Big second half not enough for Griz at Utah State

Monday, November 18

Logan, Utah

7:00 PM

Montana

2-3,0-0Big Sky

Utah State

4-0,0-0Mountain West

Montana

Utah St.

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

11/18/2024 11:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies battled against an undefeated Utah State team in a hostile environment on Monday night, but a second-half comeback stalled out as the Griz fell 95-83.

The Griz (2-3) trailed by 14 at the halftime break, but won the second half against one of the top offenses in the entire country. Utah State entered the night averaging 107 points per game. Montana held them well under their averaged, but the duo of Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev combined for 57 points to help the hosts to victory.

"The guys battled all night. It's a great crowd, it's a great environment, I think we knew coming in that a run like that in the first half could happen," associate head coach Chris Cobb said. "I don't think we ever wanted it to quite get to 15. I think we weren't ready for the zone as much as we wanted to be, and then give them a lot of credit, they pushed the ball really hard in transition and did a good job to separate."

Money Williams, fresh off a 30-point game last time out against Tennessee, scored 25 points to lead the Griz. He scored 19 of them in the second half, helping pull Montana back into it.

Jensen Bradtke impressed in his Grizzly debut, scoring 17 points and grabbing five rebounds. The 6-10 forward knocked down half of his six three-point attempts in his first career game at the collegiate level.

Joe Pridgen had yet another near-miss double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds. It's the third time this year he's been within two rebounds of a double-double. The senior also set the tone early for Montana, establishing a physical and aggressive presence.

Pridgen caught an alley-oop on Montana's opening possession of the game. He then had a huge blocked shot on the other end and a tough up-and-under finish in the opening minutes. He knocked down a three a few possessions later to have seven of the first nine points for Montana. He also had three blocks before the first media timeout of the game.

Perfect first play call to get Joe Pridgen the alley-oop ✈️ pic.twitter.com/IxcUGXkNOL
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 19, 2024

Utah State took its first lead of the game at 10-9 after a Montana turnover. They extended it to four points after another Grizzly turnover. It was the story of the first half for Montana, as the Grizzlies struggled in possession. The Aggies would score 18 points off Montana's 14 first-half turnovers.

Pridgen scored and Bradtke put his first career points in as part of a 5-0 Grizzly run to retake the lead at 14-13. It would be the last lead that Montana held on the night as the Aggies scored nine straight points to go ahead 22-14.

Turnovers played a major role in the first half of the game for Montana, but perhaps even more costly was the amount of free throws that the hosts were able to put up. The Aggies shot 12-of-17 from the line in the first half alone, while Montana went 0-for-1.

The Aggies play zone defense the entire game, pressuring at half court and falling back into a solid defensive shape. It's unique in the college game to run it as often as they do, and it caused some problems for Montana.

"When you don't see zone a lot, you're not totally ready. I think some of the things we looked for early really weren't there, made a little bit of an adjustment to get more aggressive driving and trying to get into the paint to draw two people and kick," Cobb said. "I thought we did a really good job in the second half handling it, making some adjustments, and really settling in."

Utah State had eight straight points, their third first-half run of eight or more, to take a 35-20 lead, and they scored three straight points at the stripe to end it. The Aggies went into halftime on a 5-0 run to lead 49-35.

After Pridgen's great start to the game, the forward was limited. He committed to early fouls and played just nine first-half minutes.

Money Williams had a three-point play early in the second half to cut the lead to 12, and on the next Utah State possession Montana head coach Travis DeCuire received a technical foul with the Aggies leading 50-38.

They extended it to 52-38 with the resulting free throws. The technical lit something inside of DeCuire's players, however, as Montana responded to it with a 12-0 run and outscored the Aggies from that point on in the game.

Jensen Bradtke makes his Griz debut, and immediately knocks down a corner triple 🎯 pic.twitter.com/pzuwAbW2B4
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 19, 2024

Bradtke hit a triple to start the run and then Williams had five straight points to get Montana back within single digits. After a layup from Brandon Whitney, Montana had cut the lead to just 52-50.

"They were just keeping it simple and doing what we do," Cobb said. "It's been hard because we talked about the schedule and the rhythm of it, and then you step into this environment and play against the zone and it's not exactly how we drew it up, but I give the guys a lot of credit because they kept scrapping and they kept clawing."

Whitney converted a free throw at the 15:07 mark to once again cut the lead to two at 55-53, but that was as close as Montana would get the rest of the way. The Grizzlies remained competitive to the end, powered by the quartet of Williams, Bradtke, Pridgen, and Whitney.

After a tough outing in Tennessee, Whitney responded with a solid performance, particularly in the second half. The fifth-year guard had eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and a team-high five assists.

Whitney passed Ken McKenzie to move into 13^th place in program history in scoring and passed Doug Selvig to move into 11^th place all-time in assists.

"I think you have to highlight Brandon Whitney. He was phenomenal, his competitive level was phenomenal, and I thought he was absolutely fantastic in this game. We got a really good performance from him tonight in terms of a competitor."

Williams is the first Grizzly since Aanen Moody on Feb. 2-4, 2023 to score 25 points in consecutive games. He once again found his way to the free throw line often with his attacking play style, making 6-of-8 shots from the stripe.

As a team, Montana outshot Utah State, making 52 percent of their shots. The Grizzlies also had the edge in the rebounding department, which was a massive improvement from the Tennessee game. In Knoxville, Montana were outrebounded 38-17. Utah State entered the night with an average rebounding margin of +15.

The Grizzlies flipped both trends, outrebounding the Aggies 37-33 on the night. Pridgen led with eight, followed by Kai Johnson with six. Johnson had another difficult night shooting the ball, but mad a difference in other ways with three blocks and four assists.

Bradtke was a very welcome sight, returning from an injury to go for 17 points and five rebounds in his collegiate debut. Montana's main rotation, and several pieces off the bench, showed the potential that led to them being selected as the Big Sky favorites by the league's coaches at the start of the year.

"Jensen Bradtke is a really good player," Cobb said. "I think the nice thing about it, I think we really left a lot of meat on the bone tonight in all honesty, and I think there is still a lot of growth. I think Kai Johnson is a really good scorer and I think the zone with guys like him can slow you down a bit. He will be a really good scorer for us."

Jensen Bradtke makes his Griz debut, and immediately knocks down a corner triple 🎯 pic.twitter.com/pzuwAbW2B4
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 19, 2024

The Grizzlies certainly could have backed down facing a crowd of over 8,000, a large majority of them students. Instead of giving in, Montana rose to the occasion and gave the undefeated Aggies a scare.

"I think the one thing that you know is we've got some tough guys," Cobb said. "We've got guys that, when you get down 15 in this environment and Ian Martinez are Mason Falslev are over there doing what they're doing and we say, alright let's go. I think that's what it's about. We sat on the bench and thought, this is what it looks like, this is what we're trying to do. I'm proud of the guys."

Jalen Foy also made his Grizzly debut on Monday night.

Montana now gets some reprieve from their difficult start to the season. They will return home for four straight games, all against D-I opponents. It starts on Sunday, Nov. 24 against Denver in the Stew Morrill Classic. They will play Utah Tech the next day, and end the event against CSUN on Nov. 27.