Montana falls in Big Sky title game

Wednesday, March 13

Boise, Idaho

9:30 PM

Montana

23-11,12-6Big Sky

No. 5 Montana State

17-17,9-9Big Sky

Montana St.

Montana

3/14/2024 1:42:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies led for more than half of the Big Sky Championship game on Wednesday night in Boise, but a hot second half from Montana State combined with a long cold stretch for Montana sunk the Grizzly dreams of an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Griz had a 38-32 halftime lead but would eventually fall by a final score of 85-70. Montana finishes as Big Sky runner-up for the 10^th time in school history in what was their 21^st all-time appearance in the Big Sky Championship game.

Montana (23-11) misses out on the NCAA Tournament, but will still have a potential postseason bid as the Big Sky's top team in the NET Rankings.

"Tough one. Our group worked really hard to get to this point for this opportunity," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "To see this group of seniors fall short on the last night is tough to swallow. I felt that the energy and the commitment, loyalty to the program, it was deserving to play in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, we got outplayed tonight."

The Grizzlies shot 48 percent from the field in the first half and 50 percent from three-point range while turning the ball over just four times, but couldn't replicate the offensive success in the second half. The Bobcats forced 11 Grizzlies turnovers and Montana made just two three pointers as the Cinderella run for the Cats continued.

Montana State scored 18 points off turnovers in the second half alone and outscored Montana 20-4 in that category in what ended up being a 15-point game. They scored 53 points in the second half to pull away for their third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

"They caught fire in the second half. The adjustments weren't necessarily the answer to slow them down," DeCuire said. "All credit to Montana State, they did an incredible job with adjustments in the second half and the players made plays."

Montana leaned heavily on its all-senior starting lineup as they played all but 18 of the minutes in the game. Josh Vazquez, who played in his Big Sky record 153^rd career game for Montana, led the way with 20 points and six rebounds.

Laolu Oke started Montana off strong with the first three points of the game, and he brought aggression throughout with 14 points and eight rebounds. Dischon Thomas had nine points and nine rebounds, just missing out on a double-double.

Aanen Moody reached 1,000 points while at Montana with a 14-point performance. He becomes just the third member of Montana's 1,000-point club to do it in two seasons, joining Anthony Johnson and Martin Breunig.

Brandon Whitney had 13 points and six rebounds while playing all 40 minutes in the game. He moved into 15^th place in program history with 1,291 points.

Whitney and Moody were both named to the All-Tournament team following their performances throughout the week.

"I think it's one of the best senior classes in history," DeCuire said. "We've been fighting for culture for a while, since the pandemic, and it's been very hard to get it back to where we had it prior. These guys brought it back. It was a rough road for all of them, there was some adversity that they went through. Vazquez has been here for five years, Whitney for four, they have been part of that climb.

"Guys like Aanen, Dischon, and Laolu to come in from other places and blend into our culture and give in to what it was that we were trying to make and believe and trust in it says a lot about the character of all the young men in this program."

Oke scored the first three points of the game, but MSU countered to take a 9-4 lead. DeCuire used a timeout, and it worked to Montana's advantage as they went on a long run out of it, making five of seven shots to take a 17-13 lead. The Griz led by five after a Whitney lay-up made it 23-18, but MSU again found an answer to jump back up 29-28.

Montana closed the half on a hot streak, scoring eight of the final 10 points of the half. Vazquez made his third three of the opening period in the final minute and Whitney scored a tough bucket in the lane to give Montana a six-point advantage at the break.

Early in the second period, it looked like Montana may build an insurmountable lead. Thomas started to come alive, Oke drove through the lane for an impressive dunk, and and Moody hit an acrobatic shot to make it 49-38 Grizzlies with just over 17 minutes to play. From there, it was all Bobcats.

MSU went on a 13-1 run to make it 51-50 and retake the lead for the first time in over 10 minutes. Vazquez would tie the game back up at 53-all, but the Bobcats scored 14 straight following that to jump ahead. The shots just wouldn't go down for Montana, as they missed 13 of 14 field goals over an 11-minute stretch.

Montana's 49-38 lead became a 16-point deficit after a 33-6 run.

The Grizzlies sit at 23-11 after the tournament, but the season is expected to continue at the College Basketball Invitational in Daytona Beach, Florida.