It’s gut-check time for the Montana Grizzlies.
As much was said by sophomore guard Michael Oguine after he finished with a 24-point night in his team’s fourth straight loss and second consecutive defeat at home. Montana’s 85-77 overtime loss to Idaho at Dahlberg Arena was a teasing reminder that the Griz are not the team they were a month ago.
With Ahmaad Rorie and Walter Wright, the Grizzlies’ two leading scorers who were suspended during Thursday’s loss to Eastern Washington, back on the court, Montana scored 40 first-half points with four players pitching in five or more. But in the second half, Idaho converted offensive rebounds and turnovers into points. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Vandals scored 32 points off turnovers or offensive rebounds.
“Every game is a gut-check moment, especially in a losing streak,” said Oguine, who knocked the ball from Idaho junior Victor Sanders to force overtime with a breakaway layup. “Coach told us that (Montana State) is playing well so we have to go in and really play, otherwise we’re going to have a loss to the ’Cats and we don’t do that here.”
Idaho junior Vic Sanders converts a baseline reverse layup
Idaho turned an 11-point second-half deficit around as it relied on a bruising approach. Arkadiy Mkrtychyan and Nate Sherwood, the Vandals’ post tandem, combined for 16 points and eight rebounds over the final 20 minutes. They controlled the boards and drew enough fouls to go to the line nine times, making good on seven freebies.
When Idaho wasn’t scoring ugly points, it was putting the ball in the hands of Sanders and letting him do what he can. Sanders hit floaters and jumpers and fast-break layups and an impossible-to-conceive baseline reverse that had an incomprehensible amount of spin. Despite missing a shot at the regulation buzzer, Sanders finished with a game-high 28.
“Vic is a good player; he’s one of the best players in this league,” Vandals head coach Don Verlin said.
Sanders, a difficult cover all night for Montana, was given the ball following Oguine’s missed layup after the game-tying layup. He got to the elbow and put up a jumper, but it drew front iron and sent the game to overtime. It took almost two minutes before UI senior Pat Ingram’s three broke the 68-all tie in the extra session. Sanders followed it soon after with a mid-range jumper, giving Idaho a five-point lead and all the cushion it needed.
The Vandals carried the momentum they started with a Chad Sherwood bucket with 19:23 left in the second that trimmed Montana’s lead back down to single digits. Though it took the better part of 13 minutes before Idaho finally erased the Grizzly advantage, once the Vandals did, they never traded it back.
“There’s no question that the difference in the ballgame is our mistakes,” Montana coach Travis DeCuire said. “We had breakdowns on both sides of the ball whether it was poor execution on offense that led to turnovers, poor shot selection on offense that led to transition. The biggest thing is we had breakdowns defensively where there were some situations that we handle certain ways and we just weren’t doing that.”
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire
Montana, which struggled mightily on offense Thursday against Eastern, started strong. Rorie hit a 3-pointer, followed by another from Oguine and one a few moments later from senior Jack Lopez that put Montana up 17-10. Oguine added a second triple with 5:49 left on the clock to put the Griz up 11.
Idaho was able to lop off six points before the halftime horn sounded.
DeCuire said he didn’t think the off-court issued that have swirled around the team it left Portland for Sacramento last Friday morning had any tangible effect. Wright, who scored 14 but turned the ball over five times, was held out of the first half of Montana’s loss to the Hornets before sitting next to Rorie on the bench on Thursday, the two of them dressed in khakis and team-issued polo shirts Thursday.
“We had a great meeting yesterday and a great one today,” DeCuire said. “When you have adversity and you’re not playing good basketball all your weaknesses come out. Whether it’s your skill set or your personality — even mine, right? I’m tense and whatever — those things happen. That’s why you play the game and that’s part of playing sports. That’s not our issue. Our issue is confidence, I think, down the stretch and believing in each other.
NOTES: Idaho won the second half rebounding battle 21-16; six of those were offensive. … Rorie scored 11 points in his return to the starting lineup. … Fabijan Krslovic fouled out in the overtime session after chipping in nine points and six rebounds. … Mktrychyan finished with 17 points and Sherwood had 15.
