Griz win fifth straight to complete road sweep

Tuesday, December 19

Davis, Calif.

7 PM (MT)

Montana

7-4,0-0Big Sky

UC Davis

4-6,0-0Big West

Montana

UC Davis

12/19/2023 10:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana rolled to its fifth straight win and completed another season sweep on Tuesday evening against UC Davis. The Grizzlies won consecutive non-conference road games for the first time since 2010 with a 73-61 win over the Aggies.

The Griz had a balanced offensive effort with five players scoring in double-figures and a solid defensive performance to limit UC Davis star guard Elijah Pepper to just nine points on 4-of-11 shooting. The win improves Montana to 7-4 on the year as they prepare for Big Sky play starting after Christmas.

The Aggies led early, but Montana had several big runs in the first half to take control. They led at the break, and pulled away late to improve to 6-0 on the season when up at the break. It finishes off a sweep of the road trip against San Jose State and UC Davis, and a complete season sweep against the two teams.

"This road trip is pretty similar to conference," DeCuire said of the wins. "Two teams you played a little while ago, the second time around there is going to be some adjustments and they are going to come at you a little harder, and you have to adjust to the adjustments. I thought our guys did a good job of that."

Brandon Whitney led Montana with a season-high 16 points on 75 percent shooting to go with three rebounds and two assists. He's closing in on 1,000 career points at Montana, needing just 10 more to reach the historic milestone.

"We continuously talk about staying ready. It's interesting that Whitney has been playing so well since we made the change, most of it defensively and pushing the ball, getting others involved," DeCuire said. "We felt at some point that he was going to have an explosive night offensively and look to the rim quite a bit more and we needed it tonight."

Te'Jon Sawyer off the bench had 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting as well in another efficient night for the Californian. Josh Vazquez and Aanen Moody each scored a dozen with five combined makes from beyond the arc, while Dischon Thomas scored 10 points.

It's the second time this season Montana has had five players reach at least 10 points. The other occasion came in the first meeting with UC Davis.

The Grizzly offense shot exactly 50 percent against the Aggies for the second time this season in finishing out the season sweep. It's the highest percentage against a Division 1 opponent, and it extended beyond the three-point line where the Grizzlies poured in 10 triples on just 23 shots (43 percent).

"We knew if we could get anywhere near 50 (percent) and hold them in the low 40s that all we have to do at that point is rebound the ball," DeCuire said. "For us to shoot 50 and hold them exactly to 40 is pretty impressive. I think the guys are just locked in on the scouts."

It was the sixth straight game that Montana outrebounded its opponent, and they were balanced in that department as well. They had seven different players with between three and five rebounds with Laolu Oke leading with five.

The Griz continued the trend of big wins, as all seven wins this year have come by double figures. The bench played a huge role again, outscoring the UC Davis reserves 31-12.

"You just cycle guys through," DeCuire said of his team's depth. "Te'Jon in the first half was big-time to go in and get the baskets and be the physical presence that he was."

There's some room for @tejxn__ and he takes advantage. It's a 13-0 Griz run here in Davis!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/WS0GHBw9wv
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 20, 2023

The Aggies jumped out to a quick early lead, doubling up Montana at 12-6 early. But Montana went on a 13-0 run to take control the rest of the way.

The Griz cut it to 12-11 when Money Williams drew an offensive foul on Elijah Pepper. One of the highest scoring guards in the country received a technical foul after the charge, and went to the bench for over five minutes of game time.

Montana took advantage of his absence, as Sawyer's jumper with 12:33 to go in the half capped the 13-0 run and gave Montana a 19-12 lead. It's the fourth straight game that Montana has put together a scoring run of at least 10 points.

The balance was on display from the start as six different players combined to score for the first 21 points in the game. It was a half full of runs for Montana. They added runs of 7-0 and 5-0 to go up 36-30 at the break.

They also got a great defensive performance from Dischon Thomas in the half with two big blocks and three rebounds.

"I thought Dischon set the tone for us defensively. The rebounds out of area, the blocked shots, the walls at the rim," DeCuire said." He was as active as he's been on the defensive side for us. I thought when guys see someone like him go do that, they follow the lead."

They were outshooting the Aggies in the first half but committed eight first half turnovers to keep the game close. Sawyer and Whitney combined for 17 first half points off the bench on 7-for-8 shooting to provide the difference.

They got hot from beyond the arc in the second half, making six of their first seven three-point attempts. They had a run through the middle of the second half with 10 makes in 11 shots, including a pair of threes from both Moody and Vazquez.

"It's funny, I told the guys at halftime that the hoop is big and it's going to go in at some point in time. They agreed," DeCuire said. "Then I heard someone from the bench say somehghing about confidence and he turned and said, 'I have no problem with confidence.' Next thing you know he bangs one."

The hot shooting stretch put the game out of reach as Montana led 65-49 at the end of it. They got two more late threes from the duo of Moody and Giordan Williams, who assisted each other on the makes, to build their biggest lead of the game at 73-55.

This one from waaaaay downtown by @JoshVazquez3 follows up a triple from Moody for a 6-0 Griz run!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/6eNbY6nTZn
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 20, 2023

Montana would bring in the reserves at the end and the Aggies would close on a 6-0 run to make the final score appear much closer.

The high-scoring duo of Pepper and Ty Johnson were held completely in check by Montana's tough defense. Johnson scored 15, but did it on a season-worst 26 percent shooting, while Pepper was kept below 10 points for just the second time this year.

The Grizzlies have now won two road non-conference games for the first time ever under DeCuire. They are a game ahead of where they were at this point last year and have guaranteed a winning record in the non-conference for the sixth time in seven years.

They have two non-conference games remaining as part of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge in early January, but they will kick off league play next week. They open with perhaps the most difficult test in the league, going on the road to face preseason favorite Weber State.

The Wildcats are the top team according to KenPom (#116) and should enter the matchup with a matching 7-4 record. It will be a challenge, but Montana won in Ogden last season and are playing their best basketball of the season as they head into the holiday break.

"I feel good," DeCuire said of where the team is at. "I think our break is a little longer than I wanted it to be so our conditioning will be the question mark going into this road trip. I think where we are at in terms of role definement and attention to detail, our level of desperation right now is high. These guys want to be a good basketball team and they're trying to prove it to one another."