Lonnell Martin Jr. was out of options, and he was running out of time.
With 32 seconds left and Montana up 57-54 over Eastern Washington on Saturday, Martin stood on the baseline under Montana’s student section at Dahlberg Arena to inbound after Linton Acliese III made two free throws for EWU.
The problem? No Grizzlies were getting open against Eastern’s press, the ref was backhand counting down the five seconds Martin had to get the ball in, and he couldn’t find a passing lane. It was an impossible situation – the only way to win was not to play the game. So Martin signaled for a timeout, saving the Griz a potentially costly turnover.
It was the last of three heady plays the junior transfer from Otero JC made in the final 1:11 of Montana’s eventual 61-59 win, a triumph that moved the Griz to 8-2 in Big Sky Conference play. The win also marked Montana’s 11th straight at home this season and its 13th straight victory at Dahlberg Arena dating back to last year, although Martin wasn’t a part of that Griz squad.
First on Saturday, Martin slid over to take a crucial charge on Eastern Washington’s Rylan Bergersen with just over a minute left. If the play had been called the other way, it would have sent Bergersen to the free-throw line with an and-1 and a chance to tie the game at 55-55.
On the ensuing possession, Martin caught the ball on the right wing with the shot clock winding down and drove into a cluster of Eastern Washington players in the lane, rising into the air. Instead of throwing up a wild shot, he kicked the ball out to Derrick Carter-Hollinger in the left corner for a buzzer-beating jumper that rattled home to increase Montana’s lead to five.
“Derrick shooting a wide-open 3 instead of me banging with the bigs where I haven’t been successful this season, it’s probably a better percentage shot,” Martin said. “Everyone on this team is capable of making some pretty tough shots down the stretch.”
The three plays – charge, pass, timeout – barely showed up on the stat sheet – just an assist for the kickout to Carter-Hollinger. Together, though, they’re emblematic of Martin’s maturation and development into a crucial piece for the Grizzlies as they continue to hang near the top of the Big Sky standings.
“The biggest thing for us is, we’ve always questioned this team, this group,” head coach Travis DeCuire said. “Can you win games without making shots? How can you help us win games without making shots? It’s become our identity.”
It’s no secret that, despite the sparkling conference record, this has been a hard-edged, resolute season for DeCuire’s team, which brought back much of the same core that slogged to a 7-9 conference record in 2020-21 – the worst in DeCuire’s seven-year head coaching stint to that point.
Things haven’t been easy. Roles have been unsettled; leaders, at times, still uncertain. Attendance was down at Dahlberg before Saturday’s game, which attracted a season-high crowd of 3,882. DeCuire has adopted a hard-nosed, grinding defensive identity, which has helped Montana control games and given the Griz by far the best defense in the conference at the cost of a bottom-five offense.
Martin averaged more than 15 points per game at each of his junior college stops, first at Oakland Junior College and then at Otero, but he’s adapted to a role that’s seen him average six points and score in double figures just four times this season for the Griz.
“My role in this team is, play some defense and stretch the defense out with some 3s,” Martin said. “Be the utility guy, take charges, get on the floor and knock down shots down the stretch. … If everyone’s trying to do the same thing, no one’s doing the dirty work, you won’t have a very successful team.”
Two of Martin’s uncles played in the NBA. His cousin is Charlotte Hornets highflyer Miles Bridges, who transferred to Huntington Prep School in West Virginia after his sophomore year, partially to escape the violence and turmoil in their hometown of Flint, Michigan.
After tearing his PCL going into his senior season at Grand Blanc High School near Flint, Martin had to spend a post-grad year at IMG Academy in Florida to rebuild his recruiting profile. He eventually committed to Youngstown State but the Penguins passed on him after an academic issue, leading to his two-year junior college odyssey.
Nearly seeing his Division I dreams end multiple times has given Martin a fearlessness that shows on the court. Big moments don’t scare him, as he showed when he converted a sneakily difficult, twisting alley-oop layup with two seconds left to hand Weber State its only conference loss on New Year’s Day.
On one defensive possession Saturday, Martin got cross-matched against Acliese III, EWU’s burly post, in semi-transition. Acliese immediately called for the ball and bullied the 6-foot-4 wing for an easy bucket. On Montana’s next possession, Martin came right back with a 3 from the left wing.
That grit and resolve has helped him stay on the court as DeCuire has pared down his rotation. Just eight Grizzlies played against Eastern Washington, with just seven getting double-digit minutes.
Junior guard Josh Vazquez, who had played in each of Montana’s 20 previous games this season, didn’t get off the bench. Vazquez, who’s averaged over 25 minutes per game each of the last two seasons, and junior forward Kyle Owens, the team’s leading scorer and team MVP a year ago, have been all but excised from the rotation as DeCuire settles on the combinations he trusts.
It’s been anything but a consistent process, even within games. In the Grizzlies’ rivalry game loss to Montana State in early January, sophomore Brandon Whitney played 13 minutes in the first half and just six in the second half, with junior Cam Parker’s minutes reversed – seven in the first half, 15 in the second.
“It’s going to be like that from time to time, where if there’s something you think is working, you stick with it,” DeCuire said after that game. “If you’re looking for something new, you go to that and if it works, you stick with that. We’ve got a lot of guys that can impact a game in different ways. You have different needs in different moments.”
Martin fills a lot of those needs. Not just an active defender, he keeps Montana’s offense moving while he’s on the floor. He’s not shooting well yet – just 30.7 percent from behind the arc this season – but pulls with plenty of confidence.
If he keeps doing that – and making the under-the-radar plays that help the Griz win – Martin will be the one giving DeCuire plenty of options as Montana heads towards the conference tournament.
“His defense has improved over the last month and that’s allowed him to play big minutes,” Decuire said. “It gives us another threat on the floor that spreads the floor out and it gives us depth. His improvement on the defensive end and rebounding is really the biggest thing.”
