Big Sky Conference

Suffocating 2nd half defense leads Griz past Bobcats

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BOZEMAN — Fabijan Krslovic, Montana’s lone senior, lamented the fact that he would not end his career with an unblemished record against rival Montana State following Thursday’s practice in Missoula.

Bobby Moorehead proclaimed UM would do its best to avoid another scoring explosion from MSU star Tyler Hall like the NBA prospect did in a 37-point explosion that lead the Bobcats to a 78-69 victory over UM in Bozeman last February.

On Saturday, Krslovic, Moorehead and the rest of the Grizzlies earned revenge. Montana put the clamps down after halftime, all but eliminating Hall and fellow standout guard Harald Frey in the final 20 minutes on the way to a win over its rival.

Almost 11 months after having its 13-game winning streak in the fierce rivalry snapped, Montana started a new streak with a suffocating defensive effort.The Griz held Hall and Frey without a made field goal in the second half and the Bobcats to make just four field goals after halftime. Montana stayed perfect in Big Sky Conference play with a 67-52 win in front of a capacity crowd of 6,772 at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse here Saturday night.

Montana State guard Tyler Hall (3) defended by Montana forward Bobby Moorehead (24)/by Brooks Nuanez

“This is huge,” UM junior forward Bobby Moorehead said after serving as the primary defender on Hall after halftime. “I think we were the first time losing to them in 13 games and you don’t want to be that team. That’s a couple of years before us even, nobody lost to the ‘Cats so we wanted to get back, revenge and we did. We just have to do it again at home.”

The win moves Montana to 7-0 in Big Sky Conference play for the first time since 2012-13 and the third time in school history. The Griz, who entered the Top 25 of the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 earlie this week, won for the ninth time in 10 games, the lone loss a 66-63 defeat at Washington in Seattle. UM is now 14-5 overall. The seven straight wins is halfway to the team-record 14 straight wins posted by the 2012-13 Griz, which started 12-0 in league play.

“It feels good but it puts a lot of pressure on us,” UM junior forward Jamar Akoh said after scoring a game-high 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds. “There’s a target on our backs for sure. At the same time, it’s keeping us hungry. We don’t want to lose. We know people are going to come in and give us their best game so we have to focus every game. Hopefully that will give us the motivational and focus to keep the streak going.”

The loss is Montana State’s third straight Big Sky defeat. The Bobcats lost by 19 at Portland State and Sac State last weekend to thwart a 4-0 start in league play. MSU is 11-9 overall as fourth-year head coach Brian Fish fell to 1-7 against the Griz.

Montana guard Timmy Falls (1) hits a 3-point shot to beat the buzzer at the end of the first half vs. Montana State/by Brooks Nuanez

“They are a really good team and I think they played really, really well,” Fish said. “At the same time, a little of that was self-destruction but credit them. They did good.

“Maybe they got up on Tyler a little bit but at the same time, 4-of-24 in the second half, at some point it’s going to demoralize you.”

Montana encountered a nine-point deficit 13 minutes into the game before turning the tables. Timmy Falls’ 3-pointer at the first half buzzer sent the game to the break tied 33-33.

In the second half, UM allowed the Bobcats to convert just 4-of-24 field goals, part of a defensive effort that limited Frey to 13 and Hall to 10 points. The Big Sky’s preseason MVP in Hall and reigning Big Sky Freshman of the Year in Frey entered the game scoring 37.5 points per conference game during MSU’s 4-2 league start. They scored three points after intermission, all three by Hall, who visibly struggled as he battled the tail end of his week-long bout with the flu.

“Defense wins,” Montana fourth-year head coach Travis DeCuire said after moving to 7-1 in his career against the Bobcats, the same record he posted against MSU as a Griz point guard from 1992-1994.

Montana State guard Tyler Hall (3) takes a shot with Montana forward Bobby Moorehead (24)/by Brooks Nuanez

“We put Ahmaad Rorie on Frey, Bobby Moorehead with most of the assignment on Hall, short stretch Timmy Falls and for those guys to hold that team as a group to 19 points in the second half and no made field goals for Frey or Hall in the whole half is an incredible performance.”

Hall hit his first 3-point try of the night and drilled two other deep 3s, both of which were called off because of fouls away from the ball. He finished 3-of-9 from the field and the first 3-pointer was his only triple. Last season, Hall hit seven 3-pointers and scored 37 on 13 shots.

“What we worked on this week was trying to not let him shoot the ball in general,” Moorehead said. “It sounds like a difficult task, it sounded crazy but I honestly just tried to deny the ball in our defensive scheme. It worked for the most part. We wanted him to shoot as little as possible and let the other guys beat us and not Tyler. We remember how that felt, him literally making almost every shot and we didn’t want that again.”

Frey carried MSU in the first half. His step-back 3-pointer pushed MSU’s lead to 23-14, the Bobcats’ largest in front of the second straight sellout crowd at the Brick to watch the 296th edition of the rivalry. Frey’s pull-up jumper put Montana State up 25-20 and his final 3-pointer pushed him to 13 points with 49 seconds left in the first half, putting Montana State up 33-28.

He barely found any chance to shoot in the second half, hoisting just three field goal attempts with Rorie consistently guarding him tightly or denying him the ball as Montana evened the series at 148 wins a piece.

Montana guard Michael Oguine (0) gets to the rack with Montana State guard Devonte Klines (10) defending/by Brooks Nuanez

“Credit to Ahmaad and Mike (Oguine), they are helluva defenders,” Moorehead said. “We didn’t’ really talk about what we were going to do on him after halftime. Mentally, we just knew and Ahmaad took it as a challenge.”

All nine players MSU plays in its rotation are 6-foot-6 or under. The Griz had a distinct advantage with Krslovic and Akoh roaming the blocks. The 6-foot-8 veterans combined for 21 points as Montana outscored Montana State 40-16 in the paint.

“That’s our game plan every game, dominate the paint,” Akoh said. “We want to get post touches, drives to the rim. We have to establish the paint. That’s our motto: inside-out.”

Ahmaad Rorie, UM’s leading scorer, scored nine of his 13 points in the final 14:35. Moorehead scored eight of his 10 after halftime and also made a few key hustle plays. His steal ignited a scoring transition and his offensive rebound led to a crucial second chance. Moorehead finished with a team-high 12 rebounds even though the Griz lost the battle of the boards 41-36.

“You have to have a scheme but the scheme doesn’t work without the mentality,” DeCuire said. “Bob — I was joking down there that maybe there is a guy who’s Twitter handle actually fits him — and Bobby Moorehead has been playing like a beast for us. He’s diving on the floor for loose balls. He doesn’t quit, he doesn’t give up, he scraps and I thought he was physical, I thought he was smart and then he went and got the ball off the rim.

“Some of it is scheme but you have to have a little grit in your heart to defend like we defended tonight.”

Montana guard Timmy Falls (1) steals the ball from Montana State guard Lassi Nikkarinen (33)/by Brooks Nuanez

Moorehead and Akoh each acknowledged that Montana State played harder than Montana in the first half. At halftime, DeCuire challenged his team and they responded.

“I said, ‘If you want to win, toughen up,” DeCuire said. “At the end of the day, we are going to have to play tougher to win. I can’t draw that up on a board. I thought the responded very well.”

That response helped the Griz continue their surge. Now Montana has seven of its last 11 Big Sky games at home after playing five of its first seven at home. UM hosts Southern Utah Thursday and Northern Arizona on Saturday. Montana beat SUU 79-49 in their first matchup on December 30. The Griz beat NAU 86-67 two days before.

“It’s not an easy seven to get,” DeCuire said. “Winning here is very difficult. The Portland State-Sac State trip, it’s looking right now like it’s the most difficult trip. North Dakota and Northern Colorado are coming up but we have a few in the bank.”

Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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