Photo by: Tanner Ecker
Griz honor Johnson with big win
1/6/2024 9:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Montana men's basketball team honored a Griz legend in Anthony Johnson on Saturday night and made for a memorable night with a big win over South Dakota in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge. The Griz won 83-64 to secure a second victory in the challenge, and Montana contributed five total points as both the men and Lady Griz went 4-0 combined.
The night was all about honoring Anthony Johnson, as his wife Shaunte and his three children were in attendance and Montana had many video tributes to No. 23.
"Any time we lose a Griz we want to honor them the best we can. When you have young kids, an opportunity to bring them and show them the community love for them that's a positive that they will always have," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "They didn't get a chance to watch their father play, they will be watching old videos maybe, but they didn't get a chance to see it, so for them to come in here and feel the love for their father and mother is incredible and I think it's important."
The Griz (10-5, 1-1 Big Sky) led most of the way for the third straight win and seventh in the last eight games overall. Dischon Thomas led Montana with his third straight double-double. Thomas scored 19 to go with 11 rebounds, which matched his career high for the third straight game.
Vazquez also set a new season high with 17 points and matched his career high with five made threes.
Add in a complete performance from Brandon Whitney, who scored 16, dished out eight assists, and grabbed five rebounds, and it led to a great night for Montana.
It's continued an impressive run for Whitney since being inserted back into the starting lineup. He's been in double figures in three straight games. Add in 23 assists during the stretch, and he's been providing a lot of offense for the Griz.
"He's always been that occasional explosion for us and a guy that has averaged 10 points a game for his career," DeCuire said. "I think the biggest for us that we're getting from him right now is his assists. He's generating a lot of offense whether it's scoring or creating for others and it's been very beneficial for a lot of us."
His assists help spread the ball around the floor to a quartet of Grizzlies that finished in double figures. The Griz shot over 50 percent for the third straight game. It's continued a trend of balanced scoring from Montana.
Aanen Moody, who scored 36 against North Dakota State on Wednesday, had just eight points. It didn't matter.
"We've got a group right now that's not too concerned with who is putting the ball in the basket, they are more concerned with how we can generate offense and how we can execute offensively," DeCuire said. "We've been scoring off our defense quite a bit, we're getting in transition. I don't think it was our greatest shooting night and we were still able to put over 80 on the board."
The offense came from a solid defensive performance. The Coyotes shot just 37.5 percent, the worst performance by a D1 team against the Grizzlies this year. Montana also blocked five shots and forced 12 turnovers.
The defense helped the offense create opportunities on the other end.
"I thought we were good off the ball. I thought our three defenders off the ball and in the ball-screen actions, some of the screens that they were setting away from the ball our help defenders were in good places and we got our hands on a lot of balls. We came away with most of the 50-50s, so when you do that, you're going to score a lot of points."
The Grizzlies went small from the start, using a new starting lineup that featured Giordan Williams back in the game from the tip. The move paid off, as Williams got the Grizzlies off to a tremendous start to the game.
Vazquez had five straight points on his own with a corner triple on an assist from Williams that extended the Griz lead into double digits at 29-19.
The defense played a big role in the run, as Montana held the Coyotes nearly five minutes without a field goal early on and then to an overall drought of nearly seven minutes later in the half. The Coyotes had a stretch of just 1-for-14 shooting.
The Grizzlies had a 36-24 lead at the break and just continued to extend it in the second half.
Vazquez matched his career high with his fifth three late to give Montana its biggest lead of the night at 69-50. Whitney scored the next time down to join three others in double figures and extend the lead to 21 points.
The Griz led by as many as 23 points before a late South Dakota run made the game appear closer than it was in the final score. Whitney put the exclamation point on the win with a steal and slam late in the game to seal it.
Montana will stay at home next weekend, playing Northern Colorado on Thursday and Northern Arizona on Saturday as they resume Big Sky play. Both games will be played at 7:00 p.m. on Robin Selvig Court in Dahlberg Arena.
"Both teams have been playing well. NAU is winning a lot of one-point games so they've got confidence in close games, and Northern Colorado is putting a lot of points on the board," DeCuire said. "We will be challenged, we will spend some time preparing for them and need our guys to rise to the occasion."
The night was all about honoring Anthony Johnson, as his wife Shaunte and his three children were in attendance and Montana had many video tributes to No. 23.
"Any time we lose a Griz we want to honor them the best we can. When you have young kids, an opportunity to bring them and show them the community love for them that's a positive that they will always have," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "They didn't get a chance to watch their father play, they will be watching old videos maybe, but they didn't get a chance to see it, so for them to come in here and feel the love for their father and mother is incredible and I think it's important."
The Griz (10-5, 1-1 Big Sky) led most of the way for the third straight win and seventh in the last eight games overall. Dischon Thomas led Montana with his third straight double-double. Thomas scored 19 to go with 11 rebounds, which matched his career high for the third straight game.
They also had big performances from Giordan Williams and Josh Vazquez. Williams, the senior transfer from Santa Clara had a season high 17 points and did most of his damage in the first half to lead the Griz to a big first half lead.The lead is up to 15 after this @dischonthomas triple! He's got 13 and 11 for his third straight double-double!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/4iFuualA0Y
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 7, 2024
Vazquez also set a new season high with 17 points and matched his career high with five made threes.
Add in a complete performance from Brandon Whitney, who scored 16, dished out eight assists, and grabbed five rebounds, and it led to a great night for Montana.
It's continued an impressive run for Whitney since being inserted back into the starting lineup. He's been in double figures in three straight games. Add in 23 assists during the stretch, and he's been providing a lot of offense for the Griz.
"He's always been that occasional explosion for us and a guy that has averaged 10 points a game for his career," DeCuire said. "I think the biggest for us that we're getting from him right now is his assists. He's generating a lot of offense whether it's scoring or creating for others and it's been very beneficial for a lot of us."
His assists help spread the ball around the floor to a quartet of Grizzlies that finished in double figures. The Griz shot over 50 percent for the third straight game. It's continued a trend of balanced scoring from Montana.
Aanen Moody, who scored 36 against North Dakota State on Wednesday, had just eight points. It didn't matter.
"We've got a group right now that's not too concerned with who is putting the ball in the basket, they are more concerned with how we can generate offense and how we can execute offensively," DeCuire said. "We've been scoring off our defense quite a bit, we're getting in transition. I don't think it was our greatest shooting night and we were still able to put over 80 on the board."
The offense came from a solid defensive performance. The Coyotes shot just 37.5 percent, the worst performance by a D1 team against the Grizzlies this year. Montana also blocked five shots and forced 12 turnovers.
The defense helped the offense create opportunities on the other end.
"I thought we were good off the ball. I thought our three defenders off the ball and in the ball-screen actions, some of the screens that they were setting away from the ball our help defenders were in good places and we got our hands on a lot of balls. We came away with most of the 50-50s, so when you do that, you're going to score a lot of points."
The Grizzlies went small from the start, using a new starting lineup that featured Giordan Williams back in the game from the tip. The move paid off, as Williams got the Grizzlies off to a tremendous start to the game.
South Dakota built an early lead, but after a Williams three the Grizzlies retook it at 15-12. He continued the fantastic start with a new season high 12 points with plenty of time remaining in the first half and the Griz leading 21-16.It's already a new season high for @Geeewilliams2 with 12 early points!#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/3bLktfbIi6
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 7, 2024
Vazquez had five straight points on his own with a corner triple on an assist from Williams that extended the Griz lead into double digits at 29-19.
The defense played a big role in the run, as Montana held the Coyotes nearly five minutes without a field goal early on and then to an overall drought of nearly seven minutes later in the half. The Coyotes had a stretch of just 1-for-14 shooting.
The Grizzlies had a 36-24 lead at the break and just continued to extend it in the second half.
Vazquez matched his career high with his fifth three late to give Montana its biggest lead of the night at 69-50. Whitney scored the next time down to join three others in double figures and extend the lead to 21 points.
The Griz led by as many as 23 points before a late South Dakota run made the game appear closer than it was in the final score. Whitney put the exclamation point on the win with a steal and slam late in the game to seal it.
It's a steal and a 𝑺𝑳𝑨𝑴 from @Bwhit_10 for the exclamation point‼️#BANDTOGETHER x #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/xLHSYmtGbm
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 7, 2024
Montana will stay at home next weekend, playing Northern Colorado on Thursday and Northern Arizona on Saturday as they resume Big Sky play. Both games will be played at 7:00 p.m. on Robin Selvig Court in Dahlberg Arena.
"Both teams have been playing well. NAU is winning a lot of one-point games so they've got confidence in close games, and Northern Colorado is putting a lot of points on the board," DeCuire said. "We will be challenged, we will spend some time preparing for them and need our guys to rise to the occasion."
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