No member of the Montana Grizzlies had ever won at Sacramento State entering Thursday night’s Big Sky Conference game. UM head coach Travis DeCuire entered the contest 0-3 at The Nest. For a half, it looked like the Griz might fall victim to an identical fate.
Sac State’s grinding pace and ability to control the tempo combined with six made 3-pointers gave the Hornets a 35-32 lead at halftime over the Grizzlies. But Montana turned up the heat defensively and dominated the boards to surge to a dominant second half effort that helped snap the streak in California’s capital city.
Montana forced 10 Sac State turnovers, allowed the Hornets to shoot just 15 shot attempts and piled up an 18-9 advantage on the glass after halftime to win the second 20 minutes 46-31 and emerge with a skid-snapping 78-66 victory over the Hornets on Thursday night.
The victory moves Montana to 5-0 in Big Sky Conference play, 12-5 overall. Montana has now won seven of its last eight, the lone loss a 66-63 defeat at Washington to wrap non-conference play. The loss drops Sac State to 1-3 in league play, 4-13 overall. The home defeat marks first loss to UM at the Nest since 2014 and Sac State’s second home loss this season.
Montana junior point guard Ahmaad Rorie drives t/ by UM Athletics
UM junior point guard Ahmaad Rorie shook off a 1-of-5 shooting start to finish with a game-high 23 points and a game-high six assists. The paced floor general hit six of his eight shots after halftime and scored 19 points after intermission.
The Griz did not take more than a five-point lead until five minutes into the second half. Rorie’s 3-pointer — he finished 2-of-4 from deep — gave Montana a 50-42 lead with 13:29 left. Rorie scored seven points during a 14-1 run that helped UM build its lead to 22 points, 73-51, with five minute to play.
The Griz made just 1-of-8 from the floor during the stretch but Rorie hit five straight free throws, a portion of a 19-of-22 effort at the charity stripe after halftime after not shooting a free throw in the first half.
Rorie drew a questionable foul on Justin Strings on a 3-point try that led to three free throws. After berating the officials, Sac State head coach Brian Katz received a technical. Rorie made all three free throws to stretch the lead to 71-51 with 6:20 left.
Reigning Big Sky Player of the Week Jamar Akoh faced double teams and traps out of Sac State’s varieties of zone defenses all night. Less than a week after scoring a career-high 34 points in a win over Northern Colorado, Akoh scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds in 24 minutes. The game marked the first time in eight outings that Akoh has not scored in double figures.
With Akoh garnering extra attention, juniors Michael Oguine and Bobby Moorehead picked up the slack. Oguine drove to the rim at will in the second half, scoring five of his 11 at the stripe in finishing with 16 points overall. He left the for a moment with an injury but returned minutes later to snare a steal and get fast break that led to free throws.
Moorehead’s second 3-pointer came at the first-half buzzer and his third gave UM its first double-digit lead, 53-43 eight minutes into the second half. Moorehead finished with 13 points. Senior Fabijan Krslovic scored eight points and tied Akoh for team-high honors with eight rebounds in the first win of his career in Sacramento.
Sac State finished with 17 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle 36-22. The Hornets finished the game on a 13-1 run to cut into UM’s sizeable lead. Senior Justin Strings scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Hornets.
Montana plays at Portland State on Saturday night. Sac State hosts Montana State.
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