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Grizzlies fall flat at UVSC
By the Missoulian
OREM, Utah - The Montana Grizzlies could do no wrong for the first seven minutes of their nonconference men's basketball game against Utah Valley State on Monday night.
It was the next 33 minutes, however, that decided the game.
Utah Valley State rallied from an early 8-point deficit to hand the Griz their first loss of the season, 74-57, at the McKay Center. The Wolverines are now 2-0 after demolishing Montana State 69-37 to open the season.
The Griz
(1-1) connected on their first eight shots from the field to build a 17-9 lead just seven minutes into the game. They still led 21-13 with 6:09 to play before intermission, but that's when things began to unravel. After the hot start, the Griz made just five of 20 shots for the remainder of the half as the Wolverines scored the final seven points to take a 31-27 lead at the break.
“It was a little bit of a kiss of death,” Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said of the hot start in a postgame interview on KGVO radio. “We had a couple of lapses, maybe two or three possessions, they got five points off of transition, then we left a guy wide open for a 3-pointer. Our shots stopped going in and, boom, the momentum turned around.”
Ryan Toolson, a sophomore guard, and Matt Peterson, a senior forward, made sure of that. The duo evenly split 22 points in the first half. Toolson picked right up in the second half and finished with a game-high 26 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point land.
“I can see why they're 23-2 at home here in the last couple of years,” Tinkle said. “It was on our chalkboard before the game: You've got to close out on shooters. You've got to contest every shot, make them put it on the floor. The second half, they came down and transitioned and we lost them, gave them wide-open looks. That's what was disappointing.”
Matt Martin hit a 19-foot jumper early in the second half to keep the Griz within 37-32, but Toolson responded with a deuce and then a trey, and Peterson added a 3-pointer in transition to give the Wolverines a 45-32 lead with about 14 minutes to play. The Griz made a few bluff charges in the second half, but could never get the margin back into single digits the rest of the way.
Andrew Strait led the Griz with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but six of those points came in the first five minutes. Inside looks were tough to come by after that.
“They do a great job of fronting,” Tinkle said of the Wolverines defense. “He was down there wrestling a little bit. We couldn't get him very easy looks until we moved the ball two or three times. The whole key was, we knew we were going to have to hit some shots from the perimeter, to kind of get them to open up a little bit. When we stopped making shots their defense collapsed even more and took away our inside game.”
Senior Matt Dlouhy backed up Strait with 14 points.
The Griz will fly from Salt Lake City to Denver on Tuesday, then take a bus to Laramie where they'll face the University of Wyoming on Wednesday night.
“The guys did a great job of keeping their heads about them,” Tinkle said. “It was a tough defeat, but I'm proud of the way the guys conducted themselves.”
NOTES: The Griz won the rebounding battle 33-29. ... Both teams did a good job of taking care of the ball. Montana had seven turnovers; Utah Valley five. ... Griz senior guard Bryan Ellis, who suffered a bruised shin in Montana's season-opening win over Montana State-Northern, did not start, but played extensively..
MONTANA (57)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
Hasquet 24 1-5 0-0 1 5 1 2
Swift 28 3-7 0-3 3 1 2 6
Dlouhy 32 5-9 3-4 6 3 0 14
Martin 23 2-8 0-0 1 2 2 5
Strait 37 6-11 4-6 11 4 1 16
Rundles 14 2-2 2-2 2 2 3 6
Chase 6 0-1 2-4 4 0 0 2
Ellis 13 1-2 0-0 2 3 1 3
Staudacher 19 1-4 0-0 1 0 0 0
Sharp 4 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 200 21-51 11-19 33 20 10 57
UTAH VALLEY STATE (74)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
Peterson 38 5-10 4-4 5 0 1 16
Bailey 24 1-5 5-8 3 1 6 7
Heck 33 3-8 1-2 5 2 3 7
Brady 22 2-4 2-2 4 3 0 6
Brown 16 1-4 2-2 1 3 3 4
Olsen 16 2-3 0-0 1 1 1 6
Toolson 29 9-14 3-3 3 1 0 26
Troyer 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Walker 17 1-1 0-0 3 3 1 2
Ravenberg 1 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 200 24-50 17-21 28 14 15 74
Halftime score: UVSC 31, Montana 27.
3-point goals: Montana 4-18 (Ellis 1-2, Staudacher 1-3, Dlouhy 1-5, Martin 1-6), UVSC 9-13 (Toolson 5-6, Peterson 2-3, Olsaen 2-3).
Turnovers: Montana 7 (Swift 2, Rundles 2), UVSC 5 (Tollson 2).
Blocked shots: Montana 6 (Strait 5), UVSC 5 (Brown 3).
Steals: Montana 2 (Swift Staudacher), UVSC 2 (Bailey, Brady).
Officials: Kent Condie, Ken Sowby, Casey McCellan.
Attendance: 2,110.
By the Missoulian
OREM, Utah - The Montana Grizzlies could do no wrong for the first seven minutes of their nonconference men's basketball game against Utah Valley State on Monday night.
It was the next 33 minutes, however, that decided the game.
Utah Valley State rallied from an early 8-point deficit to hand the Griz their first loss of the season, 74-57, at the McKay Center. The Wolverines are now 2-0 after demolishing Montana State 69-37 to open the season.
The Griz
(1-1) connected on their first eight shots from the field to build a 17-9 lead just seven minutes into the game. They still led 21-13 with 6:09 to play before intermission, but that's when things began to unravel. After the hot start, the Griz made just five of 20 shots for the remainder of the half as the Wolverines scored the final seven points to take a 31-27 lead at the break.
“It was a little bit of a kiss of death,” Montana coach Wayne Tinkle said of the hot start in a postgame interview on KGVO radio. “We had a couple of lapses, maybe two or three possessions, they got five points off of transition, then we left a guy wide open for a 3-pointer. Our shots stopped going in and, boom, the momentum turned around.”
Ryan Toolson, a sophomore guard, and Matt Peterson, a senior forward, made sure of that. The duo evenly split 22 points in the first half. Toolson picked right up in the second half and finished with a game-high 26 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point land.
“I can see why they're 23-2 at home here in the last couple of years,” Tinkle said. “It was on our chalkboard before the game: You've got to close out on shooters. You've got to contest every shot, make them put it on the floor. The second half, they came down and transitioned and we lost them, gave them wide-open looks. That's what was disappointing.”
Matt Martin hit a 19-foot jumper early in the second half to keep the Griz within 37-32, but Toolson responded with a deuce and then a trey, and Peterson added a 3-pointer in transition to give the Wolverines a 45-32 lead with about 14 minutes to play. The Griz made a few bluff charges in the second half, but could never get the margin back into single digits the rest of the way.
Andrew Strait led the Griz with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but six of those points came in the first five minutes. Inside looks were tough to come by after that.
“They do a great job of fronting,” Tinkle said of the Wolverines defense. “He was down there wrestling a little bit. We couldn't get him very easy looks until we moved the ball two or three times. The whole key was, we knew we were going to have to hit some shots from the perimeter, to kind of get them to open up a little bit. When we stopped making shots their defense collapsed even more and took away our inside game.”
Senior Matt Dlouhy backed up Strait with 14 points.
The Griz will fly from Salt Lake City to Denver on Tuesday, then take a bus to Laramie where they'll face the University of Wyoming on Wednesday night.
“The guys did a great job of keeping their heads about them,” Tinkle said. “It was a tough defeat, but I'm proud of the way the guys conducted themselves.”
NOTES: The Griz won the rebounding battle 33-29. ... Both teams did a good job of taking care of the ball. Montana had seven turnovers; Utah Valley five. ... Griz senior guard Bryan Ellis, who suffered a bruised shin in Montana's season-opening win over Montana State-Northern, did not start, but played extensively..
MONTANA (57)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
Hasquet 24 1-5 0-0 1 5 1 2
Swift 28 3-7 0-3 3 1 2 6
Dlouhy 32 5-9 3-4 6 3 0 14
Martin 23 2-8 0-0 1 2 2 5
Strait 37 6-11 4-6 11 4 1 16
Rundles 14 2-2 2-2 2 2 3 6
Chase 6 0-1 2-4 4 0 0 2
Ellis 13 1-2 0-0 2 3 1 3
Staudacher 19 1-4 0-0 1 0 0 0
Sharp 4 0-2 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 200 21-51 11-19 33 20 10 57
UTAH VALLEY STATE (74)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
Peterson 38 5-10 4-4 5 0 1 16
Bailey 24 1-5 5-8 3 1 6 7
Heck 33 3-8 1-2 5 2 3 7
Brady 22 2-4 2-2 4 3 0 6
Brown 16 1-4 2-2 1 3 3 4
Olsen 16 2-3 0-0 1 1 1 6
Toolson 29 9-14 3-3 3 1 0 26
Troyer 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Walker 17 1-1 0-0 3 3 1 2
Ravenberg 1 0-1 0-0 1 0 0 0
Totals 200 24-50 17-21 28 14 15 74
Halftime score: UVSC 31, Montana 27.
3-point goals: Montana 4-18 (Ellis 1-2, Staudacher 1-3, Dlouhy 1-5, Martin 1-6), UVSC 9-13 (Toolson 5-6, Peterson 2-3, Olsaen 2-3).
Turnovers: Montana 7 (Swift 2, Rundles 2), UVSC 5 (Tollson 2).
Blocked shots: Montana 6 (Strait 5), UVSC 5 (Brown 3).
Steals: Montana 2 (Swift Staudacher), UVSC 2 (Bailey, Brady).
Officials: Kent Condie, Ken Sowby, Casey McCellan.
Attendance: 2,110.
