Game Recap

Montana buries Southern Utah on senior night

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On senior day, Montana’s upperclassmen turned to a junior to build a second-half lead and then closed it out themselves in a 70-54 win over Southern Utah.

Sayeed Pridgett scored all 20 of his points in the second half, making his last eight shots of the game to help Montana overcome an ugly first half that saw them lead just 29-28 at the break.

“Honestly, we tried to treat this like it’s our senior night as well,” Pridgett said. “We were trying to give those guys our all and make sure we get them out of here with a win.”

After Pridgett’s skein early in the second half — he scored 15 of 20 Montana points in one stretch — Michael Oguine and Ahmaad Rorie, as they’ve been doing for years, took over for Montana.

The senior duo combined to score 13 straight Grizzly points late, including a massive alley-oop from Rorie to Oguine, to shut down a battling Thunderbirds team that kept things close in a second half burdened by some refereeing controversy.

The win kept Montana one game ahead of Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Conference race, after the Bears also won Saturday night, 71-62 against Idaho State.

Rorie, Oguine, Bobby Moorehead and Jamar Akoh were all honored before the game, although Akoh remained out with an injury. The four are one of the most successful classes in Montana history, with 84 wins and counting. Rorie and Oguine are two of just nine 1,500-point scorers in Griz history.

“We just wanted to have fun,” Rorie said. “That’s the main thing I’ve been thing I’ve been trying to tell everyone on the team, is just have fun. It’s going to be over soon, so just to be able to get a win is real big-time for myself and those seniors. We didn’t want to go out losing on our special night.”

After Moorehead opened the scoring with a tough inside layup, the first half devolved into a foul fest, with the refereeing crew struggling to keep control of the game.

Montana senior guard Ahmaad Rorie (14) defending Southern Utah senior guard Brandon Better (0)/by Jason Bacaj

A few highlights shone through the mess, including high-flying blocks by Moorehead and Oguine.

Southern Utah led by as many as four early, before Rorie canned Montana’s first 3-pointer of the game for a 17-16 lead. It was back and forth from there.

Sophomore Timmy Falls, who came off the bench to energize the Montana defense after a slow start, hit a 3-pointer from the corner to beat the buzzer and give Montana the halftime lead. Falls had all seven of his points in the first 20 minutes.

“He was locked in,” head coach Travis DeCuire said. “He did a good job on the ball, he was rotating. He forced turnovers, rebounded the ball — he was active. I thought that he did a good job in terms of helping us slow them down, because they were scoring at a high rate until I went to the bench.”

The start of the second half was all Pridgett. After going 0-for-3 in the first half, he missed his first shot of the second, then scored a hook shot through contact for an and-1 and his first points.

Feeling it, he called for the ball on the block on the next two possessions as well, and scored on both.

“I was just trying to do what I needed to do,” Pridgett said. “In the first half, honestly, I was playing a little too fast for the team, turning the ball over, taking a couple bad shots. So in the second half, I was just trying to let the game come to me.”

Montana sophomore guard Timmy Falls (1) defended by Southern Utah senior guard Brandon Better (0)/by Jason Bacaj

A Rorie fastbreak layup stretched the Montana lead to eight before a controversial sequence got the Thunderbirds back in it.

First came a foul called on Falls after it appeared that he had gotten all ball on Dre Marin’s desperate, end of the shot clock jumper.

With DeCuire pacing on the sideline, Southern Utah came down on the next possession and Brandon Better hit a 3 through contact by Moorehead. The ref blew the whistle for a 4-point play, and DeCuire finally drew the technical that had been brewing for a few possessions.

Better made both technical free throws — although he missed the one for the actual foul — giving Southern Utah a five-point possession and cutting the Montana lead to one.

The Griz went right back to Pridgett, who scored again in the post and then fed a cutting Moorehead for a dunk to push the lead back to five.

Southern Utah kept it around there for a while, until Rorie and Oguine decided to take over.

With 7:27 left, Rorie took a crosscourt pass from Pridgett in transition and hit a 3 while being fouled. He converted the and-1, then hit a leaning jumper over his defender from the free-throw line.

“[Southern Utah] is really talented, you know,” Rorie said. “They’re kind of up and down, so we wanted to put the game away when we had a chance. We didn’t want it to come down to a couple possessions.”

The next possession, he turned provider, throwing up the lob to Oguine for the highlight slam before finding his fellow senior in transition for a 3.

Montana senior guard Michael Oguine (0)/by Jason Bacaj

“Making a play like that, it kills momentum,” Oguine said. “We were able to put our foot on their throats and close out the game. That’s what good teams do.”

The last brought the house down, gave Montana a 13-point lead with 5:27 left and basically ended all suspense.

DeCuire removed the seniors with 31 seconds left to a standing ovation.

“It’s a hard night, because the seniors want to play well and everybody wants the seniors to play well,” DeCuire said. “Sometimes they’re pressing, which is what happened in the first four minutes. The good thing is they worked the kinks out and they started playing basketball, and all three of them had really good nights.”

On Monday, Southern Utah travels to Montana State, while the Griz host Northern Arizona in their last home game of the season.

Photos by Jason Bacaj. All Rights Reserved. 

About Andrew Houghton

Andrew Houghton grew up in Washington, DC. He graduated from the University of Montana journalism school in December 2015 and spent time working on the sports desk at the Daily Tribune News in Cartersville, Georgia, before moving back to Missoula and becoming a part of Skyline Sports in early 2018.

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