With 13 minutes remaining in his team’s 89-68 win over Northern Colorado on Thursday night, Travis DeCuire stood with his hands clasped and a observant look on his face. It’s about as docile as Montana’s head coach gets while roaming the sideline.
At the time, there wasn’t much the coach could do. His team was ahead by 24 and in the midst of one of its most complete performances of the season. One that ended with the Griz 4-1 in conference, .500 overall and DeCuire as the second-fastest coach in school history to reach 50 wins.
“One game at a time — they all feel good,” said DeCuire after Montana evened its overall record at 9-9. “I’m happy with the way my team is playing right now. I’m excited to be a Griz. It’s a great situation to be in.”
Montana head coach Travis DeCuire / by Brooks Nuanez
With a chance at a third straight win, the longest streak of the season, DeCuire said he needed his team to come out the aggressor. Montana opened with a 12-3 lead, then pushed it to 16 with less than seven minutes expired. And when they faced their greatest challenge from the Bears, the Griz used the final seven minutes of the first half to turn an eight-point lead into a 20-point cushion.
By the time the final buzzer mercifully sounded for Northern Colorado, Montana had experienced its largest lead of the season, scored a season-high 89 points, hit a season-high 15 3-pointers, put four players, led by sophomore guard Ahmaad Rorie’s 19, in double figures, and held UNC’s Jordan Davis in check.
Or to let DeCuire describe it, “Most of it was our defense. We forced turnovers, we were aggressive in transition on the shots that they missed. But we really shared the ball and we got the shots we wanted to get. We attacked the rim. We hit a couple threes and they started spreading out, then we started attacking the rim. We forced them to go small and Fab (Fabijan Krslovic) forced them to double and we took care of that.
“Our offensive execution was probably as good as it’s been all year. Then our defense was really consistent in terms of being in the right places and forcing turnovers. That’s really why I left those guys in for so long. Usually I would have rotated a lot quicker, but they were playing so well I wanted to kind of ride that out.”
Save for some uneven play that allowed the Bears to cut Montana’s season-high 31-point lead nearly in half, there was little for the Griz coach to fret over on a milestone night.
Senior Jack Lopez hit two early threes to spark Montana to the early advantage. But as the lead grew, much of the gap widening on the scoreboard was attributable to Montana’s defensive effort. The Griz turned seven Northern Colorado turnovers into 13 points as they aggressively attacked the ball screens the Bears used to free up Davis, UNC’s explosive point guard who entered the game scoring 20 points per game and leading the league in assists (5.7) per game.
Montana sophomore Michael Oguine/ by Jason Bacaj
“We knew that a lot of what they do starts with (Davis), so if we’re able to get him out of his rhythm that can set the tone for the game,” said Michael Oguine, who scored 18 points including four 3-pointers and two big second-half dunks. “Fab (Fabijan Krslovic) really did a good job of hedging those ball screens and getting him out of his rhythm early. That really set the tone.”
Davis eventually made an impact, albeit a short spurt that brought the Bears to within 28-20 with 6:55 to go. Montana responded with a 12-2 run to regain control. Rorie hit a 3, Oguine a layup, Wright nailed a jumper and Krslovic a soft hook before Davis broke up the run with layup. Rorie then hit his second three to put the Griz up 40-22.
“It was really important,” said Rorie, who led Montana with 19 points. “Our shooters were shooting. I feel like we were playing pretty good defense. We just have to take care of the mental lapses and hold onto our lead better. Then I feel like we’ll be good.”
NOTES: Blaine Taylor needed 65 games to win his 50th. It took DeCuire 84 games. … Lopez finished with season-highs in points (18) and threes made (6). Senior Walter Wright added 16 points and three assists in 20 minutes. … Rorie’s four assists tied with Krslovic and freshman Sayeed Pridgett for a team-high. … Northern Colorado used a 14-0 to cut Montana’s lead to 17 with 4:59 to play. … The 50 points Montana scored in the first-half were the most its scored in a half since it netted 52 in the second half of a loss to Ole Miss.
