Aguino, Williams impress in 95-87 loss

Tuesday, November 25

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

4-4,0-0Big Sky

Oakland

3-5,0-0Horizon

Oakland

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

11/25/2025 10:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

It was a thrilling game between two of the top mid-major programs in the country over the past several years in Missoula on Tuesday night as the Oakland Golden Grizzlies knocked off Montana 95-87.

The win gives Oakland the tournament title in the Blaine Taylor Classic that also featured the Lamar Cardinals. Montana falls to 4-4 on the season with the loss while Oakland improves to 3-5 with three losses against teams ranked in the top 7 of the latest AP Poll.

The starting five for Montana had a terrific offensive performance as the Grizzlies outshot Oakland from the floor and the free throw line on the way to the fifth game of the season scoring more than 86 points.

They couldn't slow down the versatile Golden Grizzly offense as head coach Greg Kampe's team put up 95 on the night. It's just the third time ever that a team coached by Travis DeCuire has given up 95-plus points at home.

"We had a lot of opportunities. I think we gassed out," DeCuire said. "We had four or five possessions in a row where we missed bunnies around the basket and we weren't good enough from the free throw line. I think that's the difference."

Montana, typically an excellent team from the charity stripe, went just 13-of-22 on Tuesday night in the loss.

The result overshadows a couple of very impressive offensive performances from Montana. Money Williams had more assists against a D-I opponent than any other player in program history with 15 assists. He also added 15 points for his second double-double of the year.

Oakland plays a zone for 100 percent of the game, forcing Montana into different sets than they have been used to this season. It didn't do much to slow Montana down. The Grizzlies scored on their first two possessions down low and would continue to be efficient all night.

A huge reason for the high assist total was the shooting of guards Tyler Isaak and Tyler Thompson. The two Tylers combined to go 6-for-6 from three-point range in the first half alone. It helped Montana build up a 39-33 lead with just under four minutes left in the first.

"Money did a really good job of splitting the zone. Whether it was just penetration or he caught the ball in the paint or passed through it," DeCuire said. "We had a lot of guys in good spots and they executed their spacing. Tyler Thompson and Tyler Isaak were ready to shoot the ball and they got us the lead, but we just weren't able to hold onto it."

Williams wasn't the only Grizzly with a statement performance in the loss. True freshman Kenyon Aguino had one of the best scoring games in program history by a freshman with 24 points, but that wasn't all. He also added 16 rebounds with five of them coming on the offensive end.

It's the first time since 2022 when Josh Bannan had 23 and 17 that a Grizzly has scored 20+ points with 15+ rebounds. Since at least 2010, zero true freshman have reached those statistical marks.

Aguino nearly had a double-double in the second half alone, scoring 15 of his points after the break on 70 percent shooting. He also added eight second half rebounds to help keep Montana in it.

They just couldn't get over the hump with Oakland leading from the 12-minute mark to the end of the game.

"That's the Kenyon we've been waiting for," DeCuire said. "He showed us signs of that early in exhibitions so we knew he was capable, but with freshmen it's going to be a little bit of a roller coaster ride. We knew he was capable of games like this."

Williams and Aguino were both named to the All-Tournament team following their performance. Oakland's Brody Robinson was the Tournament MVP while Tuburu Naivalurua and Michael Houge earned All-Tourney nods for Oakland and Andrew Holifield and Braden East made the team from Lamar.

It was a bounce back game of sorts for the Grizzly offense as they went from 63 points on Sunday night to 87 on Tuesday night. The urgency was much better for DeCuire's team, but the cold shooting from the line and a 22-4 advantage in fast break points for Oakland hurt the Griz.

Montana leaned heavily on its starters with the opening lineup scoring 83 of the 87 total points. Tyler Thompson had 19 points on 5-of-7 from the arc, Te'Jon Sawyer had 14 points and 75 percent shooting, and Tyler Isaak had 11 points.

"If we execute the way we did tonight and play aggressively and share the ball the way we did tonight, we win on Sunday night," DeCuire said "I think that would put less pressure on this game and we walk out at least 1-1. But we played two teams that are potential tournament teams and should definitely be playing for championships in their conferences and that's the purpose of this. Growing pains, but we'll learn a lot from this weekend."

This is the first time since DeCuire's first season on campus that the Grizzlies have lost consecutive games at home in non-conference play. It's been a furious start to the season, schedule-wise, for the Grizzlies as they are one of just 17 teams to play at least 8 games since the season opener just 22 days ago.

They will now have their first chance to catch their collective breath with seven full days off before the next game on Dec. 3 against North Dakota State.

"What's important for us right now is practice. The other teams in the country have practiced a lot more than us, so we haven't really had a chance to get better since the Stanford game," DeCuire said. "We will take some days to work on things that we know we have to get better at and part of that is developing more depth and a more consistent rotation off the bench."