Montana missed a chance to move into a first-place tie in the Big Sky Conference Thursday night with an 88-79 loss at Portland State. The Grizzlies fell behind 71-49 as the Vikings hit 13 of their first 14 shots of the second half. What looked like an insurmountable lead, was quickly whittled down to six points as the Griz went on an 18-2 run behind the production of a stingy, opportunistic defense and the 1-2 punch of Fabijan Krslovic and Ahmaad Rorie, who each set career-highs with 24 and 29 points, respectively.
But Montana could get no closer in the first game of their West Coast road trip. The Griz are in Sacramento Saturday night looking for their first win in California’s capital city since Travis DeCuire took over his alma mater three years ago. Montana appeared to be in position to get that win last February, but blew a 20-point second half lead in an 83-79 loss. That defeat was later avenged in the second round of the Big Sky Conference tournament in March, but Montana is looking to steady itself with three games at home on the horizon.
Sac State head coach Brian Katz/ by Brooks Nuanez
Sacramento State, which boasts one of the better guard-forward combos in the league with Marcus Graves and Justin Strings, has been inconsistent in conference play. The Hornets are just 2-4 with their wins coming against NAU and Southern Utah, two of the league’s bottom teams in the standings. Thursday, Sac gave up Montana State its first conference road win in nearly a year.
Still, the Hornets can be a dangerous team. They lost by eight at Washington State and pushed North Dakota to overtime. Strings is a versatile forward who can step outside or work in the low post. Currently, the 6-foot-7 junior lead Sacramento State in scoring at 15.8 points per game. Graves, who is dangerous in the Hornets high ball-screen actions, is adding another 12.1 and is fourth in the conference in assist-to-turnover ration at 2.2. Graves has started 48 straight games for the Hornets.
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What has to happen to move passed this game? (Source: KGVO radio)
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire: “Dream about it tonight. Vizualize being successful. Vizualizing having some of these possessions back. We often talk about every possession matters and sometimes I’ll take film and total up the mistakes and how many points the other team benefitted off of that. I’ll probably do the same thing and probably go find aobut 40 or 50 points off the board that we gave away on some mistakes and breakdowns. We’ll try to fix those and do what we haven’t done yet which is win in Sacramento.”
What’s the scouting report on Sacramento State?
“It’s a team that will change pace with their looks defensively. They’re gonna catch you off guard with denying certain guys the ball, then they go zone, then they don’t guard you, then they press you. The tempo is weird to adjust to. You have to find ways to continue to be the aggressor. We’ve lost momentum twice at your place and we’re gonna have to find a way to be the aggressor for 40 minutes. I think we did a nice job in the tournament of doing that. It’s just going to have to carry over this week.”
Other key information:
Montana is ranked No. 157 in the kenpom.com rankings and is No. 187, third in the Big Sky, in ESPN RPI rankings.
Sacramento State led by ninth-year coach Brian Katz, is ranked No. 328 in the kenpom.com rankings and is No. 337, 10th in the Big Sky, in the ESPN RPI rankings.
When: Saturday, 8 p.m. MDT
Where: The Nest, Sacramento (1,012)
Radio: KGVO 101.5 FM
Watch: watchbigsky.com
Series: Montana leads 38-7
Last: 2016, Montana marched toward the Big Sky title game with a 70-53 win over Sacramento State in the second round of the conference tournament.
kenpom Prediction: Montana 74 percent (Montana 73-66)
Probable starters
Montana
G – Ahmaad Rorie, 6-1, So., 17.4 ppg
G – Michael Oguine, 6-2, So., 9.9 ppg
G – Brandon Gfeller, 6-5, Sr., 4.7 ppg
F – Jack Lopez, 6-6, Sr., 7.4 ppg
F – Fabijan Krslovic, 6-8, Jr., 7.4 ppg
Sacramento State
G – Marcus Graves, 6-0, Jr., 12.1 ppg
G — Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’Afa, 6-2, Fr., 4.4 ppg
F – Justin Strings, 6-7, Jr., 15.8 ppg
F – Nick Hornsby, 6-7, Sr., 11.1 ppg
C – Eric Stuteville, 6-11, Sr., 9.9 ppg
