Griz men, MSU women strike first in Cat-Griz 2020

MISSOULA - With a near-capacity crowd of more than 7,000 fans on its feet, Montana gave the fans plenty to cheer about Saturday night. The Grizzlies connected on their first five shots to jump out to an early lead, and led for all but 14 seconds in a 78-64 victory.

Montana has now beaten rival Montana State 18 times in 19 tries over the past decade. Saturday marked the historic 300th meeting between the two state universities, the fifth-longest rivalry in NCAA basketball history.

Montana State entered the contest having won three straight road games, its best stretch in 15 years. Montana made sure the streak wouldn't continue, but did so in an unlikely way.

The Bobcats ranked ninth nationally for three-point defense. Teams were making just 28 percent of their attempts from long range against MSU, and no Big Sky team had made more than nine makes in a game all year.

The Grizzlies, though, noticed an opportunity with the zone defense the Bobcats presented, and boy did they take advantage.

Montana made 10 three-pointers in the first half alone – the team's previous season high for a full game was nine – and scored 54 points in the opening half to jump out to a 15-point lead.

"We hadn't seen that much zone this year," Travis DeCuire said. "We got quick starts against the 2-3 zone, but it's not very often our guys get shots with both feet set, and we got a lot of those tonight."

Overall, Montana made 11 of 19 three-point attempts (.579), getting contributions from six different players.

Kendal Manuel hit four, while Sayeed Pridgett and Josh Vazquez each connected on two. Derrick Carter-Hollinger, Kyle Owens and Jared Samuelson each drained one three-pointer.

Montana shot .633 in the first half, including 10-of-14 from long range.

Montana State took its only lead at 18-17, but 14 seconds later, Owens responded with a dunk from Pridgett to put the Griz on top for good. Over the next 7 minutes, Montana out-scored the visitors 27-10 to bring the Dahlberg Arena crowd to life.

Coming out of the break, Montana State's defense clamped down and held the Grizzlies to just one made basket in the first 7 minutes. That allowed the Bobcats to get within six, 57-51. Montana State would hang around, being within five points twice and six points, 66-60, with 7:14 to play.

At that point, though, Pridgett - the senior leader who is now 4-0 against the Cats in Missoula - took over. The senior's layup extended the lead to eight, and two possessions later he scored again to push the advantage to double digits. On the next trip up the court, it was Pridgett once more, who gave Montana a 72-60 lead with 4:16 to play, forcing a Bobcat timeout.

That bucket, Pridgett's final of the night, moved him into 10th place and past Will Cherry on Montana's all-time scoring list.

"It means a lot because Will is a big reason why I came here, along with coach DeCuire," Pridgett said about passing Cherry, a fellow Bay Area hooper, on the all-time scoring list. "It means a lot to me because I watched Will growing up and looked up to him."

Montana State would score just four total points over the final 7 minutes, allowing the Grizzlies to close the game on a 12-4 run.

The Griz overcame an incredible 37 points from Herald Frey, as MSU fell to 11-10 overall and 5-5 in the Big Sky. Meanwhile, Montana got 24 points from Pridgett and another 14 off the bench from Kyle Owens.

"I'm proud of this state, and as a former player I just always remembered how the community responded to a win against the Cats," DeCuire said. "But I also remember how they responded to a loss, and I didn't want any part of that."

Saturday was big, but Thursday is bigger. Montana (8-3) hosts Eastern Washington (7-2) in a battle for first place. The game is a rematch of the past two title games and will no doubt have major implications once again. Tipoff Thursday is slated for 7 p.m.

Cats storm back in Missoula

MISSOULA - For the first 35 minutes of Saturday's Cat-Griz women's basketball game in Missoula, the shots weren't falling. And then the Bobcats turned to a trusted source.

MSU senior Fallyn Freije's 12-foot jumper with 14 seconds to play sent the game to overtime, then she scored 10 of Montana State's 15 points in the extra period to boost the Cats to a 66-61 win over the Lady Griz. The win was Montana State's eighth in the last 11 against Montana, and second in its last three trips to Dahlberg Arena.

Freije propelled an incredible comeback, and an amazing turnaround. MSU trailed 46-32 with 3:12 to play in the third quarter, and after shooting 14-for-56 in the game's first 38 minutes the Bobcats made seven of their last 12 shots, including 5-for-9 in overtime. Bobcat coach Tricia Binford said the solution to MSU's cold shooting was getting the ball inside.

"The answer came down through the paint for us," she said. "I thought Fallyn really stepped up." Freije, the Preseason Big Sky MVP who has only enhanced that status in the months since, finished with a career-high 27 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

"As a coach I'm trying to think of ways to get (Freije) touches in ways that she doesn't have a triple or quadruple team," Binford said. "When you look at Fallyn, she's a special payer. She's extremely versatile, she can stretch the floor and she's also really good around the basket. Most of the time she's catching it and she's got arms all around her, so I thought we got her in some situations where she was able to face up and take that mid-range jumper, which was good for us. She stepped up when we needed her to."

The biggest moment of the game came in the last seconds of regulation. Madeline Smith's tied the game 49-49 for MSU with 1:47 to play, then Montana's Jamie Pickens nailed a pair of free throws. The teams traded missed shots, and the Cats possessed with 34 seconds to play. With 13 seconds left, Freije found herself with the ball just inside the right elbow of the lane.

"The right-hand pullup is my bread-and-butter," she said, and she calmly drained it to send the game to overtime.

Freshman Darian White scored 13 points with five boards and four steals, and Smith, a senior, added 10 points with nine boards. Binford said one of the game's keys was White's effort defensively. She helped the Bobcats hold UM to 31.7 percent shooting on the afternoon, 15.2 percent in the second half, and 0-for-15 in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Griz matched MSU's defensive performance for most of the game. MSU's 30.9 percent shooting game was its worst of the season, and its 9.5 percent three-point shooting was its second-worst. The Cats shot below 30 percent from the floor in each of the first three quarters.

"I want to give Montana a lot of credit, they played a great game today," Binford said. "They've got a great matchup (zone) and they've got man(-to-man). At times they look very similar. We got to the point where we wanted to work with spacing and we didn't want to hold the ball. That's where we were all kind of frustrated is we were stagnant on our end, trying to think about what they were in rather than hold the ball one second and move the ball. Most of our actions work against both, and we're trying to keep it that way. Most of the credit goes to Montana."

The Lady Griz used an early spurt to lead 19-11 after the first quarter. The Bobcats used a 10-2 run in the middle portion of the second quarter to cut the margin to 28-25 four minutes before halftime, with free throws by Martha Kuderer, Freije, and Kola Bad Bear keying that run. UM entered the intermission with a 33-27 lead, but came out of the break in full charge. The Lady Griz scored the first four points of the third quarter, then used a 9-0 run midway through the period to take control of the game. Montana led 48-37 at the end of three quarters.

White opened the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws, and after Montana's Madi Schoening made one of two White made two more charity tosses, and then a short jumper. Halfway through the period, MSU trailed 49-43. Freije hit a jumper to cut the lead to four, and Kuderer's two free throws trimmed it to two. That set up Smith's layup, Pickens' free throws, and Freije's heroics.

"When you can find ways (to win) when offense isn't going, you've got something special on your hands," Binford said.

Including Saturday, Montana State's last six games have included three with free basketball - a double-overtime loss at home to Idaho, and a double-overtime win at Eastern Washington. Freije said the team fed off the confidence from that experience.

"Man, this team's gone through enough overtimes," she said with a laugh. "We feel like any overtime's in our favor these days."

Freije's jumper opened the overtime - "After I hit that baseline jumper the rim got pretty big," she said - and after Montana tied the score Oliana Squires hit MSU's second three-pointer of the night. Schoening's layup cut MSU's lead to one, but Freije answered with a basket. A pair of free throws by Abby Anderson and a layup by Mc-Kenzie Johnston gave Montana a 59-58 lead, then Freije answered. Schoening hit a layup, and again Freije answered. That gave Montana State a 62-61 lead with 32 seconds left. Schoening missed a three-pointer, and the ball bounded out-of-bounds off UM hands. Freije's two free throws with 23 seconds to play gave the Bobcats a 64-61 lead.

With 23 seconds to play, the Bobcats made one of the game's most important defensive stands. Blaire Braxton's steal with three seconds left, and the corresponding free throws after she was fouled, sealed the MSU victory.

The win raises Montana State's record to 13-6 overall, 9-1 in Big Sky play. The Bobcats maintain their hold on first place as the conference season moves into the second half. UM is 10-9 overall, 5-5 in the league. Montana State's next outing is at Idaho Thursday, and the Bobcats return home to face Eastern Washington at 2 pm Saturday.