Saturday, January 28
Portland, Ore.
8 PM (MT)
Montana
10-12,4-6Big Sky
73
at
67
Portland State
9-13,3-6Big Sky
1
2
F
Montana
38
35
73
Portland St.
27
40
67
Montana gets much-needed road win in Portland
1/28/2023 11:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Shorthanded and up against a potential four-game losing streak, Montana basketball needed a response on Saturday night in Portland. Head Coach Travis DeCuire had a long meeting with his team following Thursday night's disappointing loss, speaking with a group that had just fallen to 3-6 in Big Sky play.
It's been the story of the season to an extent for Montana, falling on Thursday and needing a Saturday response. It has felt as if luck had been against the Grizzlies for most of this season. This may have been the night that you look back on for the 2022-23 season to see that things changed.
"You make your own luck. I honestly believe that, and we hadn't really been playing together, we hadn't been trusting one another," DeCuire said. "We've been trying to make plays, especially when things got tough, I think everyone wanted to be the guy instead of trusting others to make plays. We've spent 36 hours almost looking each other in the face, telling each other the truth, doing what families do. Fight a little bit, argue a little bit, cry a little bit, and then come together and hug it out."
The Grizzlies shared the ball well with a season-high 20 assists and had several standout individual performances in a 73-67 win over Portland State. It's the 10th win of the season for Montana and improves them to 4-6 in Big Sky play. It leads them into a home stand against the two teams at the bottom of the standings, giving them the opportunity to make a run.
It took everything that Montana had down the stretch as the Vikings rallied to make it close inside a loud Viking Pavilion. But the Griz, playing without Aanen Moody and Mack Anderson, held them off to close out a victory in which they led for nearly 32 minutes.Gallery: (1-28-2023) MBB: at Portland State (1.28.23)
Dischon Thomas had a spectacular night, scoring 25 points and dishing out six assists, both career highs for the junior. He was one of four Grizzlies in double-figures, as Josh Vazquez (17), Josh Bannan (17) and Lonnell Martin Jr. (10) also provided an offensive punch for a Montana team that shot 52 percent and made 10 threes.
The Grizzlies outshot the Vikings 52-44 percent, grabbed two more rebounds and had seven more assists. It's been the winning combo for the Grizzlies this season and Saturday night was no exception. They responded from the worst offensive performance of the season on Thursday to one of the best tonight.
"To be honest, yesterday we only worked on ourselves. We didn't do any scout until today, so yesterday's practice was entirely our offense versus switching," DeCuire said. "It was the best we've executed against it, and a lot of it was trust. You don't know who's going to come open so we have to cut and make reads. We played through the post quite a bit and I thought that exposed the switch."
The tone was set very early by Thomas. An offensive-minded player, he put the work in on the defensive end out of the gates. He had three blocks in the first two minutes. That success fed into the offensive end. Thomas scored 13 points and made three shots from the arc in the first 10 minutes of the game, putting Montana ahead 23-16.
In that time, Bannan did a little of everything, putting together a first half that had him on triple-double watch. He shared the ball well as DeCuire put it in his hands often to break the high-intensity, full-court press defense employed by the Vikings.
"I think Bannan set the tone the way he spread the ball around early. Dischon set the tone the way he defended," DeCuire said. "Those are the two big things for us to be a unit is that those two needed to be more consistent in those two areas and I think that's why everybody else kind of fell in place."
It countered a back-and-forth start that saw the teams trade the lead. Former Grizzly Cameron Parker scored the first six out of the gates for the Vikings. But Montana took the lead on a Thomas three with 10:34 left in the half and wouldn't relinquish it the rest of the way.
The two forwards for Montana outmatched the speed of the Viking defense in the first half, as Bannan scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds. The duo combined for 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the first half.
It led to an 11-point advantage at the break for the Grizzlies, the third time in Big Sky play they had been ahead by 10 or more at the half. And while Bannan and Thomas had a lot of the ball, Martin Jr. put together one of his best halves as well. He scored nine points, hitting a couple of threes while also pulling down three rebounds and dishing out two assists.
Vazquez hit a three on Montana's first possession of the second half, Thomas knocked one down a minute later and Montana had expanded the lead up to 15 points with 18 minutes to play.
Bannan dropped a perfect assist to Thomas for a dunk a few minutes later, one of several plays on the night where the two posts connected with each other. It made it a 12-point game, but Portland State responded with a 6-0 run.
Then it was Bannan, scoring six straight Grizzly points on his own to get the lead back into double-figures. Thomas kept it there, hitting a corner three and then a turn-around jumper in the paint to surpass his previous career-high of 21 points.
The Vikings were ever-lurking, and scored six straight yet again to cut Montana's lead down to just five points. Then a 10-2 run made it 66-64 Montana with just under two minutes to play. It was putting Montana, a team that is 0-4 in games decided by four points or fewer, under immense pressure.
They rose to the occasion. Once again, it was Thomas and Bannan connecting when Montana needed them most. Bannan slipped a screen with a back-cut and Thomas dialed up a perfect pass, finding his teammate cutting to the hoop for a wide-open slam. It was the final bucket of the game for Montana, putting them back up by two possessions and allowing the Grizzlies to ice it away at the free throw line.
The Grizzlies needed a complete team performance on a night when they had just nine players suited up, and they got just that. Laolu Oke had a great game off the bench for the Griz, making winning plays all night long. He finished a game-high plus-19 on the scoresheet while playing the second-most minutes of his Grizzzly career.
"Some guys that hadn't had opportunities were going to have to step up," DeCuire said. "If one of those guys stepped up and had a good game, I thought we'd have a chance and (Oke) was the guy tonight."
Vazquez, also playing an expanded role in the absence of Moody, had one of his best performances of the season. He matched his season-high with 17 points, providing a swagger and a calmness to the Grizzlies. He knocked down a spectacular three-pointer where he turned to run back up the floor when the ball was only halfway to the basket, and also made the final four free throws of the game to close it out.
The player of the night had to be Thomas. After he had just four points on 1-of-6 shooting on Thursday night, the coaching staff challenged him to try to fire up the big man. His offensive talent is undeniable, but it was the complete game he put together that impressed on Saturday. His performance is what they know he is capable of, and one that may have saved the season for his team.
"Tonight is one of the games where his defense was his motor," DeCuire said. "When he started the game off playing hard, blocking shots and walling, and even the early foul he got was a good foul, and the rest kind of took care of itself."
The win gets Montana to 4-6 in Big Sky play. The Grizzlies started 8-2 last year, but faltered down the stretch after some injuries late in the season. DeCuire knows that it doesn't matter how you start. It all comes down to March.
"It's not over, and at the end of the day you still have to win three in a row. You want to play your best basketball in February, and that carries into March," DeCuire said. "For us, it's play the right way. I could care less about the scoreboard right now. Just play the right well, and the rest will take care of itself. We did that tonight, we know what it feels like."
GRIZ NOTES
It's been the story of the season to an extent for Montana, falling on Thursday and needing a Saturday response. It has felt as if luck had been against the Grizzlies for most of this season. This may have been the night that you look back on for the 2022-23 season to see that things changed.
"You make your own luck. I honestly believe that, and we hadn't really been playing together, we hadn't been trusting one another," DeCuire said. "We've been trying to make plays, especially when things got tough, I think everyone wanted to be the guy instead of trusting others to make plays. We've spent 36 hours almost looking each other in the face, telling each other the truth, doing what families do. Fight a little bit, argue a little bit, cry a little bit, and then come together and hug it out."
The Grizzlies shared the ball well with a season-high 20 assists and had several standout individual performances in a 73-67 win over Portland State. It's the 10th win of the season for Montana and improves them to 4-6 in Big Sky play. It leads them into a home stand against the two teams at the bottom of the standings, giving them the opportunity to make a run.
It took everything that Montana had down the stretch as the Vikings rallied to make it close inside a loud Viking Pavilion. But the Griz, playing without Aanen Moody and Mack Anderson, held them off to close out a victory in which they led for nearly 32 minutes.
Dischon Thomas had a spectacular night, scoring 25 points and dishing out six assists, both career highs for the junior. He was one of four Grizzlies in double-figures, as Josh Vazquez (17), Josh Bannan (17) and Lonnell Martin Jr. (10) also provided an offensive punch for a Montana team that shot 52 percent and made 10 threes.
The Grizzlies outshot the Vikings 52-44 percent, grabbed two more rebounds and had seven more assists. It's been the winning combo for the Grizzlies this season and Saturday night was no exception. They responded from the worst offensive performance of the season on Thursday to one of the best tonight.
"To be honest, yesterday we only worked on ourselves. We didn't do any scout until today, so yesterday's practice was entirely our offense versus switching," DeCuire said. "It was the best we've executed against it, and a lot of it was trust. You don't know who's going to come open so we have to cut and make reads. We played through the post quite a bit and I thought that exposed the switch."
The tone was set very early by Thomas. An offensive-minded player, he put the work in on the defensive end out of the gates. He had three blocks in the first two minutes. That success fed into the offensive end. Thomas scored 13 points and made three shots from the arc in the first 10 minutes of the game, putting Montana ahead 23-16.
How about this start from @dischonthomas tonight! He hits his third triple and already has 13 points barely halfway through the first!#GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #Gogriz pic.twitter.com/EeRWPEaCtB
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 29, 2023
In that time, Bannan did a little of everything, putting together a first half that had him on triple-double watch. He shared the ball well as DeCuire put it in his hands often to break the high-intensity, full-court press defense employed by the Vikings.
"I think Bannan set the tone the way he spread the ball around early. Dischon set the tone the way he defended," DeCuire said. "Those are the two big things for us to be a unit is that those two needed to be more consistent in those two areas and I think that's why everybody else kind of fell in place."
It countered a back-and-forth start that saw the teams trade the lead. Former Grizzly Cameron Parker scored the first six out of the gates for the Vikings. But Montana took the lead on a Thomas three with 10:34 left in the half and wouldn't relinquish it the rest of the way.
The two forwards for Montana outmatched the speed of the Viking defense in the first half, as Bannan scored seven points and grabbed eight rebounds. The duo combined for 20 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in the first half.
These two are 𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 rn.
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 29, 2023
Bannan's sixth assist leads to the 18th point of the night for Thomas. #GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/AxqWEihbaH
It led to an 11-point advantage at the break for the Grizzlies, the third time in Big Sky play they had been ahead by 10 or more at the half. And while Bannan and Thomas had a lot of the ball, Martin Jr. put together one of his best halves as well. He scored nine points, hitting a couple of threes while also pulling down three rebounds and dishing out two assists.
Vazquez hit a three on Montana's first possession of the second half, Thomas knocked one down a minute later and Montana had expanded the lead up to 15 points with 18 minutes to play.
Bannan dropped a perfect assist to Thomas for a dunk a few minutes later, one of several plays on the night where the two posts connected with each other. It made it a 12-point game, but Portland State responded with a 6-0 run.
Then it was Bannan, scoring six straight Grizzly points on his own to get the lead back into double-figures. Thomas kept it there, hitting a corner three and then a turn-around jumper in the paint to surpass his previous career-high of 21 points.
The Vikings were ever-lurking, and scored six straight yet again to cut Montana's lead down to just five points. Then a 10-2 run made it 66-64 Montana with just under two minutes to play. It was putting Montana, a team that is 0-4 in games decided by four points or fewer, under immense pressure.
They rose to the occasion. Once again, it was Thomas and Bannan connecting when Montana needed them most. Bannan slipped a screen with a back-cut and Thomas dialed up a perfect pass, finding his teammate cutting to the hoop for a wide-open slam. It was the final bucket of the game for Montana, putting them back up by two possessions and allowing the Grizzlies to ice it away at the free throw line.
𝗕𝗜𝗚 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘!!! Thomas hits Bannan, he slams it home, and we're back up by four!#GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/TPy1g9msx3
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 29, 2023
The Grizzlies needed a complete team performance on a night when they had just nine players suited up, and they got just that. Laolu Oke had a great game off the bench for the Griz, making winning plays all night long. He finished a game-high plus-19 on the scoresheet while playing the second-most minutes of his Grizzzly career.
"Some guys that hadn't had opportunities were going to have to step up," DeCuire said. "If one of those guys stepped up and had a good game, I thought we'd have a chance and (Oke) was the guy tonight."
Vazquez, also playing an expanded role in the absence of Moody, had one of his best performances of the season. He matched his season-high with 17 points, providing a swagger and a calmness to the Grizzlies. He knocked down a spectacular three-pointer where he turned to run back up the floor when the ball was only halfway to the basket, and also made the final four free throws of the game to close it out.
S̶t̶e̶p̶h̶ ̶C̶u̶r̶r̶y̶ Josh Vazquez doesn't need to see it go through to know this one was good. 🔥🔥 #GrizHoops #BigSkyMBB #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/hUDUqzfonG
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 29, 2023
The player of the night had to be Thomas. After he had just four points on 1-of-6 shooting on Thursday night, the coaching staff challenged him to try to fire up the big man. His offensive talent is undeniable, but it was the complete game he put together that impressed on Saturday. His performance is what they know he is capable of, and one that may have saved the season for his team.
"Tonight is one of the games where his defense was his motor," DeCuire said. "When he started the game off playing hard, blocking shots and walling, and even the early foul he got was a good foul, and the rest kind of took care of itself."
The win gets Montana to 4-6 in Big Sky play. The Grizzlies started 8-2 last year, but faltered down the stretch after some injuries late in the season. DeCuire knows that it doesn't matter how you start. It all comes down to March.
"It's not over, and at the end of the day you still have to win three in a row. You want to play your best basketball in February, and that carries into March," DeCuire said. "For us, it's play the right way. I could care less about the scoreboard right now. Just play the right well, and the rest will take care of itself. We did that tonight, we know what it feels like."
GRIZ NOTES
- Dischon Thomas set new career highs in points (25), assists (6) and three-pointers made (5).
- Josh Vazquez was in double-figures for the second time this season. He also scored 17 points off the bench against Northern Arizona. This was his third start of the season.
- Montana set a new season-high as a team with 20 assists. It was the first time the Grizzlies reached 20 assists against a Division 1 opponent since January of 2020, also against Portland State.
- This was the fourth time this season that Montana made at least 10 three-pointers as a team.
- Bannan had his sixth double-double of the season and his seventh game with at least 10 rebounds. He snapped a streak of back-to-back games in single digits scoring.
- The Grizzlies held the 11th best team in the country in terms of fast break points well under their season average, allowing just 11 points in transition.
- The Montana and Portland State coaching staffs both wore sneakers on Saturday night to support Coaches Vs. Cancer.
Team Stats
Mont
PSU
FG%
.520
.443
3FG%
.400
.286
FT%
.846
.529
RB
33
31
TO
13
6
STL
1
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
25
FGM
9
3FGM
5
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
4
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
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