Eventually, Montana thought, the shots would start to fall. On Thursday, they finally did.
In a tense 71-70 win over Pepperdine, Montana hit a season-high 13 threes against the Waves ever-changing defense that set the Grizzlies up against zone and man looks that slowed the game down and forced them to hit from the outside. Brandon Gfeller tied a season-high five from the arc, while Jack Lopez and Ahmaad Rorie hit three apiece.
“I like the zone. It’s more fun,” Gfeller joked after a win that closed out the most difficult non-conference schedule in program history and sent the Grizzlies into Big Sky Conference play as winners of their last two games. Montana, now 5-8, hosts Idaho State on Thursday following a short Christmas break. On New Years Eve, the Griz face Weber State in a rematch of last season’s Big Sky Tournament championship game.
UM forward Brandon Gfeller
The video Montana watched in preparation for Thursday’s game indicated the Waves were likely to play zone. But it also showed Pepperdine employing man defenses. Leading up to the tip, Rorie said Montana still wasn’t sure what defense its opponent would show in the early going. Pepperdine settled into a zone, slowed the pace and forced Montana to diligently work the ball around the court. It resulted in a wave — no pun intended — of threes that kept Montana in the lead for much of the first half.
Rorie hit the first of four straight threes that included Lopez, Mario Dunn and Bobby Moorehead getting in on the shooting exhibition. With 4:05 left in the opening half and the Griz holding a 30-26 advantage, Montana had just two points in the paint and eight 3-pointers, three of which came from Lopez, whose back-to-back triples staved off an early Pepperdine run and staked Montana to a six-point advantage.
“You look at Ahmaad, Jack and Brandon took the bulk of our threes, those guys have been shooting well from 3 all year,” Montana head coach Travis DeCuire said.
Montana’s shooting prowess forced Pepperdine out of the zone and into a man concept for the end of the first half when Montana went on a 7-0 run to take an eight-point lead into the half. It grew to 10 in the early moments of the second, but was steadily whittled down over the next 10 minutes and eventually disappeared despite Gfeller’s best efforts.
The senior from Colfax, Washington hit three 3-pointers over a seven-minute stretch that held the Waves at bay, but couldn’t keep them from taking over the lead on a pair of Nate Gehring free throws with a little more than 5 minutes remaining. Montana responded with a 10-2 that put them back in the lead and elicited the loudest response from the 3,476 in attendance at Dahlberg Arena.
It began with two Lopez free throws and continued when Lopez pumped and drove to the hoop for a floater that was off the mark but found its way back to the senior from Australia. Lopez gathered it amongst the trees, wheeled and found Rorie for an open three.
Dunn then broke up a pass on the other side of the court that caromed to Rorie who gave it back to Dunn, who fired it forward to Bobby Moorehead for a transition layup, foul and the ensuing free throw.
“I put some veterans in there down the stretch that had won some championships before and had some experience,” DeCuire said. “I thought it was going to be important for them to play big minutes in this game and they ended up playing well.”
Added Rorie, who scored a game-high 21, “We grinded it out. At the end of the day that’s what it’s all about is just getting a win. However they come, no matter if we win by one or 100. It just felt good to get another home win.”
Notes: Montana assisted on 18 of its 23 field goals. … Lopez finished with 11 points. Rorie added a season-high eight assists. … Montana was outrebounded 35-24, it’s second-largest defeat on the glass this season. … Pepperdine’s leading scorer, Lamond Murray Jr., finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
