Aanen Moody has had a long and illustrious collegiate career. The veteran guard played in his 156th career game on Sunday in Daytona Beach, Florida, and he made sure that it wouldn’t be his last. Moody finished with 34 points, six rebounds, and five assists to lead Montana to an 82-79 overtime win over Presbyterian.
The No. 5 Grizzlies (24-11) advance to the Ro College Basketball Invitational quarterfinal round to face No. 4 Arkansas State on Monday afternoon. It’s the first postseason win for the Grizzlies since the 2006 NCAA Tournament win, and just the third postseason victory in program history.
“We had to find the energy. We just had to find it in our hearts,” head coach Travis DeCuire said. “One of the hardest things about being in the situation we were in a week and a half ago when you’ve got a group 10 minutes away from going to the NCAA Tournament with so many seniors, there is a let down. Then all week we had guys out with the flu, so we really just didn’t have time to practice very much.
“We just had to find the energy to go out and get that first win. I think a lot of times if you can get the first one out of the way, you give yourself a chance to actually compete for a championship.”
Moody scored 30-plus for the third time this season and now has over 1,700 career points. He made 14-of-21 shots, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc, to will Montana to the overtime victory.
“Aanen loves basketball, and he loves to play, and he’s one of those guys that isn’t sure how much more basketball he has ahead of him so he’s going to take every opportunity he can,” DeCuire said. “Fortunately for us, the ball went into the basket early for him and it carried us until we could get some other guys going. It was fun to watch and fun to be a part of.”
Montana led for over 37 minutes and trailed for just 3:02, and never by more than a possession. But it came down to overtime after Presbyterian turned the Grizzlies over and tied the game with a lay-up on the final possession.
The Grizzlies shot 51.6 percent for the game, improving to 18-0 on the year when shooting better than 50 percent, but an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers by Montana allowed Presbyterian to hang in the game. The Blue Hose scored 24 points off Montana turnovers.
Moody scored 16 of the first 24 Grizzly points in the game to help build an early 24-16 lead. He had four made 3s in the first nine minutes of the game, acclimating quickly to the floor inside the Ocean Center. It was a back-and-forth first half, although Montana’s early advantage would prove large enough that they never relinquished the lead..
But the Blue Hose wouldn’t go away, and strung together six straight made shots of their own to climb back into the game. They went on a 7-0 run to get back within a possession, but Moody answered with another triple to make it 69-64.
Presbyterian would score the final five points of regulation, stealing the ball with four seconds left and scoring to force the extra period.
“Hey guys, we can cave and go home but we didn’t come this far to go home after one game,” DeCuire said of his message before overtime. “We’ve got a better basketball team, we just need to tighten up and play with aggression. I thought that we were very passive for portions of the game. If we’re the most aggressive team for five minutes, we’ll win.”
Presbyterian went ahead early in overtime before a Moody three gave the advantage back to the Grizzlies. An answer on the other end from Presbyterian made it 74-73 Blue Hose with under two minutes to play.
Then Josh Vazquez made his third three-pointer of the game to make it 76-74 Grizzlies, and they made the winning plays down the stretch. Oke made a tip-in layup with 30 seconds left to extend it to a two-possession lead.
Vazquez, Montana’s all-time leader in career free throw percentage, made four free throws down the stretch to seal the win. He’s now made 19 straight free throws and hasn’t missed from the line in over a month. Vazquez finished as the second leading scorer with 15 points, and now has 980 in his career.
Oke had eight points and 11 rebounds. Chase Henderson played 23 minutes off the bench, finishing with eight points and two assists.
The Grizzlies picked up their 24th win of the season, and will have a chance at 25 tomorrow. They are just the ninth team in program history to win at least 24 games. If they are able to string together three more wins in Daytona, they will match the school record of 27 wins set in 1949-50 and again in 1991-92. DeCuire was a sophomore guard for head coach Blaine Taylor on that team.
“You’ve got an opportunity to still do something special. I think there is a level of excitement and I think it’s enough to give us some juice to keep going,” DeCuire said. “But you just have to get that first win out of the way, and if you do that you will perform a little better and your energy will be a little higher.”
Montana will not have long to rest on the win, as they return to action on Monday at 2:00 p.m. ET / 12:00 p.m. MT. They will face the No. 4 Arkansas State Red Wolves in the quarterfinals. The Red Wolves are 20-16 on the year, and reached the championship game of the Sun Belt Tournament.
“They are a very good team, very talented,” DeCuire said. “I would say their first game was a lot like ours where some guys were flat but they gutted it out down the stretch against a team they are definitely better than. Day two for both of us should be entertaining. They are a very good team, could easily be an NCAA Tournament team.”
