If the Griz played like they did in the 2nd half they'll win the Big Sky tourney. They played good defense, moved the ball well and shot well.
Officiating was questionable, Pacific got a lot of helpful calls and in two cases blatantly traveled and was not called. Meanwhile the Griz were getting elbows smashed in their faces underneath and it was never whistled.
Pacific was fast, athletic and opened the game 12-13 shooting. That Espersa guy went 5-5 shooting 3 pointers, he was red hot in the 1st half, I think he had all his shots in the 1st, if not most of them. Their center was tall and lanky, pretty quick too.
The first half was crap, the Griz were sluggish and sloppy. Strait did not play well in the 1st, Dlouhy hit some shots but was awful on D. Even Mayes and Chaves did not play as well as they had been in the past few weeks. Seemed like they were still shaking off the cobwebs from the Weber loss.
The second half was fun, the Griz came back from a huge defecit on Ellis' solid D, Hasquet, Strait and Rundles hot shooting and Sharp & Mayes tightening up their D and playing well. Andrew was on fire, he hit a lot of shots, had some second chances and I think he blocked 2 or 3 shots. Hasquet scored 7 strait before getting two total BS fouls, he came in to hit the game-leading 3 with 24.4 seconds left. It was an emotional 2nd half too, Dlouhy got a T for sharing his opinion on a non-call and Chaves and the big center or Pacific got a double T, the big guy shoved Mike and Mike said something back, they weren't going to call anything until Mike turned and said something, that guy would've gotten away with shoving him.
Despite the loss it was a fun game to watch and you could see this team waking up and rallying around their guys on the floor. I hope they can build from this game and continue the momentum from the 2nd half into the next couple of weeks.
It was also cool to get a glimpse into what Rundles will become for this team, he's going to be one of the best players in the Big Sky. Sharp also gave us some hint of what to expect with him, he hit a 3, hit some inside shots and also played good D underneath.
Good game Griz, this loss really means nothing, build on the good stuff and kick some butt from here on out. Go Griz!