BOISE, Idaho – The Big Sky men’s basketball tournament first started tilting off the rails on Sunday evening, when No. 10 Sacramento State comprehensively outplayed No. 1 Eastern Washington, giving the Eagles their second first-round loss in two years as the regular-season champion.
The craziness continued in the next game, when No. 8 Idaho State shut down Northern Colorado’s all-conference star Saint Thomas and handed the No. 2 Bears a definitive 83-76 loss.
By the time Montana State’s Brian Goracke hit a ridiculous bank 3 over the outstretched arm of Weber State’s Alex Tew late Monday afternoon, part of a run of 14 straight made field goals for the Bobcats, the tournament was fully off the tracks, leaving behind a trail of chaos and mayhem. Montana State went on to win 91-82 thanks to 66(!) second-half points, knocking out the No. 4 Wildcats and league MVP Dillon Jones.
In three straight games, the first-, second- and fourth-seeded teams all exited the tournament without a win, an unprecedented run of upsets that left the bracket in carnage and disarray.
The final quarterfinal also seemed ripe for chaos, given it featured the Portland State Vikings, perhaps the most unpredictable team in the league, an overwhelming mess of effort, physicality and the swarming press, resurrected in mid-season, that generally turns their games into fast-paced track meets.
But late Monday night, thanks to the steely play of their senior back-court and some contributions from unexpected sources, the No. 3 Montana Grizzlies finally restored some order to the Idaho Central Arena, beating the Vikings 87-81 to advance to the semifinals against Idaho State.
And now, as the only top-four seed still alive in a topsy-turvy tournament, the Griz have the inside track to win the Big Sky crown for the third time in Travis DeCuire’s 10 seasons, and first since 2019.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy, as you’ve seen these first three games,” DeCuire said. “Anyone can beat anyone and it’s kind of the way the conference has gone this year. And so I thought our guys did a phenomenal job of attention to detail and executing the scout.”
The Griz, uniquely in this day and age, have relied on a class of five seniors, including two guards – Brandon Whitney and Josh Vazquez – who have spent their whole careers at UM.
On Monday night, that experience was the difference.
Senior guard Aanen Moody scored 27 points. Whitney added 18 and Vazquez 15, with the trio combining to shoot 19 of 33 from the field and carry the Griz on a night their posts were completely ineffective against Portland State’s length and effort.
In the crucial sequence of the game, the Vikings finished off a 9-1 run to tie the score at 44-all midway through the second half.
Vazquez immediately answered with a preposterous quick-trigger 3 to beat the shot-clock buzzer, then Moody cut backdoor for an old-fashioned 3-point play and followed with a triple from the corner, giving Montana a counterpunching 9-0 run in just under 90 seconds.
When Portland State cut the lead to four with just over six minutes left, it was Vazquez answering again with another 3-pointer.
“These guys have played a lot of basketball games,” DeCuire said. “They pay attention to detail, so they know what it is that we’re trying to execute on every possession and every situation. I thought those upperclassmen were incredible in terms of handling adversity and executing out of timeouts.”
Portland State went away from its signature full-court pressure early in the season, but head coach Jase Coburn brought it back for the Vikings’ first matchup with Montana, surprised the Griz en route to a 72-46 win in late January, and has been playing it ever since.
On Monday, Whitney and the rest of the Griz guards handled the press – Montana committed just 11 turnovers – but the Vikings ground out extra possessions anyway by crashing the boards like maniacs and vacuuming up offensive boards – 16 in all to Montana’s four.
“Everybody really wanted to win this game, so everybody was just crashing the glass hard,” said KJ Allen, who finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds. “Our energy and effort, we just really did not want to lose this game.”
With Montana’s starting bigs Dischon Thomas and Laolu Oke struggling and in foul trouble, DeCuire had to turn to his bench early and often. Little-used reserve center Blake Jones played 11 minutes – his second-most in a game since the new year – and hit two 3-pointers in the first half.
More crucially, Giordan Williams played 20 minutes off the bench – just his fifth time hitting that mark in a conference game – scored eight points and led the Griz with seven rebounds as the 6-5 wing secured several important defensive boards down the stretch.
“Giordan Williams was big time for us. He probably saved our bacon in the second half with seven rebounds and his defensive physicality,” DeCuire said. “…On defense, he was able to guard a bigger body and block off and help us get rebounds. We couldn’t get rebounds. With Lu (Oke) out, the rest of our bigs just did not do a good job of rebounding the ball, and Giordan stepped in and played big and did that.”
The Vikings proved just about un-killable, stretching the final few minutes out by putting the Griz on the line and driving relentlessly to the basket for buckets that kept them just barely in touch.
But Montana made enough free throws – including three from freshman guard Chase Henderson and two final ones from Williams – to see out the game.
And just by surviving in this uniquely weird tournament, the Grizzlies’ seniors now have quite the opportunity to end their careers in March Madness.
“Seeing what happened yesterday, I think their attention to the details and understanding how they were going to have to play if they wanted to win, without me saying it, was huge,” DeCuire said. “And you could tell by their energy this morning.”
