Almost two months ago, there was little else Mike Oguine could have done as Jeremy Senglin’s buzzer-beating three defeated Montana in overtime on New Year’s Eve. Thursday night in Ogden, Oguine’s defensive instincts clinched Montana a noteworthy win that kept their hopes for a first-round bye in the Big Sky Tournament alive.
With the clock ticking down in a situation similar to what unfolded in Missoula on the last day of 2016, Senglin searched for his shot with his team trailing by two and less than five seconds left before Oguine tied him up, forcing a jump ball. That play sealed the Grizzlies’ 78-74 win, but it was a play that came about three minutes earlier that UM head coach Travis DeCuire identified as the game-winning effort.
Oguine jumped into the passing lane, setting off a wild scramble for possession. Oguine dove for the loose ball, knocking it to Bobby Moorehead who pushed it ahead to sophomore point guard Ahmaad Rorie. Rorie got it back to Oguine for a layup, then followed the miss to give Montana a 71-69 lead with three minutes remaining in its first regular-season win in Ogden in 13 years.
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire/ by Jason Bacaj
“That’s when we won the game, to be honest with you,” DeCuire said in a postgame interview with KGVO Radio. “ … We lost on that play last week. I thought that broke our back last week against Montana State. Tonight we weren’t going to let that happen. Our guys went to war. They fought they like they’re supposed to fight and they played like Grizzlies.”
Montana overcame a 10-point deficit with just under seven minutes to preserve a chance at a top five seed in the ever-changing Big Sky’s conference tournament next week in Reno, Nevada. Montana’s win created a three-way log jam for third between MSU, Idaho and Weber at 11-6, while Sacramento State’s upset of North Dakota dropped the Fighting Hawks into a first-place tie with Eastern Washington at 13-4. Montana is alone is sixth, but could climb as high as fourth with a win Saturday at Idaho State, or drop to seventh with a loss and a Sacramento State win at Northern Colorado.
While myriad scenarios are possible, the easiest way for the Griz to get some extra time off would be if Montana and Montana State sweep their season-ending road trips and Idaho falls to Southern Utah. That would earn Montana a top-four seed. Montana is guaranteed a first-round bye with a win in Pocatello on Saturday.
The magnitude of the win wasn’t lost on Montana.
“It was a first time after a win that everyone in the locker room has been excited and was celebrating. That’s what’s been missing,” said DeCuire, who won his first game at the Dee Events Center. “We have gotten caught up a little bit in our own individual agendas and it’s affected us.
“I think with it being March there is only one thing to play for now. With the championship out of there, votes are already in for all-conference and those types of things, there is nothing for us individually, anymore, to accomplish. Now there is just one more thing for us to go get and we are focused on that.”
Weber State senior guard Jeremy Senglin / by Brooks Nuanez
With 10 minutes left in the game, it appeared that Montana’s road to a possible first conference tournament championship under DeCuire was about to hit another detour. Weber had turned a two-point halftime deficit into a 10-point lead. Led by the moxie of a freshman and the shooting of a couple upperclassmen, the Wildcats blitzed Montana.
After Senglin, a senior, and junior Ryan Richardson earned the Wildcats a lead, Jerrick Harding ignited a stretch that added seven points, two assists and a block to the freshman’s totals.
DeCuire called for time out and delivered a message to his team.
“I said, ‘Hey, they’re outworking us right now.’ They had about a three minute stretch where they out worked us,” DeCuire recalled. “I said we gotta win the last seven minutes. I don’t know about winning the game, but we need to outwork them.”
His notice came after an emotional talk during Thursday morning’s walk through and after DeCuire prohibited dunks in favor of a more business like approach to pregame warmups. The more button-downed attitude worked for the first 20 minutes as Montana attacked the rim, scoring 26 of its 37 in the paint.
UM freshman Sayeed Pridgett/ By Jason Bacaj
But for the first 10 minutes of the second half, that intensity had all but disappeared, only to return with the help of freshman Sayeed Pridgett. Pridgett set up a three from Rorie, who scored 12 of his game-high 23 in the second half. Pridgett then grabbed a rebound, raced down court, spun down the lane and dumped to Fabijan Krslovic for two to cut the deficit to five.
Moments later Pridgett gathered another rebound, sprinted into the open court and finished with a two-handed dunk that elicited a reaction from the Montana bench that was duplicated when Pridgett muscled his way through contact to draw a goal-tend and hit the ensuing free throw to regain a one-point advantage with 3:49 on the clock.
The finishing touch was added when Rorie dribbled down the shot clock, cut into the lane and kicked to Oguine for a corner three and a four-point lead with 57 seconds to go.
Montana held Weber without a field goal for nearly five minutes of its game-ending 22-8 run. The Wildcats, the nation’s third-best outside shooting team, hit just five threes as a contingent of Grizzlies, led by sophomore Bobby Moorehead, hounded Senglin in a 1-for-7 night from the arc.
“We weren’t too concerned about winning today or Saturday,” DeCuire said. “We were more worried about playing together and playing the best basketball we could play and play together. If we did that we knew we could go in with some momentum next week. We pull off a win tonight, it carries into Saturday and maybe we’ll have one of the longest streaks going into the tournament.”
NOTES: Five players scored in double figures for Montana. Oguine added 15, Pridgett finished with 12 and Krslovic and Walter Wright each scored 10. … Senglin’s 22 points moved him into second-place on Weber’s career scoring list, passing former Big Sky MVP and All-NBA point guard Damian Lillard. … Montana out-rebounded Weber 38-28 and held a 21-7 advantage in second-chance points. … Montana’s last win in Ogden came in the 2010 Big Sky Tournament championship.
