Tough shooting night sinks Grizzlies

Saturday, February 3

Missoula, Mont.

7 PM

Montana

15-8,6-4Big Sky

Eastern Washington

14-8,8-1Big Sky

Eastern Wash.

Montana

Photo by: Coral Scoles-Coburn/University of Montana

2/3/2024 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana couldn't overcome a cold shooting night in a physical game against the league leading Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday. The Grizzlies shot just 34 percent in a game that featured 46 fouls and 51 total free throws.

Eastern Washington improved to 8-1 in conference play to stay in first place with the 78-65 win. Montana (15-8, 6-4 Big Sky) remains in third place with the loss, and still has eight games remaining on the schedule to make a late season push.

"I feel bad for our guys, I would have liked for this game to have gone down to the wire," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "The guys did a phenomenal job to start the game executing the scout. We forced a lot of turnovers, we took them out of offense and got in transition, we were in a great spot. We turned it over a couple times when I thought we could have pushed it to a 10-point lead early, but we were in a good spot and then it turned into a free throw contest and I guess we were too aggressive."

Montana jumped out to an early 9-3 lead and were up by four in the final five minutes of the opening half, but Eastern Washington closed the opening period on a 13-6 run to take the lead into the break. They relinquished it just once in the second half, but an 11-0 run early in the period put the game out of reach.

It's just the fourth time this season that Montana, one of the better shooting teams in the country through two-thirds of the season, has been held under 35 percent from the floor. They struggled in particular from the three-point line, where they attempted a season-high 30 triples but made just 23.3 percent of them.

The shooting woes were spread across the entire team as six different players attempted at least three shots from the arc. The Grizzlies had some open looks, but an Eastern Washington defense that mixed up schemes throughout the night kept them off-balanced.

"I liked some of them," DeCuire said of the threes. "I think there were a few, especially in the first half, that weren't high percentage guys shooting with 20 seconds on the shot clock and I thought we could have worked to get something a little better for us… I felt we went too long without Thomas, Moody, Vazquez getting shots. It kept us from pulling away and then they got momentum and got back and got a lead."

Montana had a season-best crowd of nearly 4,000 on hand to watch two of the top three teams in the league, and they got a fair dose of excitement early. Laolu Oke had a two-handed slam early that made it 4-0 Montana, and a three pointer from Dischon Thomas a few moments later put the energy level through the roof.

WHAT A START!? @LaoluOke with the two-handed slam to get the packed Dahlberg Arena crowd on its feet early! pic.twitter.com/XpNAoYWpzK
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) February 4, 2024

But whistles on both ends, plus a long shooting slump from Montana, negated the crowd for long stretches in the opening half. The Grizzlies went 2-for-16 over a nearly 10 minute stretch in the first half that allowed Eastern Washington to take the lead.

It looked like Thomas might bring Montana back into it early in the second half. He converted an and-one in the paint with Montana trailing by three to tie the game up, and then did the same thing on the next possession down to put the Grizzlies up 42-40 with 17 minutes left.

AND ONEEEEE @dischonthomas 😤 pic.twitter.com/lXHhPl3MCp
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) February 4, 2024

The crowd were on their feet and ready to explode, but a foul the next time down the floor for Eastern Washington quieted the supporters and tied the game. Then Eastern Washington hit a three and strung together some stops and scores to go on an 11-0 run and take a 51-42 lead.

The Grizzlies were whistled for a flagrant foul that allowed Eastern Washington to get four points on one trip down the floor and take the first 10-point lead of the game at 59-49.

Montana cut the lead back down to six with eight minutes to go but a shooting foul followed by a technical on the Grizzlies allowed the Eagles to build the lead back up, and Montana would fail to stage any more comebacks.

The final seven points of the night were all scored at the free throw line as Montana were forced to foul down the stretch. The Eagles went 18-of-22 from the line in the second half and 27-of-34 for the game.

The Eagles entered the night 41^st in the NCAA in both three-point percentage (.371) and threes per game (9.0). Montana succeeded in getting them off the arc, holding them to 5-of-15 (.333) shooting from three. But the size of the Eagles allowed them to be physical inside and get to the line often.

"We've got to do a better job executing what we were attempting to execute without fouling," DeCuire said. "If we do that, I think it's a different basketball game."

Dischon Thomas led Montana with 18 points and nine rebounds. Aanen Moody and Te'Jon Sawyer each had 11 points, while Brandon Whitney joined them in double figures with 10. Josh Vazquez shot 3-for-6 from three-point range to finish with nine points and a team-high five assists.

The Eagles won the rebounding battle 43-33 and outscored the Grizzlies 38-36 in the paint. Montana had the advantage in a number of other categories. They forced EWU into 12 turnovers while committing just four, had a 13-6 edge in second chance points, and outscored them 14-10 on the fast break.

Montana entered the night a half game back of Northern Colorado in the league standings and tied with Montana State. The Bears and Bobcats both lost earlier in the night, which gave Montana a chance to jump up in the standings.

The loss keeps them in a tie for third in a tight bunch of teams floating around .500.

"You have to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves because they go away. You don't get the same opportunity," DeCuire said. "We let one go a couple of Thursdays ago and then tonight. I felt we could make a move, there were some other teams losing tonight and we didn't take advantage of it. We've got to toughen up a little bit and have a little more discipline."

The Grizzlies hit the road next week to take on Northern Arizona on Thursday and Northern Colorado on Saturday. Montana won the first meeting with NAU by 43 points, but dropped an overtime contest to the Bears in Missoula.