Idaho gave the conference preseason favorites a run for their money, but ultimately fell short against Montana.
After several rallies and fights from the Vandals, the Grizzlies out-paced the Vandals in the final minutes of the contest, handing them a 69-51 loss in the Cowan Spectrum.
“The biggest thing for us is going down the stretch,” junior guard Trevon Allen said. “With them being a veteran team, how they basically kind of kicked it in that last gear, I think that is something us as a group, not as experienced, they understood what it takes to finish a game like that, something I think we as a group need to work on.”
Both squads hit the hardwood ready to play, firing on all cylinders. Montana wasted no time, striking first to get two points on the board just seconds into the contest.
Idaho made its opponents fight for every possession and ensuing points early on. Freshman guard Cameron Tyson responded to Montana’s early points with some of his own, nailing a 3-point shot to give the Vandals an early edge. Idaho pushed ahead 10-7 with 16:43 left in the half — the only lead the team would see.
Montana’s Kendal Manuel hit a 3-pointer a little over a minute later and Idaho’s advantage was gone. Idaho slipped behind midway through the first half as Montana built out a 23-10 lead with under 10 minutes until the break.
From there Montana only continued to roll, going on a 16-0 run in over seven minutes.
Idaho junior guard Trevon Allen brought some offensive firepower for the Vandals, knocking in a quick seven points as the defense held Montana. The Allen-fueled run cut the Montana lead down to 28-25 with under two minutes left in the half.
Big Sky preseason MVP Ahmaad Rorie nailed a shot from deep to bump the Grizzlies out 31-25, sending the Vandals into the half trailing by six.
Allen carried the Idaho offense nearly single-handedly in the loss. The junior standout went on a run of 16 straight for the Vandals at the end of the first and into the second. Montana only scored 12 points of its own in the same 10-plus minute window. Allen led all scorers in the contest with 24 points in 34 minutes of play. He also grabbed six rebounds for his team.
“They just out-toughed us, that’s the bottom line,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. “I thought we had the game right kind of how we wanted to have it. We couldn’t get the stops, we couldn’t get the defensive rebounds, we didn’t do a very good job executing our offense. They forced us into four straight turnovers in a row and that was the difference in the game. Bottom line is when they imposed their will, we didn’t respond.”
Allen continued to turn up the heat against the veteran squad, cutting off Montana’s Bobby Moorehead and sending him to the floor as Idaho cut the Grizzly lead to within 49-46 with 9:10 to play.
“I just heard him hit the ground pretty hard,” Allen said of the moments following. “My instinct and immediate thought was to get the shot off and I took my time to do so.”
It was enough to get the crowd — and the team — fired up.
“The bench liked it,” freshman forward Jared Rodriguez said of Allen’s ankle-breaking shot.
For a minute, it looked possible.
“We always have a pretty good push coming out of the second half, but I think it just kind of fell through in the final minutes,”
But each time the Vandals would begin to pick up speed, Montana would pick it up in turn and out-hustle the young squad. The Griz held Idaho scoreless for nearly eight minutes, meanwhile putting up an extra 13 points of their own to command the game 62-46 with 2:52 left to play.
Idaho had little left in the tank as Montana continued to out-play them before sealing its 69-51 victory.
Montana won the rebounding battle, grabbing 43 (28 defensive, 15 offensive) to Idaho’s 32 (25 defensive, 7 offensive).
“You’re not going to beat a good team if you allow that to happen,” Verlin said. “Most years here I’ve had really good offensive rebounding teams and this is not one of them. It is a want to, it is a will — that is defensive rebounding and we have to get a whole lot better in that area.”
Rodriguez capped off the night with 10 points and team-leading nine rebounds. He was the only other Vandal to hit double-digit points.
Idaho will hit the road to face Sacramento State 7 p.m. Thursday in Sacramento, California.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]