Griz dancing again

For the second year in a row, the Montana men's basketball team completed an epic comeback against the Eastern Washington Eagles in the Big Sky Conference championship game.

And that's not the only thing that happened to the Grizzlies for the second year in a row.

With their second straight Big Sky title in hand, Montana earned an automatic bid into the 2019 NCAA men's basketball tournament, and there, the Griz will face the Michigan Wolverines for the second straight year.

Montana was given a No. 15 by the NCAA Sunday, and was paired with second-seeded Michigan in the West Region. The Griz/Michigan rematch is set for Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa.

“Right now, we’re just excited to be in the tournament,” Montana coach Travis DeCuire said. “Two years in a row now. We talked about trying to set a goal and precedent of getting there often. We’re at that point right now. Now, it’s just go play the best basketball we can play.

“I’m shocked a little bit that they would match the same two teams,” DeCuire added. “Typically, they’d change it. But it is what it is. I think there’s a lot for us to look forward to. Our guys will be excited for the rematch.”

The Griz will be excited, and Saturday night in Boise, Idaho, they were beyond excited to capture their second straight Big Sky title. But, once again, it didn't come easy.

In their 68-62 victory over EWU, the Griz trailed by as many as 12 points in the early going, and were down 31-26 at halftime. It was, however, familiar territory for the Griz, who also trailed Eastern at the half of last year's championsip game.

At halftime, DeCuire impressed on his troops the importance of defensive intensity. Whatever he said worked because Eastern failed to repeat its 45.8 percent shooting (11 for 24) in the first half, hitting 13 of 33 shots after intermission.

From there, the Griz were much better, with senior star Ahmad Rorie leading the way, and extra help from reserve Donoven Dorsey, who knocked in a pair of clutch 3-pointers, ultimately giving the Griz a lead they would never give back, as the Griz ripped off a 27-11 run.

"It took me two or three timeouts to settle the group down and refocus and tell them to let the ball move and trust each other. … Once we got it into single digits and got momentum going, Donaven's threes off the bench early, the confidence was back and the mojo was back.

Sayeed Pridgett led the way with 18 points, followed by Michael Oguine and Dorsey with 12. All of Dorsey's points came on 3-point shots. Rorie finished with 11 points, all of which came in the second half. He was named MVP of the tournament. Oguine joined him on the all-tourney team.

"It actually brought tears to my eyes because I know all the work we've put in," Rorie said. "I've known Donaven since we were 12 years old, playing on the same AAU team, we lived 30 minutes away from each other. I just hugged him. I had tears in my eyes. He made the most of his role, made his way through injuries. When you soak it all in you know, it's real special.

"I'm just grateful to be sitting here in front of you as a back-to-back champion with this group," DeCuire added in the post game celebration.

The Griz are back-to-back champions and are headed to their third NCAA tourney in the last four years. Once there, the Griz will try and do something few 15 seeds have done, and that's knock off one of the elite powers in NCAA men's basketball.

“I’m excited," senior Bobby Moorehead said to 406 Sports. "I think it’s going to be a good matchup. It’s a bummer that we’re 15. Felt like we probably deserved a little higher, but it is what it is. We can’t talk about that. We just have to go out there and do what we do and play as hard as we can and whatever happens, happens.

“Last year was getting that experience and this year all of us have that experience and so now we’re like, ‘We want to do this,’” Moorehead added. “I think we can. I think we all have the right mindsets. But it’s not going to be easy. They’re a really great team and it’s going to be a grind and be really tough. We’re going to give it our best and go hard this week and get ready for it.”

Montana (26-8) will play Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tourney Thursday at 7:20 p.m. in Des Moines.