Whitney joins 1,000-point club in bounce back win

Saturday, December 30

Pocatello, Idaho

4 PM

Montana

8-5,1-1Big Sky

Idaho State

4-9,0-2Big Sky

Montana

Idaho St.

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

12/30/2023 6:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The shorthanded Montana Grizzlies needed a big performance to avoid a road sweep to open conference play, and the seniors Brandon Whitney and Dischon Thomas delivered. Whitney's performance helped lead the Griz to the win, and it also cemented him in Griz history as he scored his 1,000th career point.

It was a career day in many ways for Whitney, who scored a season-high 20 points and approached a triple-double with a career-high nine assists and seven rebounds, which matches a season high. He scored his 1,000th career point in the first half in his 99th career game as a Grizzly. He becomes the 36th member of Montana's historic 1,000-point club.

Montana won 76-68 as a result to improve to 8-5 on the year and 1-1 in Big Sky play. It's the 26th win in the last 27 matchups with Idaho State.

Whitney had a big day, but he was joined by Thomas and Te'Jon Sawyer with big performances. Thomas had his first double-double as a Grizzly with 18 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Sawyer set the tone early starting for an injured Laolu Oke and matched his career high with 17 points.

"Whitney getting into the paint in transition, he pushed the ball really well in transition and he just kept getting into the paint all night," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "He made all the right decisions."

Gallery: (12-30-2023) MBB: at Idaho State (12.30.23)

The Griz scored 48 points in the paint, the most against a D1 opponent this year, won the rebounding battle by 11, and shot 53 percent for another D1 season high.

The Grizzlies went to Sawyer early in the game, and the big man made an instant impact. He scored the first points of the game for Montana and had six early as the Grizzlies took a 12-7 lead into the second media timeout. Montana had six straight points, keeping Idaho State without a point for over four minutes.

Montana went to the bench and the Bengals took advantage, reeling off seven straight points to tie the game up at 16-all after the Griz had dominated over a stretch. Sawyer re-entered and ended the Bengal run with another forceful lay-up down low.

"He's been good for us off the bench and has been our low post presence," DeCuire said of Sawyer. "Typically, that's been after the first media when substitutions are made, but I wanted to set the tone in the paint. I didn't want to come out and try launching a bunch of jump shots because you can shoot yourself out of a game which is what we kind of did Thursday."

The teams were stout defensively early on, but both teams closed the half hot. Whitney started a good run for the Grizzly offense with his record-setting bucket. It came on a signature move for Whitney, who cut to his right and floated the ball up and in to give Montana a 20-16 lead.

Here's how @Bwhit_10 reaches 1,000 career points. Of course, it comes on his trademark floater. Congrats, Brandon!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/cfjoQz5Teg
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 30, 2023

The Grizzlies made four straight shots down the stretch of the opening half and had a stretch of seven makes in seven attempts. They couldn't pull away from the Bengals, who made their final six shots in the period to tie things up at 35-all headed into the break.

Thomas had seven of his rebounds in the first half, nearly eclipsing his season-high in just 18 minutes of play.

"The 11 rebounds and his energy, he showed signs of it in the Davis game. He set the tone physically, he was diving on the floor for loose balls, and with (Oke) out I talked about that this morning and said somebody is going to have to get 10 rebounds. DT set the tone, it was big."

It was the second time that the Griz were tied at the break, but they would go on to win from the situation for the first time. There had been just a single lead change in the second half of the first 12 Montana games this year, but it went back and forth early in the second period in Pocatello.

The Bengals had a 6-0 run to take an early 43-38 lead, but Montana responded with seven straight to claim it back on five points from Thomas and a bucket from Giordan Williams. Williams ended the night with eight points and three rebounds.

Idaho State would battle back for a few more lead changes, but Montana took the lead for good on a Williams bucket that made it 51-50.

"We had answers," DeCuire said. "They bank in a three and DT goes and makes a three. They get an and-one, Te'Jon gets on the offensive glass to give us a three. The guys are showing some grit, and to have (Money and Oke) out and outrebound your opponent by double-figures says there is something in these guys' tanks. I just like the way they responded."

The Griz got hot from deep in the second half, making five of nine attempts to pull away down the stretch. It was a much-needed response after shooting just 15 percent from the arc in the loss to Weber State on Thursday.

The highlight of the night came in the second half when Sawyer received the ball at the elbow, dropped through the lane and rose up for a massive slam over a pair of Bengal defenders.

𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙄𝙍 𝙃𝙀𝘼𝘿𝙎 💪@tejxn__ going crazy.#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/YNeCh2rD5t
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 31, 2023

It was a very clean game until the very end. The teams combined for just seven first-half fouls and the Bengals had to foul often down the stretch to get the Grizzlies into the bonus. The Griz had a lead of as many as 13 points before a late run cut it to eight. It's the closest game that Montana has played in yet this season.

The triple from @dischonthomas gives us the largest lead of the game! DT is up to 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double as a Griz!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/osTqYK6S9a
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) December 31, 2023

The Grizzlies avoided the road trip sweep. It's been rare for Montana to lose two on the road under DeCuire, as they've done it just three times in 10 years. Combine a tough loss on Thursday with two missing starters, and things were stacked against Montana. They proved they have enough depth and veteran leadership to still be a problem.

"One of the things that you don't look forward to in coaching is trying to find ways to win games missing two starters," DeCuire said. "It's difficult, but at the same time depth gets challenged and we spoke about having depth earlier in the year and we're seeing that in terms of a couple of guys stepping up."

Montana now take a break from Big Sky play to prepare for the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. The long road trip continues with an away game in Fargo against North Dakota State on Wednesday before they return home to play South Dakota on Saturday.