Tuesday, March 11
Boise, Idaho
9:30 PM
Montana
24-9,15-3Big Sky
78
vs
55
No. 6 Idaho
14-19,8-10Big Sky
1
2
F
Idaho
28
27
55
Montana
39
39
78
Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/ University of Montana
Patterson's hot hand leads Montana to second straight Big Sky title game
3/12/2025 12:20:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Austin Patterson isn't new to big moments in Boise. The first year Grizzly had been on this stage before and had success, leading Sacramento State to a Cinderella run to the semifinals last year.
But when he came up short with the Hornets, he knew he wanted more. The Grizzlies delivered on a promise to help Patterson compete for championships, and Patterson delivered on the biggest stage with his best performance of the season.
Patterson scored a game-high 20 points, knocking down five three pointers, and had a career high four steals to go along with six rebounds as Montana routed Idaho 78-55 in the Big Sky semifinals on Tuesday night.
"He knows he's a good shooter, he scored a lot of points last year in this conference and he's very confident offensively, but he knows what's important to winning and that's why he came here. He's invested," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "He set the tone defensively, four steals in the first half. He just happened to be making shots while that was happening. Austin set the tone."
Montana advances to the Big Sky Championship game for the second consecutive year and sixth time in 10 tries under Coach DeCuire. The Grizzlies will play in their 22nd Big Sky title game, a league record, and look to extend another league record with their 12th tournament championship.
The Grizzly defense dominated for the second straight time on the floor in Boise, holding the Vandals to just 55 points on 30.9 percent shooting. It's the second straight game, and fourth time in the last five, that Montana has held an opponent under 40 percent from the floor.
"Defense wins games. That's the thing for this group," DeCuire said. "I told them, what we got hot a while back, we went about 45 days where we were on fire, but I just knew that we had to continue to work defensively and commit to getting stops. This last week and a half we've been elite."
The Grizzlies had more assists (19) than Idaho had made field goals (17) on the night as they suffocated the ball throughout. It's the second-fewest points given up to a D1 opponent this season, and the fewest allowed in a tournament game since 2019.
The Vandals played a large chunk of the game in a zone defense, daring Montana to shoot from the outside. The Grizzlies accepted the challenge, knocking down a season high 14 threes on 39 percent shooting.
The Grizzlies shared the ball incredibly well, dishing out 19 assists compared to just five for Idaho. Montana also turned the Vandals over 11 times, which led to a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
"Our selection. We got trigger happy in the first half, I thought we shot too many threes, but they were really packing the paint," DeCuire said. "We were sharing the ball and we were aggressive, that's why we were able to generate offense. I just like the way the guys are sharing right now."
Kai Johnson and Money Williams both reached double figures with 13 points each. Williams had a team-high five assists to go with four rebounds. Johnson went 3-of-5 from the arc and also had two assists.
Montana came out fast and furious, using 7-0 and 11-0 runs in the first seven minutes to take an 18-7 lead early on. The depth was on display from the start as five different players scored the first five baskets for the Griz.
Patterson's spark early on allowed Montana to break the game open. He knocked down a three to break a 7-7 tie, and then had 10 of the next 15 points for Montana.
It wasn't just on the offensive end. Patterson had four first half steals, matching his career high total with 30 minutes still to play in the game.
As a team, the Grizzlies forced seven turnovers in the opening half of play and turned those into 14 points. The first half total alone was already the most points off turnovers for the Grizzlies over the previous five games.
There were plenty of highlights in the first half, including a pair of monster slam dunks from Joe Pridgen. Money Williams also got hot off the bench, scoring nine first half points. His jumper in the lane with six minutes to go gave Montana its biggest lead of the half at 33-15.
Idaho ended the half with some momentum after a buzzer beating three that cut the Grizzly lead to 39-28 at the break.
If the first half started good, the second half was fantastic. Montana opened the second period with the first 10 points, extending the lead up to 49-28 on a jumper from Kai Johnson with 16:29 to play.
The Vandals were able to score nine straight through the next three minutes to get back within a dozen points at 51-39, but the Grizzlies pulled away with their third run of at least 10 points from the 12-minute mark inside the 8-minute media timeout.
"We broke down a little bit, we were going underneath some of the screens, and we let Jack Payne get loose and a couple of other guys shot some deep threes that led to long rebounds," DeCuire said. "We had to clean that up, and then we were able to push it back out again."
Patterson remained scorching hot, knocking down back-to-back threes. Johnson, Williams, and Moore got in on the scoring action as the Grizzlies made five out of seven shots during a 14-0 run that built the lead up to 68-41.
It would grow to as many as 31 points as Montana left no doubt, reaching the Big Sky title game for the second straight season.
They will face Northern Colorado on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. in another nationally televised game. The Grizzlies and the Bears split the regular season with the visiting team winning both matchups. They will now meet on a neutral floor with an ESPN2 audience for a chance to advance to the Big Dance.
"They kicked our butt at our place, and we got a little back at theirs and call it even. It's like two brothers in the backyard fighting right now. I told them March 12 let's do it again, so here we go. We'll have some fun. Much respect to Coach Smiley and what he's done with that group over there, they've got good players. Both teams are going to hit the floor tomorrow feeling like they deserve to play in the NCAA Tournament so we're going to have to fight for it."
But when he came up short with the Hornets, he knew he wanted more. The Grizzlies delivered on a promise to help Patterson compete for championships, and Patterson delivered on the biggest stage with his best performance of the season.
Patterson scored a game-high 20 points, knocking down five three pointers, and had a career high four steals to go along with six rebounds as Montana routed Idaho 78-55 in the Big Sky semifinals on Tuesday night.
"He knows he's a good shooter, he scored a lot of points last year in this conference and he's very confident offensively, but he knows what's important to winning and that's why he came here. He's invested," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "He set the tone defensively, four steals in the first half. He just happened to be making shots while that was happening. Austin set the tone."
Tonight was the 𝘼𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚.
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) March 12, 2025
🔥Season high 20 points
🎯Season high 5 threes
🔒Career high 4 steals@ajpatt3 | #GrizHoops pic.twitter.com/Gosf0Qi5ew
Montana advances to the Big Sky Championship game for the second consecutive year and sixth time in 10 tries under Coach DeCuire. The Grizzlies will play in their 22nd Big Sky title game, a league record, and look to extend another league record with their 12th tournament championship.
The Grizzly defense dominated for the second straight time on the floor in Boise, holding the Vandals to just 55 points on 30.9 percent shooting. It's the second straight game, and fourth time in the last five, that Montana has held an opponent under 40 percent from the floor.
"Defense wins games. That's the thing for this group," DeCuire said. "I told them, what we got hot a while back, we went about 45 days where we were on fire, but I just knew that we had to continue to work defensively and commit to getting stops. This last week and a half we've been elite."
The Grizzlies had more assists (19) than Idaho had made field goals (17) on the night as they suffocated the ball throughout. It's the second-fewest points given up to a D1 opponent this season, and the fewest allowed in a tournament game since 2019.
The Vandals played a large chunk of the game in a zone defense, daring Montana to shoot from the outside. The Grizzlies accepted the challenge, knocking down a season high 14 threes on 39 percent shooting.
The Grizzlies shared the ball incredibly well, dishing out 19 assists compared to just five for Idaho. Montana also turned the Vandals over 11 times, which led to a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
"Our selection. We got trigger happy in the first half, I thought we shot too many threes, but they were really packing the paint," DeCuire said. "We were sharing the ball and we were aggressive, that's why we were able to generate offense. I just like the way the guys are sharing right now."
Kai Johnson and Money Williams both reached double figures with 13 points each. Williams had a team-high five assists to go with four rebounds. Johnson went 3-of-5 from the arc and also had two assists.
Montana came out fast and furious, using 7-0 and 11-0 runs in the first seven minutes to take an 18-7 lead early on. The depth was on display from the start as five different players scored the first five baskets for the Griz.
The rim is rocking and so is Boise!#GoGriz https://t.co/X8aoQsgfse pic.twitter.com/zREGbFwfJb
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) March 12, 2025
Patterson's spark early on allowed Montana to break the game open. He knocked down a three to break a 7-7 tie, and then had 10 of the next 15 points for Montana.
It wasn't just on the offensive end. Patterson had four first half steals, matching his career high total with 30 minutes still to play in the game.
As a team, the Grizzlies forced seven turnovers in the opening half of play and turned those into 14 points. The first half total alone was already the most points off turnovers for the Grizzlies over the previous five games.
There were plenty of highlights in the first half, including a pair of monster slam dunks from Joe Pridgen. Money Williams also got hot off the bench, scoring nine first half points. His jumper in the lane with six minutes to go gave Montana its biggest lead of the half at 33-15.
Idaho ended the half with some momentum after a buzzer beating three that cut the Grizzly lead to 39-28 at the break.
If the first half started good, the second half was fantastic. Montana opened the second period with the first 10 points, extending the lead up to 49-28 on a jumper from Kai Johnson with 16:29 to play.
The Vandals were able to score nine straight through the next three minutes to get back within a dozen points at 51-39, but the Grizzlies pulled away with their third run of at least 10 points from the 12-minute mark inside the 8-minute media timeout.
"We broke down a little bit, we were going underneath some of the screens, and we let Jack Payne get loose and a couple of other guys shot some deep threes that led to long rebounds," DeCuire said. "We had to clean that up, and then we were able to push it back out again."
New season high with three pointer No. 1⃣3⃣ on the night.@LetItFlyKai | #GrizHoops | 📺ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/JYDLQksRVV
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) March 12, 2025
Patterson remained scorching hot, knocking down back-to-back threes. Johnson, Williams, and Moore got in on the scoring action as the Grizzlies made five out of seven shots during a 14-0 run that built the lead up to 68-41.
It would grow to as many as 31 points as Montana left no doubt, reaching the Big Sky title game for the second straight season.
They will face Northern Colorado on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. in another nationally televised game. The Grizzlies and the Bears split the regular season with the visiting team winning both matchups. They will now meet on a neutral floor with an ESPN2 audience for a chance to advance to the Big Dance.
"They kicked our butt at our place, and we got a little back at theirs and call it even. It's like two brothers in the backyard fighting right now. I told them March 12 let's do it again, so here we go. We'll have some fun. Much respect to Coach Smiley and what he's done with that group over there, they've got good players. Both teams are going to hit the floor tomorrow feeling like they deserve to play in the NCAA Tournament so we're going to have to fight for it."
Team Stats
UI
Mont
FG%
.309
.459
3FG%
.192
.389
FT%
.800
.800
RB
36
36
TO
11
6
STL
1
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
6
3FGM
5
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
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