RENO, Nevada — When he first arrived in the Biggest Little City in the World, Travis DeCuire saw a sign inscribed with a simple message: “Believe”.
Before the Montana head coach’s first game of the Big Sky Conference men’s tournament, he implored his players to believe in themselves and their destiny to reach another Big Dance. It’s hard to imagine DeCuire believed his Grizzlies could ever shoot like they did on Friday night.
Montana executed offensively like no other time this season, shooting 65.1 percent from the field, including 71.4 percent in the second half. The Griz missed just six shots after intermission to outlast a relentless Idaho squad and advance to the tournament championship game for the second straight season. The second-seeded Grizzlies hit 15 of 21 second half shots to survive and advance with an 81-72 victory over the third-seeded Vandals in the final game of Friday.
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“We knew they would be as physical as anyone we played this year and our guys did an incredible job of responding, playing through it on both sides of the ball,” said Montana head coach Travis DeCuire as his daughter, Tamia sat on his lap during the post-game press conference.
The Griz converted 11 of their final 13 field goals to hold off Idaho’s late charge. Junior Perrion Callandret scored 16 of Idaho’s final 20 points and fished with 25 points but it was not enough for the Vandals, who end their season 21-12 and still might receive a postseason bid.
“Montana was the most aggressive team,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. “They controlled the tempo right from the start. I don’t want to take anything away from our guys. They battled and fought like crazy every single possession like they have all year. We just came up on the short end of it. Tonight, as good as we’ve been defensively, we were not up to par.”
Idaho employs a defense that plays zone principals after offensive conversions and man defensive principles after missed shots. Regardless of the schematic design, Montana point guard Walter Wright was able to penetrate into the lane and kick to open shooters with ease as Montana notched 15 assists on 28 made field goals. Wright hit 8-of-13 from the floor, including three 3-pointers and dished out six assists.
“When we played them last time, it caught us off guard,” said Wright, referring to Idaho’s 63-58 win in Missoula in January. “We went over film this morning and found where the money spots are in their defense and tried to exploit it.”
Montana power forward Martin Breunig, a unanimous first-team All-Big Sky selection, battled through a throbbing right knee to finish with 22 points and six rebounds in 34 minutes. He endured a physical beating on the block for the duration of the game, shooting 18 free throws and making 10.
“They were able to do some things we just couldn’t stop,” Verlin said. “The bottom line is they were able to get it into Martin Breunig way too easy. That had our defense collapse and they were able to make some threes on kick outs. Coming off of Breunig, they were able to drive us to the basket. They kept breaking down our defense and we couldn’t stay in front of them. Credit them. It was a heck of a game plan.”
Idaho earned points on 12 of its last 14 possessions but Montana countered with conversions almost every time. When UI cut the lead to 52-49 with eight minutes, 56 seconds to play, freshman Bobby Moorehad converted his fourth field goal of the night on his fourth attempt. Victor Sanders answered with his third 3-pointer of the evening only to see Wright and Moorehead drill triples on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to 60-52.
“Part of (the efficiency) is guys like Bobby Moorehead being ready for an opportunity and not being afraid of the moment,” DeCuire said. “But the biggest thing for us is we attacked the paint. So many people focus on Martin, it opens up penetration for our guards. We just got really high percentage shots tonight because we were patient.”
Moorehead finished 5-of-5 from the floor for 13 points, the fifth game of double figures scoring during his true freshman year.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Moorehead said. “This is a big win tonight and luckily, we get to play all three teams who beat us this season. It’s what we wanted. We’ve beat two of them so far so I’m excited for it.”
Montana suffered four conference losses this season, missing its second straight Big Sky regular season title by one game. UM’s losses came to Idaho, at Sacramento State (83-79) and at Weber State (60-54) before dropping its season finale 78-72 to Northern Colorado at home. Montana has exacted revenge on two, ending Sac State’s season with a 70-53 win on Thursday and Friday’s elimination of the Vandals. UM will get a chance to complete its redemption tour with a matchup against the top-seeded Wildcats in Saturday night’s championship game.
“That’s all the motivation we need,” Wright said. “Sacramento State, they’ve played us well, Idaho played us well. We have a point to prove right now to the whole conference. We want to win a championship of course but we want to go about it this way.”
On Friday, Montana converted nine consecutive shots during one stretch,. Wright missed a 3-point try with his team leading 68-59 and 3:32 remaining to snap the streak but on its final eight possessions thereafter.
Clinging to a 71-63 lead with 2:35 to play, Sanders picked up his fourth foul on a questionable blocking call that led to a Breunig free throw. On the next UI possession, Sanders picked up his fifth foul on a charge. The All-Big Sky sophomore who scored 27 points in UI’s win in Missoula over UM earlier this season sat for the final 2:20 and finished with 18 points.
After Sanders exhausted his foul limit, Verlin exploded. He received a technical foul that led to a five-point Montana possession to 75-63, UM’s largest. UM earned five points as Wright hit one of the two technical free throws, freshman Michael Oguine converted his first double bonus free throw from the charge and sophomore Fabijan Krslovic snaring the offensive rebound of Oguine’s miss before feeding Oguine for a slashing layup at the basket.
“You have to stay with the game plan,” Idaho freshman center Nate Sherwood said. “They made 11 of their last 12 shots. That’s not getting it done. You have to get stops to make a comeback. We tried to stay the course but it went the wrong way tonight.”
Montana’s win sets up a matchup between the two premier programs in the Big Sky Conference. Weber State’s regular-season crown was the 22nd since the Big Sky’s inaugural season in 1963. Montana has hung nine regular-season banners. Each school has advanced to the NCAA Tournament nine times.
Since the first Big Sky tournament in 1976, Weber has played in 15 conference title games while Montana has played in 17 conference title games. UM and WSU have squared off seven times all told, including in 2010,2012 and 2013, each matchup won by the Grizzlies. Montana is 4-3 against Weber in title games and has won four straight.
“No better team to play in the championship than Weber State,” said DeCuire, a point guard on Montana’s 1991 and 1992 tournament championship teams. ”We were picked one and two in the preseason, we finished one and two. (Weber State head coach) Randy Rahe is an established winner. We get to play the best team in the championship. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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