Griz stay perfect at home, in league with win over NAU

Thursday, January 9

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

10-6,3-0Big Sky

Northern Arizona

10-6,1-2Big Sky

Northern Ariz.

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana

Griz stay perfect at home, in league with win over NAU

1/9/2025 10:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The perfect home start to the season continued on Thursday night for the Montana men's basketball team as they held off a talented Northern Arizona team for an 81-76 victory. The Griz improved to 8-0 in Dahlberg Arena this year, and more importantly 3-0 in Big Sky play.

It looked like Montana (10-6, 3-0 Big Sky) may run away from the Lumberjacks similar to last year's 43-point blowout. The Griz led by 17 points in the first half, but Northern Arizona were able to pull it back and make it competitive.

The Griz led by eight in the closing seconds before a quick 5-0 run from NAU after a score, steal, and score made things a bit more interesting. But Montana, which led for over 36 of the 40 minutes, pulled out the win to make it three straight over NAU.

The story of the night was Brandon Whitney. After a difficult outing last Saturday at Idaho, the 5^th year guard responded with one of his best performances of the season. He had 16 points and three assists on the offensive end, moving him into the top five in program history with his 398^th career assist.

Whitney passed Will Cherry, who is also next in his path in all-time scoring.

Congrats to @bwhit_12 for moving into 5th place in program history tonight with his 398th career assist!#GrizHoops | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/allf7AYcrv
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 10, 2025

But perhaps the most impressive feat came on the defensive side of the ball. Whitney played 38 minutes, nearly all of them locked in against the nation's second-leading scorer Trent McLaughlin.

McLaughlin entered the game averaging 23.0 points and had made 3.4 three-pointers per contest. Whitney held him under 20 points for just the third time this season, limited him to 28 percent shooting, and didn't give up a single three. In McLaughlin's last 34 games, he's made a three-pointer in 31 of them. The only three games he didn't all came against Montana.

"I'm very proud. I love that young man, and he knows what I need and he wasn't himself at Idaho," DeCuire said of Whitney. "He didn't play as minutes as he would like, and the staff wanted me to talk to him, but he know and we talk enough. He showed up to practice this week on fire, and you saw the results of it tonight."

The game had a ferocious pace early as both offenses caught fire and maintained it for much of the first 10 minutes. The Grizzlies were able to gain separation from the offensive play of Malik Moore.

Moore drove for a layup with a fancy finger roll with 12 minutes to go that put Montana up three points. Then he connected on a triple in transition to get to 10 points already on the night. Kai Johnson stole the ball on the other end, and Moore didn't hesitate on another transition three that found the bottom of the net.

Johnson followed up that 8-0 run by Moore with a three of his own to give Montana 11 straight points and put them ahead 27-15.

"The ball was moving and (Moore) got open and got some good looks and then had a heat check once, and a heat check twice," DeCuire said. "I would have liked to have continued to score, we went into a lull after that when we got in some foul trouble and some of the guys that were scoring and making plays were out."

Before the lull, Montana was able to rally for one more big run in the half. Joe Pridgen hit a corner three that capped a 9-0 Griz run that made it 36-19, which was the largest lead of the game for Montana.

Johnson had a hot start, but picked up two first half fouls. Money Williams also got into foul trouble, and Northern Arizona were able to close out the half on a 22-10 run. The result wa a 46-41 halftime lead for the Griz.

It was a big half offensively for Montana, who were led by Moore's 16 points in the opening 20 minutes. Eight different players scored as the Griz shot 54.4 percent from the floor and made 7-of-11 (.636) threes.

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The first half has been a lot of this. 16 points for Malik in the first period alone 🔥🔥🔥@mooremalikk | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/919x1XpBuQ
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 10, 2025

But on the other side, Northern Arizona shot 60.7 percent from the floor and made 5-of-6 attempts from the arc to stay in it.

"I wasn't all that excited because the last six minutes of the half weren't great for us," DeCuire said. "Instead of taking a 17-point lead to 20, or holding it, we went in up five. I just thought we weren't executing, weren't making smart decisions down the stretch of the half and so then they had momentum going into the locker room."

The Lumberjacks were able to cut it down to a one-point game at 51-50 early in the second half. Then Austin Patterson connected on a three on his first field goal attempt of the game and added a driving layup through the lane on the next possession to give Montana some room.

Big triple from Austin 🎯@ajpatt3 | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/YK7rMaungg
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 10, 2025

Johnson then scored seven of the next nine points for Montana to help push the lead back up to 65-56. Patterson and Johnson both had huge impacts off the bench. Johnson was a game-high +20 in the box score, and Patterson was second at +10.

"When we rotate and guys come out, they know the guys coming in can do the job," DeCuire said. "Especially when we get fatigued, you aren't better than the guy coming in for you when you're fatigued, and they know that and are willing to share the moment. There is just one thing that's important to this group, and that's winning."

The Lumberjacks still wouldn't go away, reeling off eight straight points to make it 69-67 with three minutes to go in the game. Whitney took over for the Griz down the stretch, driving for a couple of layups as part of a 6-0 Griz run to give them breathing room.

It got interesting late after a desperation three went down and the ensuing inbounds pass was stolen for a layup. The quick 5-0 run in a matter of seconds made it a one possession game with six seconds to go, but Money Williams was fouled on the inbounds pas and made both of his free throws to close out the victory.

Montana held Northern Arizona without a made field goal for over three minutes before the two desperation baskets. They cleaned things up in the second half, holding NAU to just 29.3 percent shooting.

"Defense wins games. They were shooting 60 percent in the first half, we had a few adjustments we needed to make," DeCuire said. "They adjusted to those, and so at the 8-minute mark we had to go back with what we had in the scout and it got us over the finish line."

The key to the win was slowing down the Preseason Big Sky MVP Trent McLaughlin. Whitney held him in check, and the rest of the Griz defense provided help as needed. McLaughlin missed all five of his attempts from the arc in the second half.

"Just stay attached and don't let him get free. He likes to come off some screens here and there, but most of the time it's ball screens, putting you in help situations where you have to help on the roller," DeCuire said. "We had to adjust where our help was going to be because we weren't coming off of him. And at the end of the day, it's just play hard."

The Griz outshot the Lumberjacks .517-.420 from the floor, and also made 45.0 percent of their threes (9-of-20) on the night. It's the third straight game that Montana has shot over 50 percent from the floor, and sixth time in the last seven games.

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The first half has been a lot of this. 16 points for Malik in the first period alone 🔥🔥🔥@mooremalikk | #GoGriz pic.twitter.com/919x1XpBuQ
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 10, 2025

Moore led Montana with 20 points, followed by Whitney with 16 points, and then Johnson with 12. Moore also led the team with five assists. Te'Jon Sawyer had eight points and led Montana with eight rebounds.

Montana sets up a huge early season showdown on Saturday with Northern Colorado. The Bears overcame a 20-point deficit in Bozeman to beat Montana State on Thursday night. The Bears and the Grizzlies are the only two remaining undefeated teams in the league, each sitting at 3-0.

"It's huge," DeCuire said of Saturday's game. "They are the No. 1 offense in the conference, they put a lot of points on the board. It will be an entertaining game because we both want to score a lot of points. It will be up-and-down and whichever team brings their defense will win that game. It' a huge one for us. A 4-0 start would be huge for the Griz. This thing is going to be competitive down the stretch, so whoever has the most house money down the stretch will be in a great spot."

The Grizzlies will need the help of the crowd on Saturday. The game tip at 4:00 p.m. inside Dahlberg Arena.