Thompson shines, Williams reaches 1K in big Griz win

Thursday, January 22

Missoula, Mont.

7:00 PM

Montana

11-9,5-2Big Sky

Weber State

10-10,4-3Big Sky

Weber St.

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke / University of Montana

Thompson shines, Williams reaches 1K in big Griz win

1/22/2026 10:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana entered the halftime locker rooms trailing by seven on Thursday night after committing 11 first half turnovers that led to 20 Weber State points. The Grizzlies shot over 60 percent from the floor, but the easy buckets on the other end allowed the Wildcats to hold the advantage at the break.

Head coach Travis DeCuire had a long conversation with his team at halftime, and they responded to it. Montana turned it over just four times in the second half and Tyler Thompson got red-hot from three-point range as the Grizzlies outscored the Wildcats by 23 points after the halftime whistle.

In a battle of the two teams tied for third place in the league standings at 4-2 coming in, Montana (11-9, 5-2 Big Sky) left with a resounding 81-65 victory.

"We were playing hard in the first half, we just weren't executing very well defensively," DeCuire said. "We got the shots we wanted and shot a great percentage, but once again we turned the ball over too much. We had a good long conversation about it at halftime and came out and executed."

Weber State (10-10, 4-3 Big Sky) opened the game 16-of-22 from the floor, turning Montana over often to build an early 33-22 lead. The shooting of Thompson got Montana back into it late in the first half, and it vaulted them past the Wildcats early in the second.

Thompson made a career high 7 three-pointers on the night. The first one went down with 4:41 to go in the first half to cut Weber State's lead to 33-28. By the time he made his 7^th three with 14:05 left in the game, Montana had flipped it and led 58-50.

The redshirt-freshman made a three on four out of five possessions for Montana in the second half as part of a 15-2 Grizzly run. His shooting changed the momentum of the game and brought the Dahlberg Arena crowd to its feet.

"It's a great feeling. It's kind of just knowing that if you let me get it up, it's going in," Thompson said. "It's second nature because I know I've put in the reps and put in the work."

HE CAN'T MISS 🤯

Tyler Thompson's 7th made of the night extends the lead to 8. pic.twitter.com/bUv3yk2Bfk
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 23, 2026

Montana shot 62.0 percent from the floor in the win, going 31-of-50 while making 11-of-21 from three-point range. Weber State entered the game ranked 6^th in the country at guarding the three-point line with opponents shooting just 27.3 percent against them this season.

Thompson led the charge and four other Grizzlies contributed to the three-point barrage for Montana.

The shooting helped Montana take control of the game, but the defense also drastically improved as the game went along. Weber State opened the game 16-of-22 (.727) from the floor. They would only make 8-of-29 (.275) the rest of the way.

"They've got good pace, they execute very well, and they know what is a good shot for them. They weren't turning it over and there were just way too many shots in the paint," DeCuire said. "We had to find a way to keep them out of the paint and once we did that, they started shooting shots that they really didn't want and we did a good job of getting on offense and pushing it."

Montana had three separate scoring runs in the second half of seven points or more as they extended the lead into double figures with 10 minutes to go and never looked back. As the Wildcats keyed in on Thompson, the rest of the Grizzly lineup got going, including the preseason Big Sky MVP.

Money Williams entered the night with 996 points and seemed guaranteed to eclipse the 1,000-point mark. It took him longer than he may have wanted, but with 10:44 to play he knocked down a left wing three to go up and over 1,000 points at Montana.

Money Williams becomes the 38th member of Montana's 1,000 point club 👏#GrizHoops | @mxney___ pic.twitter.com/TTZ1PNwQvn
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 23, 2026

He's the 38^th member of Montana's 1,000-point club and the 6^th fastest to reach the total. Four of the players that got there quicker were transfers that finished their careers with Montana. Among players that started their careers at UM, Williams is 2^nd only to Ken McKenzie in reaching the 1,000-point mark.

Montana slowed things down offensively late in the game but the efficiency never went away. They made five of their final seven shots, a stretch that included a fastbreak alley-oop off the backboard from Thompson to Trae Taylor.

The play extended the Grizzly lead to 75-60 with three minutes to play and put the victory on ice.

Thompson ↗️🪟 Taylor

Another look at the fastbreak slam 💥 pic.twitter.com/e62eB8Kuw6
— Montana Griz Basketball (@MontanaGrizBB) January 23, 2026

"I think this is big because I really believe that Weber State is a top four team right now," DeCuire said. "The way they have played over the last two weeks, the way they defend, I think they are a team worthy of the conversation of being in the top four. This is one of those wins down the road that will be effective, especially if you end up in any kind of ties."

Thompson led Montana with a new career high 21 points. All nine of his field goal attempts came from beyond the arc and he added five rebounds and three assists.

The 7 made threes were the most by a Grizzly player since Aanen Moody made 8 at Eastern Washington in 2024. He's just the fourth Grizzly in the last decade to make 7 threes in a game, joining Moody, Michael Oguine, and Bobby Moorehead.

Te'Jon Sawyer scored 13 on 5-of-6 shooting and Brooklyn Hicks matched him with 13 points off the bench. Grant Kepley also reached double figures with 11 points on 80 percent shooting and five assists.

It was an off night shooting the ball for Williams, but he still contributed six assists and was huge on the defensive end with three steals and a block.

As a team, Montana assisted on 22 of 31 made baskets on the night with six players recording multiple assists.

Montana overcame an 11-point deficit, the largest that they have come back from this season. They outshot Weber State in all three categories and outrebounded the Wildcats 27-22.

It's the fourth straight win for Montana in the rivalry between the two most decorated programs in the Big Sky Conference.

Montana returns to action on Saturday when they host Idaho State at 4:00 p.m. The Griz will host the annual N7 game, a Nike initiative that shows Nike's long-time commitment and mission to inspire and enable 2 million Native America and Aboriginal youth in North America to participate in sport and physical activity.

The Grizzlies will be wearing custom turquoise uniforms, a color that symbolizes friendship and fellowship in Native American cultures.

Idaho State is 10-10 on the season and 3-4 in Big Sky Conference play after losing on Thursday night to Montana State.

"They are very good offensively," DeCuire said. "They are versatile, they post you up and they have good shooters. It's a hard coverage, so we're going to have to be better defensively than we were tonight, especially in the first half."