Griz reach third straight title game behind another Money masterclass

Tuesday, March 10

Boise, Idaho

7:00 PM

Montana

18-15,10-8Big Sky

No. 1 Portland State

20-11,13-5Big Sky

Montana

Portland St.

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke / University of Montana

Griz reach third straight title game behind another Money masterclass

3/11/2026 12:08:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Another night, another Money Williams masterpiece.

The junior guard scored 32 points on Tuesday night to lead Montana to a semifinal win over the No. 1 seed Portland State Vikings. The Grizzlies advanced to the Big Sky title game for the third straight season with a 75-72 victory over the regular season champions.

Williams now has 72 points through two games at the tournament and needs just 12 more to break Anthony Johnson's Montana and Big Sky record for points in a single championship event.

"Money was Money," head coach DeCuire said. "I think the biggest thing is he has gotten into the rhythm where he's set the tone with his aggression and then the rest has followed. That's what leadership looks like. When a true leader goes out and does his job, everyone else kind of falls in."

Williams scored the first 13 points of the game as Montana, as they did in the previous two wins over the Vikings, jumped out to a big lead early. It took everything that Montana had to hold on late for the win.

The Grizzlies led by as many as 19 in the second half, but the fast and athletic pressure defense from Portland State pulled the Vikings back within a possession late. It followed a similar script to the two regular season meetings, and just like in those two Montana was able to pull out the win.

"One thing about the Griz, we like to keep it interesting," DeCuire said. "We have a hungry group though and the guys scrapped and made the plays they needed to make to win the game. We set the tone defensively and when you hold teams under 40 percent you tend to win regardless of how other things go."

Williams got Montana going but it was the defense that kept the Grizzlies in front for most of the game. Portland State attempted 23 more field goals than Montana, but the Grizzlies shot 51.1 percent while holding Portland State to just 31.4 percent shooting.

The Vikings had to rally late to get above 30 percent. Montana's defense held them to just 25.0 percent shooting in the first half and kept them to 14.3 percent from 3-point range over the entire game.

Big Sky Conference MVP Terri Miller Jr. scored just 12 points on 35.7 percent shooting as Montana never let him get comfortable.

"Good defenses take away whatever strength the other offense has," DeCuire said. "Portland State lives in the paint whether it's drives, ball screens, post ups. They are just trying to get as close to the rim as possible so you have to minimize their ability to get into the paint. At the end of the day we've done that for three consecutive games against them."

Montana survived 18 turnovers in the game, the 3^rd most this season for a team that has struggled in that area all year long. They did so by connecting on 44.0 percent from 3-point range and over half of their total field goal attempts.

Williams got them going early, but Brooklyn Hicks provided a first half spark by going 3-of-3 from the arc. Montana used an early 12-0 run to jump ahead 21-7.

DeCuire entered eight players into the game in the first half and all eight of them scored as the rest of the team stepped up as Portland State continued to focus more on Williams. They did so by getting open looks from good areas of the floor.

"We have a good shooting team and we're selective with the shots that we take," DeCuire said. "I believe in shot selection, I believe in working to get shots that you can make at a high percentage, not just shots that you can make."

The Griz led 39-24 at the half, but the game changed pace in the second half. It was a slugfest early as the two teams combined to make just seven field goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.

Portland State started the comeback with an 8-0 run in just 31 seconds of game time to cut the lead to 10. The Vikings forced a pair of turnovers in the backcourt to get Montana out of rhythm and get easy buckets.

A technical foul on the Vikings with 6:54 to play settled Montana back down and allowed them to keep a double-digit lead for much of the next four minutes as a Williams three inside of two minutes gave Montana a 66-56 lead.

The regular season champs continued to fight and force turnovers. They got it down to a one-possession game with 48 seconds to play as DeCuire was forced to go to his bench. Chase Henderson stepped into the game, helped Montana break the press, and knocked down 3-of-4 from the line after not attempting a single free throw in conference play.

"Speed kills, and we knew that we needed some of it," DeCuire said of the decision to play Henderson late. "They are a very fast team which made it hard for us to get open so we put our fastest guy into the game that has a lot of confidence with getting up the floor and isn't afraid to step up to the line and shoot free throws."

Tyler Isaak gave the Grizzlies a three-point lead late on a pair of free throws and Montana's defense held in the final 14 seconds, forcing a pair of misses from the Vikings to clinch Montana's spot in the championship game.

It's the third straight season that Montana has advanced to the title game and the 6^th time that DeCuire has done it in 11 seasons.

Williams scored 30-plus for the 7th time this season and 9th time in his career. After his quarterfinal performance, Williams said he woke up knowing he could have a big game. Nothing changed on Tuesday.

"Pretty much, I woke up and just thought that we had to get this dub," Williams said. "To be honest, we match up pretty well against Portland State and I have a lot of confidence in my guys."

Brooklyn Hicks scored 12 points, going perfect from the 3-point line on four attempts. Tyler Isaak scored in double figures for the first time since Jan. 19 and for the first time in 14 games with 10 points.

The Grizzlies will face off with No. 7 seed Idaho in the Championship Game on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on ESPN 2. The Vandals have reeled off three straight wins from the First Round on Saturday to reach the title game. The Vandals haven't won the Big Sky Tournament since 1990.

Montana is seeking its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance. It would be the second time under DeCuire and the 5^th time overall that Montana has gone back-to-back in the tournament.

The Grizzlies have 12 tournament titles, more than any other team in the Big Sky. They won their 53^rd game at the tournament on Tuesday, also the most in the league. They will play for it all again on the national stage as the better seed on national television.