MISSOULA – Heading into Saturday’s Brawl of the Wild, Kai Johnson hadn’t started for Montana in 14 games.
He hadn’t scored in double figures for the Griz in four, and hadn’t put up more than 12 in a game since the middle of December.
But, making his return to the starting lineup on Saturday, Johnson was more than ready, putting up 25 points on a variety of audacious shots as Montana led for over 35 minutes in a nearly wire-to-wire 77-70 win over Montana State.
It was a career effort for the former Western Washington guard in front of the crowd that helped entice him to Missoula last offseason.
“I’ve been looking forward to this game since I committed here, to be honest,” Johnson said. “It definitely lived up to it.”
And it helped Montana’s men continue to take back the edge in the rivalry as Travis DeCuire beat the Bobcats at home for the ninth time in 10 tries.
In the fourth overall meeting between DeCuire and Matt Logie, the second-year Bobcats coach, Montana’s offensive game plan and execution carried the day. The Grizzlies shot a blistering 63 percent in the first half to open up a 42-30 lead, and finished the game at 52 percent, holding off an MSU comeback that cut a 17-point lead to three in the final minute.
Johnson, who started in place of Money Williams, had 14 points in the first half, including eight in a 14-5 Griz run to close the first 20 minutes. With Montana State willing to yield switches, he attacked MSU big man Brandon Walker on possession after possession. In the final run, he hit three straight pull-up jumpers with Walker dropping to contain him after a switch. When the Bobcats changed their coverage to deny the jumper, Johnson crossed Walker over and went right into the big man’s chest for an and-1 layup.
“We weren’t rushing anything, not getting too antsy coming off the ball screens,” Johnson said. “Letting my roller roll and making the right reads. Tonight, the read was shooting the ball because they were dropping. That’s just what it was tonight.”
That four-minute stretch went on to define the game in the second half as well, with Montana State looking for an adjustment to contain the Griz. After leading the Bobcats with nine points in the first half, Walker played just seven minutes after halftime, and finished the game with 11 points.
“We needed to find a group defensively that could hold their field-goal percentage down, and we felt like Sam (Lecholat’s) mobility and BJ (Kolly’s) mobility were worth trying in the second half,” Logie said.
None of it worked for Montana State. Johnson’s acrobatic and-1 gave the Griz a 17-point lead early in the second half.
Joe Pridgen then took over for the Griz, scoring eight straight UM points by slipping screens into space and finishing at the basket.
“They were switching a lot, so that was an advantage for us,” Pridgen said. “We had guys like Kai making plays, they were really worried about his playmaking ability and his ability to get to the basket. So it left me open a couple times and I was able to do some things down there for myself.”
Pridgen finished with 14 points, 10 in the second half.
It was an exciting offensive clinic for the Griz, made even more encouraging by what Montana didn’t do well. The Griz made just four 3-pointers on 14 attempts, while Williams, the Grizzlies’ second-leading scorer who came off the bench for the first time all season, shot just 2 of 9 from the field for eight points.
Montana still put up 77 points, mostly by making the right decision in the high pick-and-roll over and over again, exploiting Montana State’s constantly switching defense for most of the evening.
“I think the biggest thing is that we were aggressive and patient at the same time, which is hard,” DeCuire said. “When both guys think they have the advantage (after a ball screen) and they have to play together to get the best shot, it’s very hard unless you trust the other guy. And I thought tonight, we had a high level in one another.”
Patrick McMahon scored 18 points for Montana State, helping the Bobcats slice the lead to three points on Bryce Zephir’s layup with 21 seconds to go. But Malik Moore and Williams hit two free throws apiece to give Montana the final margin.
The win kept the Griz right at the top of the Big Sky Conference, a game behind first-place Northern Colorado, who beat Eastern Washington, and a half-game ahead of third-place Portland State, which blew out Idaho State and visits Missoula on Thursday.
