Turnovers sink Griz at Stanford

Saturday, November 8

Stanford, Calif.

2:00 PM (MT)

Montana

2-1,0-0Big Sky

Stanford

2-0,0-0ACC

Montana

Stanford

Photo by: Tommy Martino/ University of Montana

11/8/2025 5:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana men's basketball dropped its road opener on Saturday afternoon at Stanford. The Grizzlies fell to the Cardinal 91-68 after a big second half saw the hosts pull away for the 23-point win.

Stanford led the entire way, opening the game on a 9-0 run and holding off Montana's comeback efforts to pull away late.

The game was decided by the turnover battle as Montana coughed up the ball 20 times which led to 27 points for Stanford. The Grizzlies were able to force just five turnovers as the stingy Stanford D flipped the game in their favor.

"My biggest concern was turnovers," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "20 turnovers, we just didn't get enough shots. You're never going to beat anyone giving up that many attempts. We have to clean up our offense and figure out some things with our backcourt play in games like this."

Money Williams had a huge second half for the Grizzlies, scoring all of his team-high 19 points after the break. Williams also led the Grizzlies with seven rebounds and five assists.

Brooklyn Hicks had a big performance for the Grizzlies off the bench, scoring 13 points in 26 minutes of action. Hicks went 2-of-4 from three-point range and also had two rebounds and an assist.

"High energy guy. He's going to finish plays and play hard. He's going to rebound and get his hands on loose balls, things like that. We needed that kind of activity from more guys."

Montana had four turnovers and just two field goal attempts at the first media and trailed 9-0 as a result, but they settled into the first half from there. Montana would score seven of the next nine points to get back within four.

It was a hot start for Hicks and Te'Jon Sawyer as they combined for the first nine Grizzly points. Tyler Thompson knocked down a three and Kenyon Aguino joined the scoring with a jumper that made it 15-14. The Griz hung within a possession for the next five minutes, but an 11-2 run from Stanford helped them pull away to a 35-25 halftime lead.

The Grizzlies were effective in the second half at getting to the free throw line behind the aggressive play from Williams. They pulled within seven on a few occasions in the second half but could never get over the hump.

It was 69-57 Stanford at the 8:00 media timeout, but a late 12-0 run from the Cardinal made the final score more lopsided than it could have been.

Cardinal star freshman guard Ebuka Okorie followed up his 26 points performance against Portland State in the season opener with 29 points against the Grizzlies. The second half turned into a head-to-head battle between Okorie and Williams for Montana.

Okorie had 21 of his points in the second half to help the Cardinal pull away, but Williams did everything in his power to keep Montana in it. The junior had 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting to go with five rebounds and four assists over the final 20 minutes.

"We needed that in the first half. Part of it we're trying to play with guys and keep multiple people involved, you don't want to be a one-man show," DeCuire said. "You need balance to win these types of games, but he got it going when we needed him. I think he had stretches that gave us momentum, but some turnovers led to transition baskets for them and I don't think the guys had enough gas to make another run."

The Griz shot a similar percentage to Stanford (46%-45%) but couldn't overcome the deficit in shot attempts. The Cardinal had 79 field goal attempts and Montana just 51. The Grizzlies were outrebounded just 39-36 by the bigger Cardinal and outscored them in bench points 22-17.

It's the 21^st straight road loss in the month of November for Montana, a streak that dates back to 2017.

"We need to flush it. We will watch the film and find some areas for growth offensively. I think defensively we showed some signs of a team that can play at a high level for stretches but we need to sustain it," DeCuire said. "The most important thing for us is details and continuing to grow. It's early for this group, it's their first real high-level game together. We've showed signs that we can play good ball, we just need to do it when we need it."

Montana will return to action on Tuesday at UNLV. The Grizzlies face off with the Runnin' Rebels at 8:00 p.m. (MT) from the Thomas & Mack Center.