Griz pull away late, open Big Sky play with 92-81 win

Thursday, January 2

Cheney, Wash.

7:00 PM (MT)

Montana

8-6,1-0Big Sky

Eastern Washington

4-10,0-1Big Sky

Montana

Eastern Wash.

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana

Griz pull away late, open Big Sky play with 92-81 win

1/2/2025 10:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana pulled away from Eastern Washington late and started Big Sky Conference play with a 92-81 in Cheney, Wash. on Thursday night. The Griz used an 11-1 run in the final four minutes to snap a four-game losing streak to the back-to-back Big Sky champs.

It's also the first road win of the season for the Grizzlies (8-6, 1-0 Big Sky), who were paced by a massive 26-point, 7-rebound performance by Money Williams. Joe Pridgen also added 21points on 75 percent shooting.

It's a season high for Montana against D-1 opposition in points, assists (23), and points off turnovers (19). It all adds up to road win number one, and the first victory in Cheney since 2022.

"It's a big win. In 11 seasons, and even back to when I was playing, this is one of the toughest road trips," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "One win is hard to get, much less trying to get two, so for us to get this one under our belt is huge. (EWU) is going to be a team that is tough to beat regardless if it's home or away, so we're off to a good start."

Montana had not played in a game with more than eight lead changes all season, but were in a back-and-forth battle for much of the night as the lead changed hands 19 times in total.

The two sides were within four points of each other for a 24-minute stretch, but the latest poster slam dunk from Pridgen gave Montana momentum that started up a 7-0 run with 10 minutes left in the game. The Griz outscored the Eagles 39-26 from the dunk onward.

𝑷𝑹𝑰𝑫𝑮𝑬𝑵 𝑷𝑶𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑹 😳😳😳#SCTop10 | @ESPNAssignDesk pic.twitter.com/cYtPY6jOVL
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 3, 2025

Pridgen also gave the Grizzlies momentum early, scoring 10 of the first 17 points in the game for Montana. He helped them overcome a slow start as Eastern Washington opened with a 10-2 lead out of the gates. The eight-point deficit is the largest Montana has overcome in a win this year.

The Grizzlies had moments in the first half, but couldn't pull away as Eastern Washington's Mason Williams scored 19 first half points on 7-of-9 shooting. It resulted in a tied game at the break, but Montana's defense allowed them to pull away in the final 20 minutes.

"I thought we played great in spurts. Our spurts were short, and Mason Williams kept them in the game in the first half by himself, and it was the offensive rebounds, and we were soft," DeCuire said. "We came out in the second half and deflected the ball, forced the turnovers, got in transition, and that's when we're at our best."

Triple from Money and it's the largest lead of the night for the Griz 📈

21 points and 6 assists tonight for 💰@mxney___ | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/gs3iDk0TsU
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 3, 2025

Montana's Money Williams had 14 first-half points and four assists, and Pridgen had 10 points on six shots in the opening period. As the game went on, the consistency and scoring ability from that duo opened things up for their teammates as well.

"I mentioned at halftime that I would like to see Joe get more than six shots in the first half. His percentage is so high, he's just got to get touches, and we knew they would come double and shooters would get open shots and we just never got to that," DeCuire said. "The other thing though is that Money does what Money does. I made some rotations to put the ball in his hands and spread the floor with shooting."

Austin Patterson joined in on the scoring in the second half and helped the Grizzlies pull away. Patterson had 13 second-half points on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range, and hit a transition three with two minutes left that gave Montana a double-digit lead for the first time all night and sealed the win.

Transition triple from Austin Patterson and the lead is up to double figures in Cheney 😤@ajpatt3 | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/unE204EWSX
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 3, 2025

Patterson ended the night with 14 points as the third-leading scorer. He and Kai Johnson were the only players off the bench to get more than two minutes of action. DeCuire went with a short seven-man rotation, but all seven players had at least seven points in 20-plus minutes of action.

"Tonight was the first time I just kind of said, 'I'm going to play the guys I want to play and everybody else be ready for your number to be called if it's called, but I'm going to tighten this thing up,' and I thought that's why we won tonight," DeCuire said.

Pridgen carried things early, Williams got going through the middle stretches, and Patterson had 10 of his points in the final five minutes of the game. The depth for Montana in terms of scoring ability makes them a dangerous team to play against.

"That's the thing about us that I keep telling these guys is that I don't know who the hot hand is going to be," DeCuire said. "We've got enough talent that when someone gets hot, we've just got to feed them."

Montana forced the Eagles into 15 turnovers while committing just seven themselves. It led to a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.

It also helped Montana overcome a heavy disadvantage on the boards, as Eastern Washington had 35 total rebounds to Montana's 23 and outscored them 18-6 in second-chance points.

The transition play from Montana was keyed along by Brandon Whitney, who passed Jordan Hasquet for 12^th in program history in scoring and climbed within two assists of Will Cherry for 5^th place. The 5^th year guard had seven points and eight assists on the night.

"I think what pulled the game away for us in the second half was Brandon Whitney," DeCuire said. " And it wasn't points scored, it was fouls drawn. We went to the switch and that got Mason Williams out of the game, and then they struggled to score when that happened."
Montana made 8-of-19 (.421) three pointers in the game and went 22-of-24 (.917) from the free throw line in an impressive shooting display. The Griz had averaged just 68.7 points per game in the first six road contests this season, but poured it in on Thursday. It's just the 10^th time under DeCuire that Montana has scored 90-plus on the road.

The first six road contests came against teams with a combined 43-3 record. The 0-6 start on the road wasn't ideal, but it prepared Montana for games like Thursday's when they are in a tight matchup away from home. They should be able to take some confidence away from hanging in and pulling away late.

"It's huge. We know what we're capable of, but sometimes you're unsure for short stretches day-to-day when you don't have success, and you think you've played well enough individually to get one," DeCuire said. "This is huge to start the new year off and conference off with a W. Saturday is going to be even tougher, that's a tough team, and sweeping this road trip is hard to do."

The Grizzlies will face Idaho on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. (MT) in Moscow. The Vandals also opened Big Sky play with a win on Thursday night, defeating Montana State 69-64.

"We can't let them shoot 35-40 threes, and then we just have to find ways to keep the guards in front of us," DeCuire said. "Mitchell is really good with the ball in his hands, he scores at all three levels, so we're going to need to contain him and then deal with the ball screens and three-point shooting from the other guys. If we can defend, I think we're elite in transition offense and we will flow."