Montana’s season came to an end Monday afternoon in Daytona Beach at the Ro College Basketball Invitational. The No. 5 Grizzlies fell 74-61 to No. 4 Arkansas State in the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
The Grizzlies conclude the year 24-12, the most wins in five years and tied for the seventh-most in program history. The Grizzlies also won their first postseason game since 2006 on Sunday in Daytona, and reached the Big Sky Championship game for the first time since 2019.
“If you would have told me before the year started that we would win 24 games, I would have told you we probably hung a banner given the schedule that we drew and the expectations for some of the teams in our conference,” Montana 10th-year head coach Travis DeCuire said. “In all honesty, I’d trade you a couple of those wins for a couple specific wins on a couple specific nights.
“But I will say this, I have a high-level of respect for the young men in my program. I think this is probably the most selfless team I’ve ever had and been around in terms of guys being willing to let others step up when it’s not their night. The way that they celebrate each other. It’s just hard in this day in time with the way that athletics is going at every level to come across this many young men that are committed to the success of others and it’s been a pleasure to have this group.”
Montana was a long way from home and a long way back in the game on Monday as a hot first half gave Arkansas State a 21-point lead at halftime. But the Grizzlies had a massive response in the second half and fought hard to keep the season alive.
They would get back within seven points a couple of times in the final minutes, but the comeback attempt came up short as a Red Wolves basket in the final seconds led to a 13-point loss.
Laolu Oke led Montana with 15 points and eight rebounds in another gutsy performance from the forward in his final collegiate game. Oke ends his college career with 961 points and 990 rebounds.
Josh Vazquez was Montana’s second leading scorer with 12 points. Vazquez will end his decorated Grizzly career as the Big Sky’s all-time leader in games played and also Montana’s program record holder for career free throw percentage (.911). He scored 992 career points as a Grizzly, coming up excruciatingly short of joining the 1,000-point club.
“We wanted it for him. We had talked about it as a staff before the tournament started and we thought if we could get to the semifinals, he could get to 1,000, and that’s the type of young man that you want to see have that type of accolade walking away,” DeCuire said. “But he’s been a pleasure to have, we’re going to miss him, and I’m happy that he’s got the record for games played. The program will miss him, the community will miss him, and maybe we will try to find a way to keep him around.”
Griz senior Aanen Moody hit a pull-up jumper to get it back to seven at 66-59. The Red Wolves clearly took notes from Montana’s win on Sunday, where Moody scored 34 points, and did everything in their power to limit his attempts. He finished the game with just four points.
The Grizzlies remained in it going into the final minute of the game, but Arkansas State would shut them down on offense and end the game on a 5-0 run for the 74-61 victory.
Montana outshot Arkansas State 46-39 percent and really cleaned up the ball control in the second half, turning it over just three times. They outscored the Red Wolves 38-32 in the final period and it would have been a larger margin if not for the late free throws.
The Griz also limited Arkansas State to zero three pointers in the second half after eight in the opening frame, and held them to just 36.7 percent shooting. But in the end, the deficit proved too much to overcome.
“Just not enough juice. I thought we got off to a good start the first three minutes, then they got into us a bit defensively. I think it just took us too long to respond to their aggression defensively,” DeCuire said. “We came out in the second half and played very well, good enough to win, but it was just too big of a hole.”
Montana will lose plenty of players from this year’s team as all five starters are seniors. Brandon Whitney has another year of eligibility if he chooses to use it, but four players have played their final games in Grizzly uniforms.
There is a lot of excitement around the program still, as players like Henderson and Jones, along with Te’Jon Sawyer, who came off the bench for seven second-half points and nine overall on Monday, should return. The Grizzlies will get back several more key players from this year’s 24-win team, including freshman sensation Money Williams.
“I think we’re returning a really good nucleus of guys that are talented enough to win a championship,” DeCuire said. “Now it’s about getting the right pieces to play with them.”
