Griz knock off Vikings, advance to semifinals

Monday, March 11

Boise, Idaho

8 PM

Montana

22-10,12-6Big Sky

No. 6 Portland State

17-15,8-10Big Sky

Portland St.

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

3/12/2024 12:38:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

In a tournament that has been anything but predictable through the first two days, Montana led the entire way in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Championships and advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year with an 87-81 victory.

The Grizzlies (22-10) took the lead early and never trailed, but a pesky Portland State team hung around the entire game to make it uncomfortable on Montana. The Griz didn't lead by more than 11 in a game that became choppy down the stretch as fouls mounted up on both sides.

Aanen Moody played the hero role for Montana yet again, scoring 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting to lead the Grizzlies. He also had four assists and three rebounds in the win. It follows up a 28-7-5 performance in last year's quarterfinal round in a win over Idaho State.

Moody has now scored 20-plus points in four straight games and went over 25 points for the fifth time this season. He's now just 24 points away from 1,000 as a Grizzly, which would make him just the third player in school history to reach the milestone in just two seasons.

The senior led the way, but it took a complete team effort to hold off the Vikings. Montana had three players end the game with four fouls and another two with three fouls. All four Grizzly big men had at least three fouls with nearly 16 and a half minutes to play in the game.

It led to extended minutes from several unexpected sources in Giordan Williams and Blake Jones. They saw the moment, and captured it. Williams had eight points and seven rebounds playing 20 minutes, which was his most in over a month. Jones hit a pair of threes in the first half, making multiple attempts from the arc for the first time in his collegiate career.

Montana could never quite pull away, but the bench insured that the momentum never left their side for too long.

"I kept looking up going, we can't get the lead to 10? When we did they'd cut it back to seven, and they just scrapped," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "Their staff did a good job of just being aggressive. They found some holes in our defense, especially when we got into foul trouble, that kept them in the game. We had to go small. We played some guys that really hadn't played big minutes. Credit to Giordan Williams, he saved us tonight."

The senior duo of Brandon Whitney and Josh Vazquez also delivered for DeCuire, combining for 33 points and seven assists. Vazquez matched Moody with three made shots from the arc, while Whitney shot better than 50 percent and made seven free throws.

The Griz were also good defensively, holding Portland State to just 41 percent shooting and forcing them into 13 turnovers. Montana, meanwhile, shot 51 percent from the floor and a very impressive 66.7 percent in the second half. They made 16-of-24 shots after the halftime buzzer, leading to a 52-point second half.

It's the third straight game in which Montana has shot over 50 percent from the floor and the 16^th time this season. All 16 games have been wins. The Grizzlies also scored 80-plus for the 14^th time this year.

Montana opened the game on a 7-0 run with three makes from the three senior guards. They held Portland State without a make on their first eight field goal attempts. The Vikings put together a few mini-runs to climb back into it and tie the game at 14-all.

Moody responded with a deep three, and Whitney added some free throws to build it back to a five-point lead. It started a yo-yo string with the score the rest of the way. PSU cut it back to one, Montana built it back to five. Neither team scored more than three points in a row for the final seven minutes of the half, but Montana was getting twos and threes to Portland State's free throws. It allowed them to build a 35-29 lead at the break.

Part of the reason Montana were able to keep the lead in the first half was the play of Blake Jones, who hit two late threes when the Griz needed offense. His play in the first half, and Giordan Williams' in the second half, balanced Montana out when they needed it most.

"It's hard once you start getting deep into your bench because guys give you different things," DeCuire said. "Some guys are in there giving you things on offense and some on defense. It was very difficult for us to be successful on both sides of the ball once we got deep, so a lot of it was feel.

"I thought (Jones) did a phenomenal job on the offensive side. He made some shots and executed things that got other guys some looks," DeCuire continued. "Giordan was incredible on the defensive side and rebounding the ball. Seven rebounds in basically one half of basketball. They all gave us a little something, even Chase (Henderson)'s minutes down the stretch getting open against the press break and getting the ball down the floor."

Montana allowed the Vikings to make just nine field goals in the first half on 28 percent shooting, but they also gave up 10 offensive rebounds that led to seven second-chance points for PSU. The Vikings dominated on the boards all night, ending with a 43-30 advantage overall and a 16-4 edge on the offensive side.

The Grizzlies countered it with fast break points, pushing the ball in transition to win that category by 8, and good ball movement. Montana had 15 assists to just four by Portland State.

"One of the things for us was that we were going to be in transition this whole game because they were going to press every time they scored," DeCuire said. "When they don't, we're going to be in transition anyway. Our thing was 40 minutes of aggression, of attacking the rim, and I thought the guys did a good job of just continuously attacking the paint."

Portland State were able to get the game tied at 44-all early in the second half, and there was a sense that things might be slipping away from a Montana team that had all of its bigs in foul trouble. But Vazquez hit a triple to break the tie and Moody followed it up with a three-point play.

Moody hit a three of his own on the next possession, making it 53-44 Grizzlies. After a PSU basket from KJ Allen, who finished the night with 28 points and 15 rebounds, Moody scored yet again for his eighth straight Grizzly points.

Williams hit a layup in the lane to give Montana its first double-digit lead of the game at 57-46 with just over 10 minutes to play. But the Vikings had a response every time, and eventually chipped away to make it a 66-62 game.

The momentum flipped to Montana, and again it started with a Vazquez three-pointer. He opened up a 7-0 Grizzly run that made it 73-62 Grizzlies. The Vikings wouldn't get back within a possession the rest of the way.

Moody scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half of the game, missing just a single field goal in the closing 20 minutes. He was an uncharacteristic 5-of-8 from the free throw line, but his shot making proved the difference maker on Monday night.

"We finally got some better execution and you know him, he makes one and the hoop gets big," DeCuire said. "They started fighting the touch and not wanting him to get those shots, and then the back doors and the fouls to get to the free throw line, all that came from good, crisp execution at the beginning of those possessions."

It's been a tournament full of surprises so far as the top two seeds Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado were eliminated on Sunday. Then, just before Montana tipped, No. 4 Weber State fell to No. 5 Montana State. In the five games played before Montana's, there were five upsets.

The Grizzlies restored some order to the chaos. Their reward is a semifinal matchup not against No. 2 Northern Colorado, who beat the Grizzlies in both regular season meetings, but instead against No. 8 Idaho State. Montana won both matchups with the Bengals, including a 79-65 win just one week ago in Missoula. DeCuire is 17-1 against ISU in his 10 seasons at Montana.

It will be a drastic change in game plan from the Vikings to the Bengals. Instead of the high intensity pressure and fast pace of Portland State, Montana will have to adjust to the methodical offense of a Bengals team that has already won twice in Boise.

"Slow, walk down, side-to-side ball movement. They are going to play power ball and throw it down to two posts," DeCuire said. "Arrington attacking the rim and Tomley shooting jump shots. They are a well-balanced team that is playing a lot better right now than they were in February. We're going to have to play better than we did last time."

The Grizzlies will be playing for a spot in the title game for the fifth time in nine tournament appearances by DeCuire. Montana have won the Big Sky Tournament 11 times and appeared in 20 championship games, both league records. Head coach Travis DeCuire will also be going for his 200^th career win.

Montana and Idaho State will play in front of a national TV audience on ESPN2. The game is scheduled to tip at 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday night.