BOZEMAN, Montana — Travis DeCuire made history by making sure his own status quo continued against the archrival.
In a contest that included seemingly endless shifts in momentum and many that went in the favor of the host Montana State Bobcats, the Montana men’s basketball team in fact led from start to finish to help DeCuire join the man the basketball arena in Missoula is named after atop the UM wins list. And Montana’s wire-to-wire win here on Saturday night also ensured UM will stay atop the Big Sky Conference standings with three games left in the regular season.
The Griz outlasted Montana State in front of a crowd of 5,580 at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse Saturday night, handing MSU its third home loss of the season in an 89-85 decision while winning its ninth straight game overall and its 20th game this season.
Montana’s victory gave DeCuire, its alumnus 11th-year head coach his 221st career win leading UM, tying George “Jiggs” Dahlberg for the most in the history of the University of Montana. The arena at the Adams Center is named after Dahlberg, a Butte native who played football and basketball at UM from 1921-1925 before serving as the head men’s basketball coach from 1937 until 1955, save the 1943 season that was called off because of World War II.
WATCH – TRAVIS DECUIRE ON MONTANA WINS RECORD
It also moves DeCuire to 16-5 against the rival and keeps Montana atop the league race with three regular-season games to play.
“Great win,” DeCuire said. “The ‘Cats had no quit in them them. They kept coming. They were explosive offensively tonight. Fortunately, we had enough fire power to respond and answer. These two guys next to me (senior guards Brandon Whitney and Kai Johnson) basically took turns bringing us home.”
The rivalry season sweep by the Grizzlies of the Bobcats helped UM move to 13-2 in league play and maintain a half-game lead over Northern Colorado for the league title race. The Griz have won or shared three league titles under DeCuire’s direction. And Montana will have a chance to hang another banner if the Griz can navigate a road swing through Sac State and Portland State before hosting Eastern Washington for a “Big Sky After Dark” affair at 9 p.m. MST on Monday, March 3.
“We’ve grown a lot as a team,” said DeCuire, who guided his team to its 20th win, marking the sixth 20-win season under his guidance. “To have five guys in double figures and almost six, says that we are sharing the ball, we are sharing opportunities. We are not shooting ourselves out of win, which we were doing a little bit earlier in the year. This group has really matured and I’m proud of them.”
The Griz continued to execute at a razor-sharp level offensively, shooting 55 percent and putting five players in double figures scoring for the fourth time during the nine-game winning streak.
Johnson, a grad transfer from Western Washington, continued his charge toward all-league honors with his second consecutive stellar rivalry performance. The Western Washington transfer poured in 25 points in UM’s 77-70 win over MSU in Missoula. He followed it up with 23 points on Saturday night.
“We push each other every day, and I think iron sharpens iron and we have a good team with our depth, that our practices are like our games, harder sometimes,” Johnson said. “That prepares you for big moments. We also have a lot of experience on the team and the young guys have learned from the guys with experience. This season, we’ve had close games throughout and we have been able to finish them out.”
Last season, Montana piled up 24 wins with one of the most veteran teams in the league. The Griz graduated six seniors and brought in a program-record nine new players in the last off-season. This team is reminiscent of a few of DeCuire’s best teams, particularly in their ability to respond to adversity and their ability to play together.
“I put three things on the board before the game tonight,” DeCuire said. “Play physical. Play tough. Play like a winner. The toughness part is as much mental as it is physical. It is surviving runs, surviving the whistle, surviving the momentum from the crowd. Tonight, I felt it was the whistle.
“There was times we made them missed or they missed but every time they missed down the stretch the last 11 minutes, they went to the free throw line. I thought we could have caved. It’s hard to get momentum when you are taking the ball out of the net or taking the ball out of bounds every possession. I thought the guys did a phenomenal job of hanging in there mentally and responding to big plays.”
Malik Moore poured in all of his 14 points in the first 25 minutes of the game. UM power forward Joe Pridgen continued to energize the Griz by hustling his way to 13 points. Senior center Te’Jon Sawyer added 12 points, including a pair of free throws in the final seconds to lift the visitors.
And Griz Brandon Whitney continued his personal grand finale by pouring in 18 points to finish his rivalry stint with a victory.
“When I first started my career, it started off (in the rivalry) not how I wanted it to start, so I’m glad at the end of my career, I can walk out of here with a W,” Whitney said.
Montana State tried to forge a substantial run at least a dozen times after falling behind 49-40 at halftime. Every time Patrick McMahon or Jabe Mullins would knife into the lane and finish through contact, the Griz would respond to keep MSU at bay. Although UM’s lead swelled to 72-59 with 9:19 remaining in the game, the Bobcats never stopped fighting.
Montana State has not won any of its seven conference victories by more than 12 points. And every one of MSU’s league losses have come by single digits. Yet the ‘Cats sit at 7-8 in league play, 12-15 overall, in a tie for 7th place in the Big Sky with three games left in the regular-season.
McMahon, a junior from Alaska, finished the evening with 22 points after pouring in 21 points against the Griz in Missoula last month. Mullins, a grad transfer from Washington State, continued to thrive in his role off the Bobcat bench, finishing with 17 points and a team-high six rebounds.
“We just have to get stops down the stretch, bear down those last four minutes,” Mullins said. “We huddled up and said we need to get stops right here and we didn’t stay down on drives. We made some stupid mistakes and didn’t finish.”
The Bobcats have been Jekyll and Hyde at home compared to on the road this season. MSU entered the game with a 10-2 home record and a 2-13 mark away from the Brick. Before Saturday, Montana State’s only home losses were to Cal State-Northridge 72-69 in overtime back in November and to Northern Colorado 83-82 on January 9. The UNC loss saw MSU blow a 20-point second half lead.
Saturday night, the free throw line was one of Montana State’s biggest challenges. The ‘Cats went 13-of-24 from the charity stripe in the second half and 20-of-33 overall (60.6 percent) overall.
With three games left in the regular season, the three-time defending Big Sky Tournament champions are suddenly scrapping to earn a top six seed to avoid playing on the first day next month in Boise, Idaho.
“There’s no solace in losing, there’s just lessons,” MSU second-year head coach Matt Logie said after falling to 1-4 against Montana. “This team is not that far away from having a really tremendous record. But we don’t. If there was a lot of solace in that, I would probably have had a happier winter so far. But we have got to find ways to finish the deal and win those battles.
“Hopefully, all the lessons we’ve had to date will be things that we can carry forward this last week and a half of the regular-season and into Boise and play our best basketball the next two or three weeks. I think that’s what our guys have been focused on for quite some time and I think we have been playing better because of it.”
Former Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle proved to be the great disruptor in the rivalry during the DeCuire era at UM. Other than Tyler Hall’s virtuoso 37-point performance to lead MSU to a win in February of 2017 and the Bobcats’ 85-70 win in last spring’s Big Sky Tournament championship game (along with Sprinkle’s three rivalry wins), DeCuire cannot be touched in this rivalry.
And while Montana State showed fight and fortitude in front of a spirited crowd, Montana led from start to finish to continue its quest for a championship.
“Tonight was a rivalry game, tonight there was some milestones, but tonight wasn’t about that,” DeCuire said. “We are chasing something else. And the last month, that’s what the conversation has been about. We are looking ahead. On to the next one. Keep looking forward. We will be just as excited to play Thursday as we were tonight and see how far this thing goes.”
