Griz season ends with title game loss

Wednesday, March 11

Boise, Idaho

9:30 PM

Montana

18-16,10-8Big Sky

No. 7 Idaho

21-14,9-9Big Sky

Idaho

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke/University of Montana

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

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana Grizzlies fell in the Big Sky Championship game on Wednesday night in Boise by a score of 77-66 to the Idaho Vandals.

Money Williams was named the Big Sky Tournament MVP following a 19-point performance in the title game and a Big Sky Tournament record 91 total points over the three games as Montana staged an impressive run to the title game.

They knocked off the hottest team in the league in the quarterfinals in a Big Sky title rematch against Northern Colorado and eliminated the regular season champion Portland State in the semifinals.

The offense just fell short on Wednesday night in the title game as a Grizzly team playing its third game in as many days and battling illness couldn't overcome the Vandals.

"They wanted it more. There are no ifs, ands, buts, or explanations," head coach Travis DeCuire said. "They played way harder than us. Neither team was great offensively, we both were shooting in the 30s, but they just outscrapped us. They had more energy and more fight, and we fell short. I thought we were prepared for battle after the way we played the first two games, but we weren't."

DeCuire made his 7^th appearance in the Big Sky title game in 11 tries at Montana, which is easily the most in the league during his tenure. Williams is the 4^th player in league history to win MVP while not winning the title and brings home the award for the 12^th time in program history.

The Grizzlies star guard was fighting an illness and missed the team's shootaround in the morning, but gave his all in a 19-point, 5-rebound performance on Wednesday night. He shared the team lead in scoring with Te'Jon Sawyer, who ended his Grizzly career by eclipsing the 1,000-point mark. Sawyer is the 39^th player in program history to score 1,000 points.

The Grizzlies just struggled outside of the two leading scorers in production as the rest of the team went just 8-of-27 from the floor. The Grizzlies limited Idaho to just 40.7 percent shooting, but 14 Grizzly turnovers and a plus 14 advantage in rebounding for the Vandals were backbreaking for the Griz.

Montana had just seven assists and went 6-of-25 (.240) from 3-point range.

"The difference tonight was that we didn't make open shots, we turned the ball over, and we didn't pass the ball when we should have," DeCuire said. "For us to only have seven assists, it's going to be hard to generate enough offense if we don't pass the ball."

It was a shaky start to the game for Montana as they fell behind early with a cold shooting spell. Montana opened the game just 3-of-14 from the field as Idaho was able to build a double-digit lead.

After the Vandals took a 20-10 lead near the midway point of the first, the Grizzlies were finally able to find some rhythm offensively, starting with a bucket from Te'Jon Sawyer.

Brooklyn Hicks jumped a pass and Idaho committed a flagrant foul on the breakaway to help spark the Grizzlies. Montana would make six of the next seven field goal attempts to go on a 19-4 run and take the lead at 29-24.

The Griz missed their final four shots of the period but entered the locker rooms up 31-30.

Idaho quickly took control in the second half with a 7-0 run that gave them the lead for good. They increased the advantage to double figures on a three from center Brody Rowbury. It was his second of the night after making just 10 in the regular season in zero in the last six games.

The shots continued to fall for the Vandals while Montana went cold. The Grizzlies were never able to pull back within seven points.

Williams broke a fellow Grizzly's Big Sky record in the second half. Anthony Johnson scored 83 points in the 2010 Big Sky Tournament, a conference record for the event. Williams passed him late on Wednesday and finished the tournament with 91 total points, averaging over 30 points per game.

He scored 40 in the quarterfinal, which was the 4^th most in a single game in tournament history. Williams followed that up with 32 points in the semifinal. Despite fighting an illness, he still managed 19 points on Wednesday.

"He was incredible," DeCuire said. "That performance, you want to see it get him to the NCAA Tournament. He wanted that for his teammates, but as a group we just weren't good enough. We can say we have a bunch of guys sick, hurt, or whatever, but they do to and it's March. We aren't going to be 100 percent and we just need to spike up enough energy to compete. The Griz just didn't have it today and I own that."

It was a rollercoaster season for Montana that ends with an 18-16 overall record. It's the 18^th consecutive season that the Grizzlies have been .500 or better, making them one of 13 teams in the country with such a streak. DeCuire reached his 7^th title game and still has not been below .500 in a year in his career.

The Grizzlies had two players miss the majority of the season with injury and several changes to the rotation, but fought through all of it and ended up agonizingly short of back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament.

"We were warriors to get to this point," DeCuire said. "There was a lot of adversity to try to figure out rotations and find rhythm. We found it for short stretches but never long stretches. We thought we built enough momentum to win three in a row, but we just fell short."

Williams finished his season with 699 points, the 3^rd most in a single season in program history. He's just the 4^th person to ever average over 20 points per game in a year as he finished with a scoring average of 20.6 points per game. Williams and Sawyer both joined Montana's 1,000-point club this year.

The Grizzlies had historic accomplishments from the two veterans, but they were also nearly a completely new team outside of those two as they returned 30 percent or less from last year's roster in terms of starts, minutes, points, rebounds, and steals.

They started two freshmen all year with a sophomore also in the main rotation. The year ends in Boise, but not without some incredible highs and development during the year.

"There are a ton of individual accomplishments and a lot of growth this season," DeCuire said. "To get this far with two freshmen in the starting lineup is almost impossible in this day and time unless they are five stars and making millions of dollars. Those guys helped to get us where we got."