MISSOULA — Jamar Akoh felt the double team shifting to him once again. Early on Monday night, the Montana big man felt the rust of missing six of the Grizzlies’ non-conference contests during his senior year.
But this time, Akoh felt the trap coming. UM’s veteran center whipped a pass to Ahmaad Rorie, who stepped into a 3-pointer that ignited the Griz. Montana played its first eight games this season — Georgia State ran a 1-3-1 zone against UM in the opener for both teams — without an interior player drawing much, if any sort of double team.
Once Akoh figured out where the trap on the block was coming from in North Dakota State’s “pack line” defense and Montana’s shooters started knocking down open shots, the Griz found a way to pull away with a 60-53 win in front of 3,553 at Dahlberg Arena on Monday night.
“We just haven’t seen that because we haven’t had anyone that would get doubled in a long time and we haven’t played against a double team since probably our first week of practice,” UM fifth-year head coach Travis DeCuire said after his team moved to 6-3 this season. “We had to go back to drawing it up like it was a brand new play to execute the pass out of the trap.
“Once we got everybody on the same page and executed it properly, we took advantage of it.”
Rorie’s 3-pointer four minutes into the second half tied the action at 27. One possession later, versatile UM junior Sayeed Pridgett snapped his cold streak by scoring in the lane, sophomore playmaker Timmy Falls sliced North Dakota State’s stingy defense with a whistling dime to senior Bobby Moorehead for a wide-open 3-pointer that the senior banged home for his third triple of the evening and the Griz were off and running, at least for a moment.
“It was the shot he got mores than the fact he made it,” DeCuire said of the sparking Moorehead 3-pointer. “That corner had been open all day and I’d been talking about it all week. We were just reluctant to make that pass. So when Timmy got it there, then I felt like we had everybody’s attention but I also knew he was the one willing to make the play.”
Falls, the consummate showman, drilled two straight 3-pointers of his own after Moorehead’s, giving the Griz the spark they desperately needed after only making one jump shot — a Moorehead triple — during a 19-point first half.
“When Timmy hit his two 3s, I kind of thought it was over,” Moorehead said. “Not that we were going to give up, but momentum completely changed and it was go time for us.”
That flurry was part of a 22-5 run that woke the Griz from hibernation in a slugfest against the deliberate Bison. Falls’ second 3-pointer with 12 minutes to play pushed the Griz lead to 40-32.
“Ball movement, sharing, pace,” DeCuire said when asked what sparked the run. “Really it wasn’t one guy thinking ‘I’m going to get this one shot right now because you don’t know the shot you are going to get the way they play. You just gotta move the ball side to side and we had enough patience to make it happen.”
Moorehead’s pump fake into a dribbling pull-up jump shot from the elbow gave Montana a 43-34 lead, it’s largest, with 8:34 remaining. The senior finished with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
“It’s the defense we used to play, the pack, and they almost just dare you to shoot and take away the paint,” Moorehead said. “We wanted to try to drive in the first half and we were turning the ball over and it wasn’t working. We had to figure out different ways to do that.”
Moorehead, whose season high is 14 points against College of Idaho earlier this month, entered Saturday’s game 8-of-33 (24.2 percent) from distance.
“It feels good to finally get the lid off the hoop,” Moorehead said. “I did this a couple times in my career where I started off slow. But I feel like I’m starting to get it going. I’m feeling more confident out there and feeling good, finally shooting it defense.”
Montana only made eight shots in the first half, including just one of its eight shots from beyond the arc. The Griz did not shoot a free throw until nearly nine minutes into the second half and finished 9-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Akoh scored 22 points in Montana’s 81-74 win over Georgia State to open what has been a challenging non-conference schedule. He missed UM’s next six games with a right wrist injury. The Griz went 4-2 in his absence, then lost 60-51 against UC Irvine in Akoh’s return. He finished that game with six points and eight rebounds against the towering front line for the Anteaters.
On Monday, Akoh shook off the scoring rust during the first 20 minutes, converting five field goals and scoring 10 of Montana’s 19 points. He struggled to see the trap early on and once he started recognizing where the Bison defenders were coming from, his teammates couldn’t knock down shots.
“It took me three or four times to realize where they were coming from,” Akoh said. “It probably shouldn’t take that long. Once we figured it out and where the soft spots were, we took some advantage of it. All the shots we shot didn’t go in but we got some good looks at it.”
After halftime, Montana hit six of its nine attempts from beyond the arc, including drilling four 3-pointers in the eventual game-deciding run. Akoh scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds overall to pace the Griz.
“You can’t play without your anchor when your program is built on having one,” DeCuire said. “With him out, we couldn’t throw the ball inside, we couldn’t play inside-out and it affected our ability to get high percentage shots.”
UM senior Michael Oguine missed his first six shot attempts on Monday, including getting stuffed at the rim on what could’ve been a highlight reel finish if he had converted. With UM clinging to a 52-48 lead with 3:20 left, Oguine came off a screen and confidently shot a 3-pointer that got a shooter’s bounce. The Griz lead never dipped below five points again.
Over the final 68 seconds, Akoh and Moorehead each hit a pair of free throws and Rorie, who joined his classmates in double figures with 11 points, hit one from the stripe for UM’s final point.
Montana finishes its non-conference schedule with two games on the road. The Griz play at Arizona on Wednesday in Tucson before playing at South Dakota State against a Jackrabbits’ team with the nation’s longest home winning streak. SDSU has won 26 straight at Frost Arena and 32 of 34 in Brookings under third-year head coach T.J. Otzelberger.
“A win is a win so there’s that, but we obviously didn’t play well offensively,” Moorehead said. “We held them to 53 points and that’s always something to be proud of. The defense was there and it has been there the past couple of games. But we are not sharing the ball as well as we have in the past so I think that’s something we need to work on.”