Brown, Clark shine in debuts as Griz challenge Ducks

Monday, November 2

Eugene, Ore.

8:00 PM (MT)

Montana

0-1,0-0Big Sky

Oregon

1-0,0-0Big Ten

Team	1	2	F
Montana	31	38	69
Oregon	40	47	87

Photo by: Jackson Wagner

11/2/2026 11:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana put a scare into Oregon on Monday night in the season opener, tying the game with 10 minutes to go after an early scoring run in the second half, but the Ducks used a red-hot offense late to pull away for the 87-69 win.

The Grizzlies had impressive debuts from Jalen Brown and Jordan Clark as the pair of guards combined for 38 points, scoring 19 each, and adding nine assists.

After trailing by nine at the half, the Grizzlies rallied with a 14-2 run in the second half to tie the game at 57-57. The size and athleticism of Oregon made the difference down the stretch as they scored 15 of the next 17 points and went on a stretch with 11 straight made field goals to pull away.

"It's unfortunate," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "We come in here a little shorthanded with our posts. Having Amari (Jedkins) and Kenyon (Aguino) both out caught up with us, they scored way to many points in the paint. Most of those, it wasn't even post moves or offensive rebounds, it was lobs. It came from the penetration, we overhelped a bit on drives and they took advantage of it. But we had some fight in the dog. There's a long way to go, but there's potential there."

Montana shot the ball well, particularly from three-point range where they went 13-of-30 (.433). All 13 makes came from four players as Brown and Clark each had three makes, Semaj Carter added three in his collegiate debut, and Tyler Thompson led the team with four.

The Griz struggled from inside the arc, going 9-of-28 (.321) on twos with the size of Oregon affecting both ends of the floor. The Ducks had seven dunks in the game and outscored Montana 54-14 in the paint.

The advantage was made even more lopsided with the absence of Kenyon Aguino and Amari Jedkins for Montana. The injuries left them shorthanded at the post position. Clayton Mpiana was a difference maker in his debut, starting at center for Montana, but picked up his fourth foul with 10 minutes to go and was limited to just 23 minutes.

It was a game of runs as the teams combined for seven scoring runs of at least seven points.

Montana threw the first punch, opening the game by making four straight shots from beyond the arc to lead 12-4 early and force an Oregon timeout. Thompson hit a pair and Clark and Brown scored their first Grizzly points on triples.

"The guys were ready to go. We didn't even know if Jalen would play tonight and went through yesterday's practice and all of shootaround not knowing, he got cleared at the end," DeCuire said. "We didn't really prep for him to play. Thank goodness he did, he was big for us."

Oregon stepped it up defensively, holding the Griz to just two points over the next nine minutes as they took the lead on a 21-2 run. The foul total was 7-1 in favor of Oregon and Montana had five turnovers to zero from the Ducks by the end of the run.

Montana punched back, scoring 12 of the next 16 to get it back to 29-26 at the final media timeout of the first half.

The Ducks went into the break up 40-31 with another late run. The paint advantage was evident early with a 24-4 edge in the key for Oregon in the first. The Ducks shot 50 percent in the first half compared to 40.7 percent by Montana.

The game looked like it might get away from Montana early in the second half as Oregon built a 15-point lead in the first four minutes, going up 53-38 after a free throw from Tajh Ariza.

Freshman Semaj Carter started a run for Montana as the Griz showed their grit. Carter knocked down a three and Thompson made a lay-up in transition to get back within 10 points.

Oregon went back up a dozen on a jumper, but Montana scored 14 of the next 16 points to tie the game at 57-all. Brown had six points during the run, Carter hit another three pointer, and Clark had five straight, forcing the tie with a contested three with 10:41 to go.

"We defended," DeCuire said of the key to the run. "We caught them off guard a bit with the pressure and we had talked about how we were going to get into them and try to force some turnovers."

Mpiana and Dick both picked up their fourth fouls around that mark and the rhythm that Montana found slowly disappeared. Oregon used a 10-0 run, capped off by a slam dunk and a transition lay-up that led right into the eight minute media timeout and the crowd on its feet.

Oregon's run came after Montana was forced to make some lineup changes. The Grizzlies made their biggest push with Brown, Clark, Carter, Thompson, and Mpiana on the floor together.

DeCuire didn't substitute for nearly six minutes as the Grizzlies clawed back into the game, but they ran out of gas in the end.

"I wish I had one more timeout," Coach DeCuire said. "I called a timeout just before the media to give them a break knowing I was probably going to ride those five or six guys out. We needed one again later and just didn't have it."

The Ducks would make 11 straight shots over a six-minute stretch to ice the game. They ended the night shooting 60.3 percent, the first opponent to shoot over 60 percent on Montana since Northern Iowa in Dec. 2024.

Brown and Clark shared the team lead in points with 19 and Tyler Thompson added 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range. Carter had nine points in 16 minutes, scoring all of his points from beyond the arc. Clark led the team with five assists while Brown added four.

"The nine assists are what stood out to me," DeCuire said. "The ball handling and sharing of the basketball. It's not bad for two guys playing their first Division I basketball game against a Big Ten team and not have an opportunity to really warm-up against like competition or a smaller school says a lot about the potential of our backcourt."

Clayton Mpiana grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. In the 23 minutes that Mpiana was on the floor, Montana outscored Oregon by five points. They were outscored by 23 when he was on the bench.

Connor Dick, who started for the first time in his career, added five boards. Clark and Thompson each played 38 minutes on Monday night as DeCuire used a rotation consisting mostly of just eight players.

"We're excited about where we are at, we just have to get a little more depth, get some more from a few guys, and get healthy," DeCuire said.

Montana returns to action on Wednesday with the home opener. The Griz will host Salish Kootenai inside Dahlberg Arena at 7:00 p.m.