Griz bounce back to shoot their way past Vikings

Saturday, February 12

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

17-9, 10-5BSC

Portland State

8-15, 6-9BSC

Portland State

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/UM Athletics

2/13/2022 12:07:00 AM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

MISSOULA, Mont. – With 159 career wins, Montana head basketball coach Travis DeCuire passed Wayne Tinkle to move into second place on UM's all-time winningest coach list Saturday, as his Grizzlies earned a scrappy 85-76 Big Sky Conference victory over Portland State.

Sophomore guard Robby Beasley III led the way for the Griz with a season-high 24 points fueled by a career-high six three-pointers as Montana made a D-I season-high 11 shots from behind the arc.

With an additional 22 points from sophomore forward Josh Bannan and four players scoring in double figures, Montana rebounded from a cold scoring performance against NAU Thursday by shooting nearly 60-percent from the floor against Portland State.

With the win, Montana picked up its first sweep of the Vikings in four years and improved to 17-9 on the season and 10-5 in Big Sky play with five games left in the regular season. Portland State – which was red-hot on a four-game win streak before coming to Montana - falls to 8-15 and 6-9 in conference play.

The Griz now sit in fourth place in the league standings, with three of their final five games coming against top-five teams.

Playing against the league leader in offensive rebounds, the Griz dominated the battle of the boards, outrebounding PSU 38-20 in a physical contest that saw 45 personal fouls called.

Montana was also able to dominate the glass without the services of 6-9 big man Mack Anderson, who had his string of 34-straight starts snapped with an injury sustained against NAU.

Despite UM's hot shooting, the normally sure-handed Griz gave up a season-high 22 turnovers, blowing past their previous season-high of 16 to keep the Vikings within striking distance throughout the game.

But the Griz were able to break the Viking's press – a big reason PSU is a top-20 team in the nation in steals – to hit big shots when the team needed them most, leading to a win for UM in the 1,000th game played in Dahlberg Arena history.

"Probably half of those turnovers were dead ball turnovers, and we just went back into our defense and got stops," said DeCuire.

"Pressure busts pipes, we always say, so teams that press, over a period of time, they're gonna get you. And they bit us a little bit, but our guys hung in there."

Gallery: (2-12-2022) MBB: vs. PSU (02.12.22)

Montana started the game with Beasley playing the aggressor early. The San Ramon, Calif., native was a one-man highlight reel in the opening minutes, picking up a big block on a Paris Dawson layup then converting with a three-pointer on the other end.

He followed that up soon after with another big block that led to a Bannan three-pointer in transition as the Grizzly defense asserted itself early.

The momentum and highlights kept coming for the Griz in the early minutes as senior Scott Blakney threw down a dunk to put Montana up 11-2 headed into the first media timeout.

Later in the half, Beasley continued with the hot hand. The Griz went 5-for-5 from behind the arc, with Beasley accounting for three of those on 3-for-3 shooting, and at one point, Beasley himself had 11 points while the entire Viking team had just 10.

Portland State would continue to hang around, however, going on a 7-0 run halfway through the period, punctuated by Dawson hitting a three to cut UM's lead to three at 25-22 as the Grizzly shooting cooled off.

Lonnell Martin Jr. heated things back up for Montana with a big three that snapped a 9-0 run for PSU. Derrick Carter-Hollinger then put a jolt of energy in the room with a posterizer dunk over Hayden Curtiss to get the Griz rolling again.

The Vikings kept coming though, with Montana's lead, which was as high as 13, cut to just one as the end of the half neared. But it was Beasley again that got the Griz moving, draining another three with three minutes to play in the period, leading to a 41-35 lead at the break for UM.

Portland big man Khalid Thomas, who saw just seven minutes of action in the first half, made an immediate impact for the Vikings after the break. The 6-10 forward started the period with a huge dunk and a pair of big blocks while rattling off seven quick points to once again make it a one-point contest.

As turnovers started to plague the Griz, the two teams traded blows, with Montana going on a two-minute scoring drought while at the same time giving the ball away four times.

Martin brought the momentum back for UM with a big three-pointer from the corner – his fourth of the day – that extended the Grizzly lead to six with five minutes left to play.

A minute later, Beasley then knocked down his sixth three-pointer of the day to keep the Griz rolling. Bannon then put the exclamation mark on the game for the Griz with a strong drive to the rim that put UM up by seven with just a minute to play.

"I felt that might have been a little bit of a backbreaker just because they had a little momentum, then Robby knocked down one and then Lonnell's in the corner. So those, to me, were the biggest shots of the game," DeCuire added.

"I think everybody that was in there made some big plays. When those guys play well, we're hard to beat."

Montana now gets some respite from its hectic schedule of five games in the last nine days, with just one contest coming up this week. The Griz will travel to Idaho to take on the Vandals, who knocked off Weber State Thursday, on Feb. 17 in Moscow before taking Saturday off.

UM then travels to Southern Utah on Feb. 24 before returning home for the Brawl of the Wild game against Montana State on Feb. 27.