RENO, Nevada — Martin Breunig’s final game in Missoula did not live up to his expectations. The Montana senior disappointed himself with a subpar performance as his Grizzlies limped into the Big Sky Conference tournament with a loss to struggling Northern Colorado.
On Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament, Breunig redeemed himself in resounding fashion. The 6-foot-8 unanimous first-team All-Big Sky selection scored 24 point, including eight straight during one stretch and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead his second-seeded Grizzlies to a 70-53 win over 10th-seeded Sacramento State in front of 2,213 Thursday evening at the Reno Special Events Center.
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“That loss was huge for us. We all came into the locker room not feeling great about how we ended the season, the regular conference,” said Breunig, who managed just five field goal attempts and 13 points in a 78-72 loss to 10-21 UNC. “I think at the end of the day, it gave us a push, motivation to come out here and play more aggressive.”
Breunig’s eight straight points helped Montana turn a back-and-forth physical affair into a double-digit lead that Montana maintained for the final 24 minutes of the game. His conversion at the first half buzzer game UM a 36-21 advantage. His impossibly tough tip in after a missed Bobby Moorehead 3-point attempt gave Montana a 15-point lead with 1:53 to play and his final free throws essentially sealed the game.
“They got a wake-up call against Northern Colorado which I think was good for them,” Sac State head coach Brian Katz said. “Breunig only took five shots so we told our guys we better be ready. They did a great job of getting him the ball tonight. When you have a player who commands a double team and is effective, that’s a problem.
“Most defenders will go hard once in the post but when you throw it out, they probably won’t go hard a second time because it’s hard to do. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to do that but it’s incredibly difficult the second time.”
Breunig, who’s double-double was his 13th of the season, had a stretch to close the first half and open the second half in which he converted seven straight attempts. During his eight-point burst to help Montana turn a 17-13 advantage into a 25-15 lead, Breunig received the ball, passed out of a double team, reposted or slipped behind the defense and found space because of Walter Wright’s penetration, leading to easy finishes at the rim.
“I’ve never played with a guy of this caliber like Martin,” said UM junior point guard Walter Wright, an honorable mention All-Big Sky selection. “I understand that so when I get in the paint, I’m going to draw a lot of attention. He has soft hands and he is always going to finish.”
Breunig’s offensive output was matched by a smothering defensive effort by the Grizzlies. Montana held the young Hornets without field goals for long stretches and negated most of Sac’s go-to players. Leading scorer Justin Strings managed 14 points, three below his season average but the rest of Sac State’s veterans struggled. Freshman Jeff Wu was Sac’s best offensive option for a stretch and finished with 11 points, but only hit 2-of-8 shots from the floor.
Sacramento State shot 35.8 percent overall, including 6-of-28 from beyond the arc, the same total Sac limited Montana State to in a 79-75 win in Tuesday’s first round. Sac turned the ball over just seven times but managed just five offensive rebounds and lost the battle of the boards 40-26.
“Our defensive effort was the difference for us,” DeCuire said. “When we defend and we scrap and we play with intensity on the defensive side, it always carries over to our offense.”
Sac State has a collection of perimeter players — Strings, Wu, Marcus Graves, Cody Demps, Dreon Barlett, Jiday Ugbaja — who can penetrate and finish at the rim.
Montana tried to pack the paint out, jammed the box and used an aggressive style to deter offensive players from creating space with the dribble or with ball screens outside the perimeter.
“They jammed the box and they tried to force us to make shots from the outside, which we didn’t do that well,” said Demps, Sac’s senior point guard who missed nine games, including both contests against Montana, this season. “They did a really good job of stopping penetration.”
Earlier in the day, Portland State gave top-seeded Weber State all it could handle before the Wildcats emerged with a 78-74 win. In the following game, fifth-seeded North Dakota blew past No. 4 Idaho State with an 83-49 win, the largest margin of victory in the tournament’s history. Montana eliminated any idea of an upset early on.
“It’s easy to say I love it after a win,” DeCuire said. “I would much rather play a lower seed having them play the day before rather than having a day off after a win. But as long as we keep winning, you won’t here a complaint from me.”
The common thread for UND and PSU was that each posted victories on Monday, took Tuesday off and looked much more comfortable than their counterparts did early on in each contest. But Wright, Breunig and the Griz set the tone early sustained their aggression throughout.
“We had to mentally prepare for it because we understood we would have to come out and play 40 minutes,” said Wright, who finished with 12 points and six assists. “Before we came out there, we watched a couple of tournament games back home on TV and Coach addressed that. We’ve seen three teams cry and three teams celebrate so with that in mind, we wanted to mentally prepare for it.”
The win moves Montana into the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament as the Griz look for their third trip to the Big Dance in five seasons. The victory also marks Montana’s 20th, making DeCuire the first Griz head coach to win 20 games in each of his first two seasons.
“I just want to go to the NCAA Tournament like the guys before me,” DeCuire said. “I am not too concerned with counting wins. What I am trying to do is to get this one senior (Breunig) we have to the NCAA Tournament. He deserves to play in that. I think he’s the caliber of player that people would love to see in March Madness. I think our program is headed in the right direction even it it’s a different direction than those ahead of us. I’m happy to be a part of tradition and I want to sustain it.”
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