Grizzlies hang a banner, win 90-82

Friday, November 14

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

4-1,0-0Big Sky

Cal Poly

2-3,0-0Big West

Cal Poly

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/ University of Montana

11/14/2025 11:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

It was a night full of celebrations for the Montana basketball team. They recognized Joe Pridgen, the All-Big Sky player that led them to the NCAA Tournament last season but missed out on his own Senior Day, prior to the tip. They honored that championship team winning team by dropping a new banner to hang forever in the rafters of Dahlberg Arena.

And they celebrated the program's first 4-1 start to a season following a 90-82 victory over Cal Poly.

The Grizzly offense continues to roll in the early season behind the spectacular play of junior guard Money Williams. The Preseason Big Sky MVP followed up his monster night at UNLV with another unbelievable performance on Friday night.

Williams scored 31 points and added six assists and four rebounds. He is the first player to score 30-plus points in consecutive games for the Grizzlies since Anthony Johnson did it in 2009 against Montana State and Northern Arizona.

It's also the first 30-point game by a Grizzly at home since Sayeed Pridgett scored 30 against MSU-Northern on Nov. 10, 2019. Jamar Akoh was the last player to score 30 against a D-I opponent at home, putting up 34 points in a win over Northern Colorado on Jan. 6, 2018.

"He was on fire early. He got going and hit some threes, and then the foul trouble took away some minutes because normally he would have played another six minutes," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "One thing we do know, it saved some energy for the second half. His attention to detail was incredible on the defensive side. I thought he did a good job executing on the other side of the ball and the offense is the offense."

spin cycle 🌀 from @mxney___ leads to the circus shot finish 🔥

Griz up 76-68 📊 pic.twitter.com/kKKZwdQMuS
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 15, 2025

Montana took away Cal Poly's strength on the night, holding one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country to just 20 attempts and only seven makes from the arc, and used a big second half from Williams and the entire offense to pick up the win.

The Griz led for 38 minutes on the night as they jumped ahead early behind a hot start from the three point arc. Williams and Tyler Thompson knocked down threes on Montana first two possessions and another triple from Williams led to a 9-2 start for the Grizzlies.

They would go to the arc often in the first half with six of the first nine field goals coming from long range. The Griz led 19-13 before a 9-0 run from the Mustangs put them on top 22-19.

The biggest stretch of the game came following that Cal Poly run. Montana would score the next 16 points, holding the Mustangs scoreless for nearly eight minutes of game time.

"Chase Henderson was huge in that stretch with his penetration and drawing second and third defenders," DeCuire said. "A lot of guys coming to the ball and then it started moving and we called it a turkey shoot because we were wide open."

It led to a 37-26 halftime advantage for the Grizzlies despite foul trouble limiting Williams to fewer than 10 minutes of action. Henderson had six points in his seven minutes in the first half and Courtney Anderson was plus-8 in the box score in his five minutes.

Cal Poly would threaten multiple times in the second half. They used a 7-0 run to cut the Grizzly lead to just 46-42 with 15 minutes to play, but Williams scored on the next possession and a three-point play from Brooklyn Hicks would etend the lead back up to nine.

They cut it to five points later, but Hicks had back-to-back scored to extend it back out to 68-59. They had an answer every time that Cal Poly made a run. The thing that impressed DeCuire the most about his team on Friday night?

"Our grit," DeCuire answered. "We had to make a lot of adjustments, more so offensively. The switching and some things got us stagnant. We found some things, they made adjustments, and we had to adjust back. But 17 assists on the night is incredible, if we're over 15 we will usually put enough points on the board to win."

Williams led with six assists but four different Grizzlies recorded multiple assists on the night. Hicks was the answer to stop many Mustang runs. The first-year Grizzly scored 14 points to go with four rebounds off the bench in another very solid performance.

Tyler Isaak also got things going in the second half. Another first-year player for DeCuire, the starting guard scored 13 of his season-high 19 points in the second half.

Isaak went 3-of-7 from the field with a made three, but crucially was 6-of-6 from the line in another great performance from the Grizzly team. They made nearly 80 percent of their free throws as a unit on the night, going 23-of-29.

For Isaak, it's the best game of his young Grizzly career but showed why the coaching staff has trusted him in the starting lineup from the start of the season.

"Mental toughness, physical toughness, and he doesn't make a lot of mistakes," DeCuire said of Isaak. "The thing about him is he understands what it is we're trying to accomplish in all the situations on both sides of the ball."

Tyler Isaak is up to 1⃣1⃣ points after the transition three 🎯 pic.twitter.com/x4rzgzmvt9
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) November 15, 2025

On a night when they were forced to play more on the perimeter, Isaak and the rest of the Grizzly guards stepped up.

"You have to have balance to have a team that can compete for championships," DeCuire said. "We have a long way to go to become that, but we are showing balance. We've had different guys lead us in scoring, we've had different guys show up off the bench as well. We're starting to find some depth and be able to play through adversity when guys aren't hot."

Williams scored 12 straight Montana points by himself over a three-minute stretch to really put the game away late. His free throw with 3:07 remaining made it 80-68 Montana. The junior scored 23 of his 31 points in the second half.

The Grizzlies would hold on for the 90-82 win in a fast-paced game. Despite the high score, Montana held Cal Poly to just 43.5 percent shooting and forced 14 turnovers. The Mustangs just play a brand of basketball that leads to a lot of possessions on both ends.

"They played so fast, they pushed the ball up the floor so fast, that there were a lot of possessions to the game," DeCuire said. "When we got stops, we wanted to run. The point total really is based on the number of possessions rather than the field goal percentages."

DeCuire played nine players on Friday night and all nine finished with at least three points. The Griz shot 45.3 percent as a team and made a season high nine three pointers.

The night was one of celebration as Montana hung a banner and hung 90 points on an opponent for the second straight game. They will face their biggest test of the season next week when they return to the road to face Texas A&M.

The Grizzlies will play the Aggies in College Station on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Texas A&M lost to UCF 86-74 on Friday night to fall to 2-2 on the year. They will enter Tuesday's contest on a two-game losing streak.

"They will be pressing the whole game," DeCuire said of the Aggies. "It will be interesting to see what the film looks like, but we're going to have to continue to take care of the ball. I think we're going to need to have fewer than 10 turnovers in that game if we want to give ourselves a chance."