Panthers light it up against Griz

Monday, December 16

Cedar Falls, Iowa

6:00 PM (MT)

Montana

7-5,0-0Big Sky

104

Northern Iowa

7-4,1-0MVC

Montana

UNI

104

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

12/16/2024 8:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The road woes continued for Montana Griz basketball Monday night at Northern Iowa as the Griz fell 104-76 to the Panthers in Cedar Falls. The second-best shooting team in the country lived up to the billing as UNI connected on 69.4 percent of their shots in the win.

The Griz led for the first seven minutes, but a red-hot run to end the half allowed Northern Iowa to pull away. Montana falls to 7-5 on the year with all five losses coming on the road.

"They were the better basketball team tonight," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "They performed, this is about as well as this team has played. They shot 70 percent in the first half, they had a guy who had made five threes all season and he makes four. They were juiced and ready to play, and we just did not respond the way we expected."

The Grizzly offense shot well in its own right, making 54.7 percent of their 53 attempts from the floor. Kai Johnson led Montana offensively with 18 points on 6-of-8 (.750) shooting. Money Williams added 15, Malik Moore 14, and Te'Jon Sawyer 11.

Jalen Foy battled hard off the bench for the Grizzlies. In just his fourth appearance this year, Foy played a season-high 20 minutes and led Montana with four rebounds.

But Montana turned it over 13 times which led to 23 Panther points, and they just couldn't slow down the UNI offense in order to mount a comeback. Leon Bond scored a career high 37 points on 12-of-15 shooting. He entered the night with five made threes on the year but went 4-of-5 from deep and 9-for-9 from the free throw line.

It's the highest field goal percentage by a Montana opponent in 11 years under head coach Travis DeCuire, and the second-most points allowed.

Montana scored the first six points of the game, attacking the paint effectively with three different players scoring. Montana held the lead for the first seven minutes of the game, but a 9-0 Northern Iowa run flipped it to a 15-11 advantage for the hosts.

Back-to-back dunks midway through the first half made it 24-18, and gave the Panthers and their crowd in Cedar Falls a renewed energy after the slow start.

"Te'Jon got going early around the basket and we got some high percentage shots around the rim," DeCuire said. "Open, uncontested jump shots were falling. We were executing on offense early, we were just playing together and not looking for anything specific, but just open guys were ready to shoot. Then I think we started pressing when they started to make runs."

Montana responded to that initial run, largely behind the offense of Malik Moore and Kai Johnson. Moore had six points and Johnson had four during a five-minute stretch to keep the Grizzlies in it.

But the hot shooting Panthers started to pull away late. They ended the half on a 15-4 run, connecting on their final seven shots of the half. One of the best shooting teams in the country lived up to the billing, making 70.4 percent of their field goal attempts in the first half.

The Panthers also took advantage of Montana turnovers, outscoring the Griz 14-4 off seven Grizzly giveaways. Leon Bond and Jacob Hutson combined for 30 points on 75 percent shooting in the first half.

The Griz trailed by 14 at the break and were never able to get back within 10 points on the night as the halftime break didn't cool Northern Iowa off. They shot 67.8 percent in the second half to pull away.

Johnson and Williams each scored 10 points in the second half for Montana. Adam Shoff also scored his first career points with a three-pointer late in the contest.

On the other side of the floor, Bond continued to make shots and it freed up the rest of the Panthers as the game wore on.

"Early it wasn't necessarily breakdowns. We were taking away strengths, and that's typically what you do in a scout," DeCuire said. "If someone wants to drive left, you don't let them drive left. If they are trying to get to the basket, you stop them from doing that. Tonight, you have a guy that was looking to shoot jump shots and he made them."

Montana has four off days before returning to action on Dec. 21 against San Francisco. The road game against the Dons will be the final non-conference game of the year before opening Big Sky play on Jan. 2 at Eastern Washington.

"The good news is we are on break, so we will have a stretch where it's all basketball," DeCuire said. "We will get some family time, and then get back and really lock in on only basketball going into conference. At this point we're still trying to get better, and we always are going into Christmas, and then we'll lock back in right after the holiday."