Anderson fuels bounce back win for Montana

Saturday, January 7

Greeley, Colo.

6 PM

Montana

8-8,2-2Big Sky

Northern Colorado

5-11,0-4Big Sky

Montana

Northern Colo.

1/7/2023 10:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

It's far too early in the season to call anything a must win. Still, the expectations for Montana basketball are always high, and after a 1-2 start to conference play, they needed to find some inspiration in Greeley on Saturday to avoid just the third 1-3 start to conference play in the last 15-plus years.

It seems fitting that the inspiration came from the Montanan, Mack Anderson. A player who has been through so much in his five-year Grizzly career. 124 games played. A body that has so much spring, but also so many scars. In a homecoming of sorts, with his dad in attendance, Anderson gave absolutely everything he had against the Bears.

His effort was part of the best bench performance of the season for Montana. 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Anderson had 15 of those, a season high for him, to go along with a team-high eight rebounds. He also blocked two shots, contributing several highlight-reel worthy plays on both ends.

It all led to a big Grizzly win. Montana held off a good performance from one of the league's leading scorer in Dalton Knecht and a late rally from the Bears for a 79-74 victory.

It nearly didn't happen. After leading by as many as 18 points in the second half, Northern Colorado caught fire from deep and used the free throw line to go on a run. It brought it all the way down to just a single point lead for Montana. The Bears had the ball, down two, with the shot clock off.

Needing a stop, it was Aanen Moody who stepped in front of a charging bear and drew the offensive foul. He hit two free throws, and then a missed three by the Bears on the other end fell into the hands of Anderson. It was the perfect end, giving Anderson his season-high eighth rebound and a free throw at the other end to lock in the 79-74 final.

"You've got to take them how you can get them," head coach Travis DeCuire said following the game.

Gallery: (1-7-2023) MBB: at Northern Colorado (1.7.23)

In wins this year, the keys for Montana have been to share the ball well and outrebound its opponent. They accomplished both on Saturday, dishing out a season-high 18 assists and outrebounding Northern Colorado 36-27. They are now 6-1 with more assists than their opponents, and 7-1 when they grab more rebounds.

The Grizzlies also shot 49 percent as a team and 50 percent from three-point range.

Josh Bannan very nearly reached a historic career milestone, scoring 23 points to bring his career total to 996. He now gets a chance to reach 1,000 career points in front of the home faithful. He also pulled down seven rebounds.

It was a massive second half from Lonnell Martin Jr. as well, knocking down his first three attempts from the arc to spark the Griz to the big lead. He scored 13 points and dished out five assists. It was the third time in the last four games that Martin Jr. had five assists.

Then there were Anderson and Josh Vazquez, who both came off the bench with impressive performances. With Brandon Whitney still under the weather and Dischon Thomas picking up an early foul, DeCuire needed his bench. They pulled through.

"Vazquez has been phenomenal the last four games and Mack (Anderson) was ready to go today."

Montana's bench had a season-high in points, and it also outscored a Northern Colorado bench that featured a couple of regular starters. After an 0-3 start to conference play, Daylen Kountz (17.1 points per game) and Matt Johnson II (11.2 ppg) began Saturday's game on the bench. Even with that duo combining for 62 minutes, the Griz bench still won the battle.

The teams started slow on the offensive end. Montana made just two of its first nine shots and trailed 8-4 in the early going. Then it was Josh Vazquez off the bench, keeping up his hot run of play. He snagged a steal and scored on the other end to give Montana its first lead. Then he hit a triple to push it to four points.

The message after Thursday was to share the ball better. Assist total aside, you saw the evidence in the scorers for the Grizzlies. Jaxon Nap came off the bench to hit a three. Then Moody hit a floating jumper through the lane to make it 23-17 Montana. The 23 points came from an astonishing nine different players.

Nap and Moody combined again later, as the freshman assisted the fifth-year player for a transition three. The Griz built the lead to double-digits at 28-17. Northern Colorado cut into the lead slightly down the stretch of the half, mostly thanks to the play of Knecht. He had 14 of the 26 first-half points for Northern Colorado, as the Grizzly defense held the rest of the Bears roster to just 3-for-18 shooting.

In the second half, it was the play of Anderson and Martin Jr. that extended the Montana lead. The duo combined for 22 second half points and were the major players in the Grizzly run.

Anderson did it by cutting to the rim. He finished a ferocious lay-up through contact to put Montana up 11 and kept at it, rolling off screens for several dunks that ignited the Montana bench. Martin Jr. did it from outside, connecting on his first three triples of the half. He hit back-to-back at one point to extend the lead to a game high 58-43 with just over eight minutes left.

"We had a long conversation last night before practice about sharing the ball, ball movement and shot selection. I felt we've beat ourselves in a couple of games where we go on these long three or four minute stretches with no basket," DeCuire said. "The ball's not moving and we're settling for bad shots.

"We found something in the ball screen coverage, the roller was open all night, and Mack is our best finisher in that situation so we milked it until it went away."

The lineup of Martin Jr., Vazquez, Moody, Bannan and Anderson played together to extend the lead and was the best on the night for Montana. Those five played nearly nine minutes together and outscored Northern Colorado 29-16 when sharing the floor. Following the three, DeCuire gave a couple of them a rest. It was during that time that the Bears started their comeback.

They hit three shots from the arc in a row, cutting the 18-point lead in half in less than 90 seconds. The foul line then came in handy, as Northern Colorado went 14-of-16 from the line in the second half. After three free throws from Matt Johnson II, the Grizzly lead stood at just a single point with 24 seconds remaining.

Brandon Whitney was fouled but missed both. Bannan battled for the second, outjumping his opponent to pull down a clutch offensive rebound. The proceeded to hit one of two at the line, but it still set up Northern Colorado with a chance to win it on the other end.

The ball went to Kountz, a 17-plus point per game scorer who had Moody one-on-one. He put his head down to attack the rim. Moody absorbed the contact. Northern Colorado foul, Montana ball with 11 seconds to play.

"It's huge. I was concerned a little bit about it because they were getting a lot of whistles," DeCuire said. "One thing about (Moody), he's not afraid of contact. That was huge. That was probably the biggest play of the night."

Montana's win brings them back to .500 overall and also in Big Sky play. It continued a trend that makes sense and yet defies logic at the same time, improving them to 8-0 in games where they outshoot their opponents. They've lost the eight games in which they were outshot.

It also keeps them in a potential Big Sky title race, and hands Northern Colorado, the preseason No. 2 pick in the league, its fourth straight loss. Thursday in Flagstaff may have been heartbreaking to let slip, but a split on the road is still far from a bad weekend.

"I've always said if you split all your road trips, you're in the race," DeCuire said. "Then you have to take care of business at home, so what we need is a sweep. If we can win out at home moving forward and then sweep one of these road trips, we're going to be where we wanted to be in the first place."

Montana will have their chance at a sweep starting Thursday against Weber State. They conclude the weekend against the biggest surprise of the season in undefeated Idaho State. The Bengals handed the Wildcats their first Big Sky loss on Saturday night.

GRIZ NOTES

Lonnell Martin Jr. eclipsed 100 points on the season and 300 points in his Griz career with a 13-point effort. He also had five assists, bringing his total up to 15 in the last four games.
Travis DeCuire improves to 10-7 against Northern Colorado. He now has 10-plus victories and a winning record against every team in the Big Sky.
Josh Vazquez had eight points, two steals and two assists. He's now made multiple threes in four consecutive games and is up to nine steals over the last three.
Brandon Whitney made his 70^th career start.