It took five extra minutes and a heroic performance from Holland Woods, but Portland State snapped Montana’s 20-game home winning streak, 77-74, in overtime Saturday in front of 4,408 fans at Dahlberg Arena.
Woods finished with 28 points and hit a pull-up 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 69 and complete a second-half comeback for the Vikings, who had trailed since the 8:16 mark of the first half.
“We had opportunities to put the game away,” Montana coach Travis DeCuire said. “We made runs three or four times, but we didn’t continue with the run. Some of it was lack of discipline. We took some questionable shots, we didn’t rebound when we needed to.”
Kendal Manuel had a career-high 22 points for Montana, but missed a potential tying 3-pointer off the front iron at the buzzer in overtime.
Montana had no problems with Portland State’s press early and, spurred by Manuel’s hot shooting — he had 14 in the first half — took a 36-31 lead at the break.
But every time the Griz threatened to pull away in the second half, Portland State had an answer.
Montana didn’t lead by less than three or more than nine in the second half until back-to-back 3-pointers from Portland State’s Michael Mayhew cut the lead to one with 5:55 left.
The Griz pushed the lead back out to seven with just over two minutes left, but didn’t score again down the stretch as two free throws from Woods, a layup by Jamie Orme, and Woods’ 3-pointer sent the game to overtime.
Montana scored first in overtime on a Sayeed Pridgett layup, but that didn’t break the cold stretch. The Griz would shoot just 2-of-9 from the field in overtime, and that was all that Portland State needed.
Montana made 5-of-9 3-pointers in the first half but went 0-for-15 from deep in the second half and overtime.
The loss dropped the Griz to 10-5 and 3-1 in the Big Sky Conference. Montana hadn’t lost at home since February 16, 2017, against Sacramento State. It was also their first loss in nine Big Sky Conference games.
Oguine had 15 points and Jamar Akoh 14 and nine rebounds for Montana.
