Jamar Akoh now knows how to stay out of foul trouble. In turn, the Montana Grizzlies have mauled their first two Big Sky opponents with aggressive and relentless defensive efforts.
Less than 48 hours after allowing Northern Arizona to make just 16 shots, Montana forced 16 straight first-half misses in building a 19-point halftime lead at Southern Utah. The key to UM’s defensive execution and subsequent 2-0 start in conference play has been Akoh’s presence on the hardwood.
The 6-foot-8 junior provides a needed scoring punch offensively but it’s Montana’s ability to play him next to 6-foot-8 senior Fabijan Krslovic in an eight-man rotation that provides head coach Travis DeCuire with a collection of different lineup combinations and an assortment of high pressure defensive principles. Even though Akoh and Krslovic played just 21 minutes each, their presence helped pace UM’s defense.
Saturday at Southern Utah, the Grizzlies built a 39-20 halftime lead and kept pressuring for a full 40 minutes, stretching the lead to as many as 34 points on the way to an impressive 79-49 victory over the Thunderbirds on Saturday afternoon.
Montana junior forward Bobby Moorehead/ SUU athletics
Akoh, a former Cal State-Fullerton transfer, picked up at least four fouls in eight of Montana’s first 10 games. He has not picked up that many in any of the past four until he picked up his fourth midway through the second half on Saturday. Akoh is averaging 19.5 points over his last six and UM has won four of five, the lone loss a 66-63 defeat at Washington to wrap up non-conference play. And with him on the bench for a six-minute stretch on Saturday, Montana continued to dismantle SUU’s previously explosive offense.
Montana’s defensive effort Saturday in Cedar City included holding the host Thunderbirds to 26 percent shooting and forcing 15 turnovers. SUU turnover total matched its made field goal total. Southern Utah scored 99 points in Thursday’s five-point loss to Montana State. After winning all five of its home games during the non-conference SUU has now lost two straight at Centrum Arena to fall to 0-2 in league play, 6-7 overall.
The win boosts Montana to 2-0 in the Big Sky, 9-5 overall.
RELATED: Montana 79, Southern Utah 49 (box score)
UM junior point guard Ahmaad Rorie scored 16 of 18 Montana points during a first-half 21-2 run that helped Montana take a 9-8 advantage and turn it into s 30-10 cushion. Rorie scored 20 points to lead a balanced UM scoring attack that saw seven of the eight primary players in its rotation score at least seven points.
UNLV transfer Dwayne Morgan, who finished with a game-high 22 points in his second game of the season after sitting out the first semester, scored 12 of SUU’s first 16 points but the streak of 16 straight misses put the T-Birds down 20 and the advantage never fell bellow 19 the final 26 minutes of the game.
Akoh finished with 12 points and four rebounds in just 21 minutes as DeCuire played a small lineup that included Rorie, juniors Michael Oguine and Bobby Moorehead, sophomore Sayeed Pridgett and true freshman Timmy Falls. That aforementioned five all played at least 26 minutes.
Ougine scored all 11 of his points in the first half after the 16-point first half by Rorie. Falls scored nine points and dished out three assists in 28 minutes off the bench. Pridgett chipped in eight points, six rebounds and four assists before fouling out. Moorehead had six points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Montana sophomore Sayeed Pridgett/ by SUU Athletics
Montana entered the game as the worst 3-point shooting team in the conference. UM made 4-of-16 attempts from deep, on par with its season percentage. But UM shot 57.1 percent (27-of-47) inside the arc and scored 21 points off SUU’s 15 turnovers.
The Griz host their first Big Sky Conference home stand on Thursday and Saturday at Dahlberg Arena. Montana hosts reigning Big Sky regular-season and tournament champion North Dakota on Thursday before hosting upstart Northern Colorado on Saturday.
UM beat UND 76-70 in Missoula in the only matchup between the two teams last season. Montana beat Northern Colorado 89-68 in the only meeting last winter.
UND is 0-1 in league play, 4-8 overall after a 74-57 home loss to preseason Big Sky favorite Idaho on Friday night. UNC is 1-0 in league play and 10-4 overall after Friday’s 88-75 win over Eastern Washington.
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