MISSOULA — Timmy Falls directed traffic, loosening Idaho State’s zone defense with three slick passes and slicing it with three smooth cuts. The third resulted into a kick out to Kendal Manuel for a 3-pointer that Falls seemed to see a handful of passes before.
On the very next possession, Manuel stepped into a 3-pointer and buried it, extending Montana’s explosive run to open the second half. The triple was the third in less than five minutes to open the second stanza.
The host Grizzlies struggled to close the first half after building an early 10-point lead. In the final moments of the first period, a serious of missed calls by the officials favoring neither team resulted in Montana head coach Travis DeCuire earning a technical foul.
After intermission, DeCuire called a timeout less than two minutes in. Out of the timeout, the Griz ripped off a 16-1 run to open up an 18-point lead. Montana endured rally after rally from the pesky Bengals, eventually emerging with an 80-69 win over Idaho State in front of 4,076 at Dahlberg Arena on Thursday night.
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire/ by Brooks Nuanez
“You gotta play the right way for 40 minutes regardless of the score,” DeCuire said. “I think right now, we have a tendency to play the scoreboard. We get leads, we get comfortable, we stop hustling on defense getting back or our shot selection goes the wrong way.”
“At this level, people aren’t going to quit. They fought their way back in to the game. It’s been a continuous issue for us. Hopefully, we can overcome it.”
DeCuire’s words are reflective of the expectations harbored by the reigning Big Sky Conference champions. Montana has been searching for its top level of execution in almost every one of its conference games. But Thursday’s win moves UM to 6-2 in Big Sky play, 13-6 overall.
Idaho State fell for the third straight time in league play. ISU is 3-4 in the BSC, 7-10 overall.
After Manuel’s third 3-pointer to begin the second half, Idaho State head coach Bill Evans called a timeout. With the crowd on its feet, Manuel waved on the crowd, encouraging an ovation for the first time as a Griz. The Oregon State transfer prepped at Billings Skyview and made his first start for Montana on Thursday.
“It felt good being able to play in front of my home state and everything, a good crowd,” Manuel said. “We’ve been on the road for a long time (seven of last nine games) so it felt good to be home in front of this crowd.”
“That was my teammates finding me. We were down a little bit and I felt like if I could knock some 3s down, get the crowd going again.”
Montana senior Jamar Akoh/ by Todd Goodrich, UM athletics
Manuel finished the game with 16 points. He hit four of his eight attempts from deep. His smooth shooting helped Montana break the cod e of ISU’s zone. The 6-foot-4 wing has provided good scoring punch since earning a waiver to become eligible this season after transferring in the off-season. But he made his first start at UM because Griz senior guard Michael Oguine did not play.
Late UM’s 69-51 win at Idaho last Saturday, Oguine took an awkward fall on his lower back, leaving him down on the court for a several minutes. Thursday, Oguine did not play, snapping a streak of 72 straight starts for the Montana great. Before Thursday, the 6-foot-2 jumping jack had started 106 of his 110 career games. He last missed a start in a non-conference game against South Dakota two years ago right after Thanksgiving.
“Without Mike, our athleticism drops significantly,” said Decuire, who added that Oguine is expected to play in Saturday night’s first-place showdown with Weber State. “Our defensive intensity, our ability to crash the offensive glass, he and Jamar are the guys who really get most of our offensive rebounds.”
“We roll with what we got,” Akoh said. “I don’t think anybody knew that he wasn’t playing until the starting lineups. I looked over and Kendal was sitting there. I thought Mike was coming off the bench. I didn’t know until Ahmaad (Rorie) told me he wasn’t playing. But we roll with who we got.”
DeCuire pointed out that Akoh secured eight offensive rebounds among his 17 boards. He helped the Griz earn a 37-36 edge on the glass. He also scored eight of Montana’s first 13 points, forcing the Bengals to shift into the zone defense that has trademarked head coach Bill Evans’ long career. ISU has played more man-to-man the last season and a half. But Akoh’s presence caused for Evans, a former Montana assistant, to go back to his old tricks.
Akoh, who finished with 22 points, drew two quick fouls on 6-foot-11 ISU junior Kelvin Jones. Montana build a 31-21 lead with three minutes to play in the first half.
Sloppiness defined the rest of the half as the officials allowed an excessive amount of contact on both ends, finally drawing the ire of DeCuire.
“I think he was just angry,” Akoh said with a smirk.
DeCuire called a timeout with 18:37 left and got after his team – “He said if we wanted to blow the game open, we had to take care of the glass,” Manuel said. Out of that timeout, Akoh threw down a two-handed dunk off a lob pass, Manuel hit three 3-pointers and Montana took its 33-30 halftime lead and turned it into a 49-31 advantage six minutes into the second half.
Idaho State cut the lead lead to single digits on a Chier Maker 3-pointer with 8:50 left and whittled the gap to 59-54 about two minutes later.
Montana senior Ahmaad Rorie (14) throws a pass up court to Sayeed Pridgett on a fast break against Idaho State/ by Todd Goodrich, UM athletics
Falls, who DeCuire said “we had to get in there early in the second half because we needed that penetration into the paint”, finally got a call from the officials after not being able to buy one on the offensive end. He drew a charge that led to the first of two straight Bobby Moorehead 3-pointers that helped the Griz push the advantage back to double digits.
A Sayeed Pridgett block led to a Falls assist for a Pridgett dunk, then an Akoh steal led to an Akoh dunk on a Pridgett assist to ignite the home crowd one more time. Evans took a timeout with his team trailing 71-57 with 3:53 left.
“When we are doing what we do – guarding, getting stops, getting out and running and sharing – we are a special team,” Akoh said. “But at times, we get stagnant and we get away from holding a lead. We have to be consistent in closing games.”
Senior point guard Ahmaad Rorie scored six of his 19 points — he also dished out nine of UM’s 16 assists — in the final four minutes to help Montana secure its 16th straight win over Idaho State.
Montana’s attention now turns to Weber State, a 93-84 winner in Bozeman over Montana State on Thursday. The Wildcats are now 7-1 in league play, along in first place in the Big Sky. The Griz and Weber State have a long, storied rivalry that includes a variety of showdowns in the Big Sky Tournament. UM suffocated the league’s best shooting team a season ago in a 72-57 win in Missoula in the lone matchup between the Grizzlies and the Wildcats.”
“It’s always been a competitive game, one of the best teams in the conference year in and year out and they are in first place right now so it will take a championship effort,” Akoh said. “Hopefully, we bring a championship level intensity.”
Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.
