Montana closed its regular season on Saturday night with a one-point home loss to Sacramento State, 72-71. The Grizzlies only advanced to 2 minutes, 29 seconds of the second half, but there were late opportunities, including a game-tying free-throw attempt in the final 2 seconds.
5 seed at the Big Sky tournament the following week, scored the first six points of the game and led through the first 19 minutes of the first half, until Sacramento State was 29- on a 5-0 run. Didn't stop to pick up. 28 benefits in the locker room.
On Montana's first possession in the second half, sophomore Josh Bannan converted another -1, giving him a double-double just over 20 minutes into the game and giving the Grizzlies a 31-29 lead. Sacramento State's Bryce Fowler responded with a 3-pointer on the Hornets' next possession, however, putting the visitors back on top.
"We started off well and I thought we were all focused on the right things," head coach Travis DeQuier said. "We were executing, we were defending, the ball was rolling.
"We lost our way a bit and then started slow in the (second) half. You have to win and we didn't do that for 40 minutes tonight."
Montana wouldn't hold the lead again for another 14 minutes and a big part of that was Fowler, who scored 39 points on a 14-for-25 shooting, plus a perfect 10-for from the free-throw line. He also added five assistants.
“What he really did was exposed us with his passing, because you wanted to help, and he was really good at figuring out where the aid was coming from. Whether it was for an assist or a hockey assist. Ho, he executed two or three times the timeout and got some people when we backtracked to help.
"I told him after the game that it was all about the things that college basketball exemplifies. His commitment, his loyalty to his school. He could jump into the (transfer) portal and play a lot of places, But he hung over there."
Despite Fowler's monstrous night, Montana still had chances.
A fowler floater pushed the Hornets' lead to 49-42 with 12:01, but over the next 6 minutes, Montana used a 16-6 run to take their first lead since the opening minute of the second half.
The Grizzlies made 6 of 5 shot attempts during that stretch, receiving back-to-back 3-pointers from Bannon and Junior Josh Vazquez, before a Vazquez steal caused a Cameron Parker transition layup, and moments later. , a Sacramento State Miss Derrick Carter-Hollinger led the free throw, giving Montana a 56-55 lead. The lead was extended to 58–55 after another breakaway layout for Parker, but then Montana went cold.
Sacramento State scored on four straight trips to the court, while Montana went 0-for-4 with two turnovers, turning a three-point Grizz lead into a game-high-tying seven-point deficit, 67-60 to play. with 51 sec.
"We had some guys doing scraps," DeQuiere said. "People will remember his 3rd, but Josh Vazquez came in and put his hand on the ball, and his effort on the defensive end gave us a chance."
In need of a miracle, the Grizzlies almost got it.
A Brandon Whitney driving lay-up with 39.1 seconds to play reduced the score to 67-62. Montana fouled the Hornets, who made 2 of 1 free throws, before junior Lonell Martin Jr. hit a 3-pointer with 25.2 seconds (67–65) to play.
Then things got real crazy.
Bannon stole a pass on the backcourt and both freed throws after being fouled, cutting the deficit to just one point, 68–67, with 20.6 seconds on the clock.
Sacramento State nearly rebounded the ball on an in-bound pass, needing to burn its final timeout instead. On the second attempt, the Hornets caught the ball in and made both free throws (70–67 with 18 seconds to play), before Whitney followed with a quick floater (70–69 with 12 seconds to play). answered.
Fowler again made both free throws after being fouled, providing one last chance for the Grizzlies. Martin got two looks to tie the game, almost rattling the whistle on the second attempt. All three free throws needed to be dropped to send the game into overtime, Martin made the first two before missing the last two. With 1.6 seconds to play, Carter-Hollinger secured the miss and passed it back to senior Scott Blackney, whose off-balance, mid-range jumper was short from the corner.
"The big 3 out of the corner from Lonnell was huge, and then Bannon's theft ... was his effort in those circumstances, but those things don't happen to you when you don't earn it," DeQuier said. "We have to find a way to do that for the full 40 minutes."
Bannan recorded his seventh double-double of Big Sky play with 20 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. He also added three assistants and two steals. Bannon was one of four Grizzlies in double figure, with Parker - playing in his final game inside Dahlberg Arena, along with Blakeney and Freddie Brown III - scoring 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting; Whitney's total of 11 points; And Martin ended up with 10.
Montana narrowly out-shot the Hornets (.481 to .472), but was just 5-of-21 from the deep compared to 7-of-14 for the Hornets. Sacramento State got 39 points from Fowler and 17 from William Fitzpatrick, with all 72 points for the team coming from his five starts.
Montana will now turn its attention to the Big Sky tournament, which begins at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Versus No. 4-seed Weber stat. It will be the ninth time in 12 seasons that the top-two teams in Big Sky history will meet in a conference tournament.
"Tonight is a learning experience, and now it's on to a new season for us next week," DeQuiere said.