Griz hand league leading Vikings first loss

Thursday, January 29

Portland, Ore.

8:00 PM (MT)

Montana

13-9,7-2Big Sky

Portland State

13-6,7-1Big Sky

Montana

Portland St.

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

1/29/2026 11:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Portland State entered Thursday night's contest undefeated in Big Sky play and winners of 15 straight Big Sky Conference games inside Viking Pavilion. They will need to start new streaks after the Montana Grizzlies came to town.

The Griz led for over 35 minutes in a 64-60 win on Thursday for their 4^th straight win. Montana (13-9, 7-2 Big Sky) pull within a half-game of Portland State for first place in the Big Sky Conference with the win.

Montana won on the strength of its defense as they held Portland State to just 38 percent shooting and forced a season-high 17 turnovers. Montana gave up just three made 3-pointers from the Vikings and outscored them 32-26 in the paint.

"We've been telling our guys since June 1, defense wins games," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "To come in here and hold them to 28 points at the half, you hold them under 40 percent shooting you have a chance."

The Grizzlies attacked from the opening possession, going to freshman Kenyon Aguino down low for a bucket over Big Sky MVP candidate Terri Miller Jr. The Vikings battled back to take a 9-6 lead early, but Aguino scored four straight points to put Montana up 10-9. They led the rest of the way.

Money Williams, who scored 36 points in Portland last season, delivered another impressive offensive game with 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Williams helped Montana assert control in the game, scoring 9 straight Grizzly points over a three-minute stretch.

Williams started up a 7-0 run for Montana that made it 28-16, but Williams picked up his second foul and missed the final seven minutes of the half. Despite a late PSU run, the defense held firm for Montana and limited the Vikings to just 28 first-half points.

"This is a 30-point game for him if he doesn't get in foul trouble and he gets going," DeCuire said. "It would have been nice for him to play his 34 or 35 minutes, but I think he set the tone and gave us edge. There was a stretch where we were defending but weren't scoring and he kind of took over and gave the guys confidence."

As both teams were aggressive driving the ball in the second half, the fouls started to pile up. Montana committed 16 fouls in the second half and had four starters reach at least four fouls.

The Grizzlies still maintained control for much of the second half, leading by double figures still inside of nine minutes to go in the game. Montana had three starters (Aguino, Sawyer, Kepley) pick up four fouls before the 10-minute mark of the second half.

In a loud environment inside Viking Pavilion, DeCuire had to roll the dice.

"In the second half it felt like a championship environment and we're playing for seeding and for a spot. Let's just let the players play," DeCuire said. "I had to decide between Kenyon and Te'Jon and I felt like it was Kenyon's night so we went with Te'Jon first. Fortunately, he survived and Kenyon came in and finished the game with him."

The Vikings chipped away at the Grizzly lead down the stretch and got back within a possession at 49-46 after seven straight points. Williams stabilized the Grizzlies, converting a three-point play, getting to the free throw line, and scoring in the paint again to put Montana up 56-52 with five minutes to play.

In a defensive slugfest, it was the freshman Aguino that delivered the final made field goal of the game for Montana on a clutch drive to the basket. He attacked Miller Jr. and scored over him to make it 61-55 in favor of the Griz.

Aguino ended the night with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He made the first shot of the game and the last shot for the Grizzlies.

"Kenyon Aguino was huge starting the game and attacking Miller to force him to defend," DeCuire said. "We came back to it when (Miller) had four fouls. He didn't want to foul out and they needed him offensively. I feel like that was a game-winning possession."

Montana's defense locked down the Vikings in the closing minutes, forcing misses on four of the final five Viking field goal attempts. The second half saw 23 free throws for the Vikings and featured plenty of loud moments from the crowd as the home team looked to stay unbeaten.

Montana weathered the storm and sunk the Vikings inside the Ship.

"They are a good basketball team, this is a big momentum place because of the noise, they are a physical and aggressive team, so you're going to have to play through it and play through the fouls and not look at the ref," DeCuire said. "We did it a couple of times, but once we stopped that we were fine."

Miller scored 11 of his points in the second half, but Montana held him below 50 percent shooting and under his season average with just 15 total points. In a matchup of the two leading scorers in the Big Sky, it was Williams that came out on top.

The Grizzlies also held Preseason All-Big Sky guard Jaylin Henderson to 13 points on just 3-of-13 shooting with 8 turnovers. Montana's defense caused problems all night for the Vikings, who went just 3-of-16 from three-point range.

"We decided we weren't going to let them score in the paint," DeCuire said. "They decided they weren't going to let us shoot threes. It kind of turned into a one-on-one game for us so we let our drivers drive it."

Williams had a game-high 24 points and was joined in double figures by Aguino and Grant Kepley with 10 points each. Montana also had key contributions from several bench players with Brooklyn Hicks and Tyler Isaak each finishing with 5 points and Trae Taylor scoring 4 points with 5 rebounds in 20 minutes of action with both Aguino and Sawyer in foul trouble.

"The biggest thing is that when guys check in they know what their job is," DeCuire said. "They did that. They did the things that they were asked to do and they were solid. Just be a solid basketball player, you don't need to be perfect."

It's Montana's first win in Portland since 2023 and the Vikings' first conference loss at home since Feb. 5, 2024. As teams reach the halfway point in conference play, Portland State was looking to pull away from the rest of the Big Sky.

Montana reeled them back in with a huge road win. The Vikings remain in first place at 7-1 in league play, but Montana now sit just a half-game behind them at 7-2 and in a tie for second place with Montana State after the Bobcats lost to Sacramento State on Thursday night.

The Grizzlies are 7-2 at the midway point of league play for the second straight season. It's also the 8^th time in 12 years under DeCuire that Montana has seven wins through nine games in Big Sky play.

"We're getting tougher. We're finding ways to win scrappy games and when it's not pretty we're still finding ways to make it happen," DeCuire said. "That's the sign of a team that wants to compete for a championship."

Montana will enter the back half of conference play on Saturday night in Sacramento when they face the Hornets in the final conference game on the road against Sacramento State. The Hornets beat Montana State 83-80 in the new Hornet Pavilion on Thursday night.