Recap: @UNCO_MBB Clawed Back but Comes Up Just Short Against @UMGrizzlies

Saturday, January 6

Missoula, Mont.

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

11-6, 2-2BSC

University of Montana

11-5, 4-0BSS

Northern Colorado

Montana

1/6/2018 10:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

Missoula, Mont.—Despite shooting 53.8 percent from beyond the arc, Northern Colorado's comeback fell short as they dropped one to Big Sky-leading Montana in Missoula, 89-80. UNC (11-6, 2-2) made a strong comeback effort in the second half and got as close as six points late in the game.

How It Happened
UNC trailed early in the first half until they received a spark off the bench from Matej Drgon who came in and hit a wide open 3-pointer to help the road back to even with the Griz. Jonah Radebaugh was feeling it early as he hit three treys in the first half and one of those gave the Bears their first and only lead of the half at 13-11.

Jamar Akoh was the story of the first half scoring 20 points which was three off of his career-high. Montana went on two separate runs (7-0, 7-2) to balloon the lead to around ten points then used one final run in the half and led 43-28 at the half. UNC committed 11 turnovers in the first half and they average 12.2 giveaways per game. The Grizzlies scored 14 points off those 11 Bears' mistakes.

UNC jumped on chances out of the locker room as JD hit the first bucket for the Bears 13 seconds into the final 20 minutes. The story of the game was when UNC started a run, UM responded with an equal or bigger run.

Northern Colorado trailed by as many as 21 and needed a spark. They got one but not from offensive play. With around 13 minutes to go, Timmy Falls and Ibrahim Sylla, both went for a loose ball and then some pushing and shoving occurred. The refs went to look at the replay and took over 10 minutes to determine what to call.
Montana received one regular and two technical fouls while Sylla was the only Bear to receive a technical.

After the delay and resulting free throws, UNC went on a 12-2 run and got the UM lead down to 11. Northern Colorado was down nine when Jonah Radebaugh pulled down one of his two offensive boards and proceeded to kick it out to Davis for a 3, that cut the lead was just six. Spight, Davis and Radebaugh had 13 of the 14 made 3s for the Bears but Montana held them at bay with long possessions and hitting its free throws late. Spight ended the game with 26 points, Davis and Radebaugh each put in 15 while Radebaugh led all players with nine boards.

Game Changer
UNC came into the game and had to guard Ahmaad Rorie tight and held him to around his season average. One person, they didn't was Jamar Akoh who scored a Montana season-high and a personal career-high 34 points in the UM win. Akoh went 11-of-16 from the field and hit 12 of hit 16 free throws. The Griz scored 46 points in the paint and all of Akoh's baskets were down low.

Key Stat
Montana is one of the worst teams from 3-point line so they score the majority of their points in the paint and it showed tonight. The Grizzlies outscored the Bears 46-16 down low.

What They Said
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"It was the accumulation of little mistakes over the course of the first 34 minutes as opposed to being down six, you could be up six. You can't have that many little mistakes against a good team and this is a top three team in the league on their home court and expect to win. That is a team with experience. I reminded our guys that we are still the newest team in the league and still the most inexperienced in the playing together standpoint and there is still a lot of room for us to get better. If we can see that, we are right there. We went toe-to-toe with Idaho who was picked to win the league and these guys (Montana) was picked second in the league. We are right there but it is a learning experience for our guys. It is the first time they have been on the road in the Big Sky. This is the first time Jalen Sanders has been on the road in the Big Sky and to know there is an extra level you have to bring in order to beat good teams on the road. I am proud of the guys and the way they fought and give Montana credit. They said they were going to throw that ball inside and they did. You have to pick your poison and tonight Akoh kind of had his way. We will go back to the drawing board and learn from this and get ready to protect the home court come Thursday night."

On Montana's half-court defense
"We knew coming in they were going to show hard on the ball screens. We were ready for it. Sometimes when you haven't seen a team that shows that hard, they are going to keep the ball away from Dre and JD. If you look at it, they made more of those easy baskets at the rim. We did a heck of a job from the 3-point line…14 for 26 against one of the best 3-point field goal defensive teams in the country. We didn't take care of the ball. We had 11 turnovers in the first half. Get these guys to the second, third, or fourth action and you will get the shots that you want but that is life on the road."

Notable Stats

The Bears average 32.0 percent from 3-point land on the season but shot 53.8 percent tonight by hitting 14 of their 26 tries from downtown.
Jonah Radebaugh surpassed his season-high of 12 with five made 3s.
The Bears hit 25 shots tonight and 15 of those were with assists which is better than 50 percent assist to FG made ratio.
The Grizzlies took 12 more free throws than the Bears and hit 12 more freebies in the game.

What's Ahead

The Bears are back home for a three-game stretch starting January 11th as the Weber State Wildcats come to town for a 7 pm tilt in Bank of Colorado Arena. Idaho State visits the 13th at 2 pm and the homestand concludes on the 20th with the Energy Proud Showdown as North Dakota makes its final trip to Greeley as a member of the Big Sky.

Tickets are available at UNCBears.com, at the UNC Box Office M-F from Noon-5pm and then 10am-5pm starting January 8th or at 970.351.1679 during business hours.