Thomas reaches 1,000 career points in statement win over Weber State

Monday, January 22

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

13-6,4-2Big Sky

Weber State

12-8,3-4Big Sky

Weber St.

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino

Thomas reaches 1,000 career points in statement win over Weber State

1/22/2024 11:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

Montana men's basketball has been on an impressive streak over the previous two months. The Grizzlies entered Monday night winners of two straight and had a 10-2 record since the start of December.

But there was a weight hanging over them. The Grizzlies had looked good and had handled business against some of the team in the bottom half of the league standings. The results were good, but fans always had the conference opener against Weber State, which Montana lost in a blowout, to point back to as a worrisome game.

The Grizzlies made up for that with a statement win on Monday night. The same Weber State team that beat Montana 93-63 in late December came to Missoula, and this time it was the Grizzlies that won in a blowout.

Montana (13-6, 4-2 Big Sky) led for over 35 of the 40 minutes of game action in a 77-62 victory over the preseason Big Sky favorites. The Grizzlies have now won three straight and 9 of the last 11 behind yet another balanced performance offensively. The Grizzlies have won nine of the 11 games by double-digits.

"We're serious, we're together, we're competitive," head coach Travis DeCuire said when asked what this win signals to the rest of the league. "We believe in one another, we believe in ourselves, and we're a better basketball team than we were on December 28."

The highlight of the night came early in the game as Dischon Thomas connected on his first shot attempt of the night, a straightaway three, to eclipse 1,000 career points. He ended the night with 16 points and five rebounds, and now has 1,014 between Colorado State and Montana.

Here's the moment that @dischonthomas crossed the 1,000-point mark!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/fLwVkjhAs2
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 23, 2024

He was one of three Grizzlies in double-figures in the game, and all of them are now 1,000-point scorers. Brandon Whitney, who reached the milestone earlier this year, led Montana by matching his season high with 24 points.

Whitney had a particularly effective first half as his ability to drive the lane gave the Weber State defense problems. The guard scored 16 first half points on 7-of-8 shooting. He ended the night shooting 9-of-12 with five assists and just one turnover to improve upon his already impressive assist/turnover ratio.

"He's great in space. I think the thing about him right now though is his playmaking, and it opens up the offense," DeCuire said of his point guard. "When you have the ball in your hands and you're a willing passer and you're looking to create for people, the game opens up."

The quick ball movement leads to a triple from @Bwhit_10, who is up to 14 points already in the first half 🔥#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/in0S61CPGr
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 23, 2024

Aanen Moody, who scored his 1,000^th career point last season, joined them with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He played a team-high 39 minutes and also pulled down five rebounds.

The trio shot the ball well, as did the entire Montana team. The Grizzlies ranked 27^th in the NCAA entering the night in field goal percentage and shot 55.1 percent as a team, seven points better than their average. Montana has now shot better than 50 percent in six of the last seven games.

The offense rolled along, but it was the defensive performance that stood out to DeCuire. His team allowed 93 points in the last meeting with Weber State. On Monday, they held the Wildcats to just 62 points on 38 percent shooting.

The Wildcats shot 75 percent from three in the first game but were held to just 4-of-20 from the arc on Monday. Josh Vazquez guarded Steven Verplancken, who entered the game averaging 12.4 points per game with 46 made threes, the most in the Big Sky. Vazquez didn't allow him to score, holding him to a 0-for-6 shooting night.

Montana has relied on the offense for some big wins. In the two conference losses, however, the Griz have given up 95.5 points per game. They responded in a big way on that end of the floor in the rematch.

"It was one of those nights where we needed to prove that we could defend. 38 percent from them and 0-for-6 from Verplancken, how about Josh Vazquez defensively on him tonight," DeCuire said. "It was a group effort. Everybody showed up and we rode the vets a little bit tonight with minutes and they showed a lot of heart tonight."

Weber State opened with a 4-0 lead out of the gates but Montana answered with a 14-0 run that gave them the lead for the rest of the contest. Thomas put Montana ahead with his three and Whitney contributed a 5-0 run of his own to help push out the lead.

They held the Wildcats without a point for nearly five full minutes of action. Weber State returned the favor, and were able to reel off a 7-0 run of their own to cut it back to a one-possession game at 14-11 on a three from Dillon Jones.

The All-American candidate and likely future NBA player was leaned on heavily for Weber State and finished with 30 points, but he scored nearly half of them at the free throw line and only recorded three assists as Montana took away some of his playmaking ability.

"I thought the guys were locked in defensively and showed a lot of heart," DeCuire said. "We went a long time, seven minutes, without a basket and we felt like we were getting stops and should be pulling away. We got a little anxious, but once we settled in we started getting better shots again and our offense kind of led us the rest of the way."

After Montana's five-minute drought that included six straight missed field goals, the offense flipped a 180 and got red-hot. The Grizzlies made eight straight shots, capped off by a three from Aanen Moody that built the lead back up to 34-26. They would lead 36-30 at the break.

Montana opened the second half on an 11-2 and wouldn't let the Wildcats back within nine points the rest of the way. The game slowed down significantly in the second half as Weber State attempted 16 free throws in the final 20 minutes, but Montana gave the largest crowd of the season.

"We appreciate people showing up. It's starting to feel more like a Griz environment," DeCuire said. "We still could use a few more but we enjoy it and we're grateful for the people that have been here and are coming."

Two-man game from @AJMoody9 to @LaoluOke for the two-handed jam 💪#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/CV6HPk174F
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 23, 2024

The Griz outrebounded the Wildcats 33-27 and are now 11-2 this year when outrebounding their opponents. The Grizzlies kept up a few more trends, as they are 12-0 when shooting better than their opponent and 11-1 when leading at the half.

The win caps off a big week for Montana. The Grizzlies got a road win against Montana State on Saturday night and now take down another rival in Weber State at home. The Grizzlies and Wildcats always bring another level out in each other, and redeeming the December loss made sure that Montana didn't have a let-down performance following the win over the Cats.

"They are hungry. I don't think I had to spend as much time on the mental with this group," DeCuire said. "We reminded them that it's time to move on. Sometimes the revenge factor, when you've got an opportunity to play against someone that beat you to even the score, guys are going to be motivated for that. It's easy to get up for that game and it's a rival at home. It didn't take much for us mentally to be prepared."

The Grizzlies don't have much time to sit on this win as they hit the road for a pair of games out west, beginning Thursday night at Portland State. Montana will then cap off a stretch of four games in eight days with a Saturday matchup against Sacramento State.