jaxon Nap came into the game and knocked down a triple to give Montana its first lead at 10-8.

The Griz showed early what the theme of the game would be for them offensively. Seven of the first eight field goal attempts came from beyond the arc. Montana would go on to take 34 of them, a new season high, connecting on 14.

The back-and-forth half continued with neither team extending their lead past three points for a five minute stretch. Eastern Washington put together a 7-0 run to bump the lead to 34-29, but the Griz got another three-point answer from their bench.

An absolute 𝑫𝑰𝑴𝑬 from @AJMoody9 sets up the Bannan slam!#GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/RhZ6Y0ih8K
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 30, 2022

Josh Vazquez connected on a triple to end the run. Bannan hit a lay-up and some free throws and Moody hit his third three of the half to put the Grizzlies ahead by one point. Eastern Washington retook the lead in the closing minute, setting up another big three from Vazquez.

This time, he received the ball towards the end of the shot clock, slid to his left and just got off a fading attempt at the buzzer. It connected, putting Montana up 39-37 at the break. In just five minutes of play, Vazquez hit perhaps the two biggest shots of the half for the Griz.

Moody is into double-figures with another three and the Griz are back on top! Moody and Bannan have combined for 23 of our 34 points!#GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/DrMPqgFPuZ
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 30, 2022

They kept the momentum through halftime, scoring quickly on a designed play on the first
Moody reverse seconds into the second extends lead 41-37. Bannan stepped into a three later on, making his ninth triple in his previous 10 attempts over the previous four games. It also put Montana ahead 51-44, the largest lead of the game for the Griz.

DT 3, he's got 5 in the half, 48-44. Then a Bannan three gives largest lead so far at 51-44. They would get it to seven points again later on a Moody three that made it 57-50. Montana was playing its brand of basketball during a nice stretch of play.

"Attention to detail. We were executing, the ball was moving, we were playing with pace," DeCuire said of the early second half run. "And we were rebounding the ball. They made a couple baskets but they were late clock and not necessarily the shots they were looking for and eventually we had a run where we got in transition."

That's when things started to fall apart a bit offensively for Montana.

Lonnell Martin Jr. and Brandon Whitney each hit their first shots of the game during the next stretch, but they were Montana's only makes for more than five minutes. Eastern Washington used that time to chip the Grizzly lead down to a single point. The Eagles then took a 67-66 lead, their first of the second half.

Thomas responded with another triple to get the lead back in favor of Montana, but a couple of Eagle free throws put the visitors ahead for good. The Griz would get it back within three points inside of two minutes, but an excellent shooting night at the charity stripe for the Eagles kept Montana at a distance. Eastern Washington made 30-of-34 attempts from the free throw line.

DT, for THREE! The big man has 11, including three triples, in the second half! #GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/S1euqHABli
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 30, 2022

"You've got to make shots down the stretch, but you also have to get stops. When you make your opponent miss, which we did, they missed their first shot quite a bit, you've got to go get the ball," DeCuire said. "I just don't think we did a good enough job giving up 13 offensive rebounds."

Bannan's game was on full display even in the loss, as he finished with an impressive 24/10/6 stat line in 38 minutes of play. Many of his team-high six assists came in the inside-out game, as he was smart in his distribution out of double teams. It played a part in Montana's season-high 34 three-point attempts.

"I wouldn't have gone into the game wanting that. I'll take it," DeCuire said of the shot selection. "The biggest thing was they were crowding the paint. They were trying to keep Bannan from playing one-on-one. They were trying to keep Whitney from getting to the rim, so they crowded. A lot of that is they run to the ball, so one of the things we talked about was when we get it to the paint that there are going to be wide open guys for shots."

Montana has a shorter-than-usual break in between games now as they prepare for a matinee game against Idaho on New Years Eve. The game tips off at 2:00 p.m.

"We need to be edgy, we need to be a little upset. The last thing I want is complacency after a loss," DeCuire said. "We weren't tough enough, we weren't physical enough and we didn't defend well enough to be a team that's going to compete for the top of the standings. We have to tighten that up."

Gallery: (12-29-2022) MBB: vs. Eastern Washington (12.29.22)

GRIZ NOTES

Josh Bannan recorded his fourth double-double of the season and first since a 15 point, 12 rebound game against MSU-Northern on Nov. 22.
The Grizzlies made 14 threes, a season high and the most they have made against a D-I opponent since knocking down 15 against Montana State on Feb. 23, 2019.
Dischon Thomas had his best scoring game in a Montana uniform with 20 points. He has just one game with more points, a 21-point effort while at Colorado State in an NCAA Tournament game.
This was Montana's first loss when scoring 80 points since Feb. 13, 2021. The Griz had won the previous 13 games in which they reached the 80-point mark.
Montana recorded a season-high 17 assists. This was the first game Montana lost this year where they had more assists than their opponent. They entered the night 4-0.