Late rally falls short vs Griz

Saturday, January 7

Greeley, Colo.

6 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

5-11,0-4Big Sky

Montana

8-8,2-2Big Sky

Montana

Northern Colo.

Photo by: Jam David

1/7/2023 8:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREELEY, Colo. – Facing an 18-point deficit midway through the second half, the University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team battled back to cut Montana's lead to just one with 24 seconds remaining in the contest. However, UNC couldn't pull out the win and the Grizzlies held on to claim a 79-74 win on Saturday night at Bank of Colorado Arena.

With the score sitting at 75-74 in favor of Montana, the Griz missed three-straight free throws, before making their fourth attempt to make it a two-point game.

On the resulting possession, Daylen Kountz was called for a charge with 11 seconds remaining, which effectively sent Montana back to the charity stripe. Montana's Aanen Moody hit his two free throws to make it a two-possession game, and in the final seconds Mack Anderson made one free throw to give Montana the five-point win.

BY THE NUMBERS

Dalton Knecht had a career-high 32 points in the game, shooting 9-for-15 from the field, including 5-for-9 for three, while hitting all seven free-throws he attempted. His five three-pointers also tied his career-best, matching his effort at Cal Baptist on Nov. 21, 2021.
Brock Wisne had a career-best night as well and ended just one rebound shy of a double-double. The freshman ended with 11 points and nine rebounds, both career highs.
Both Daylen Kountz and Matt Johnson II scored 10 points.
UNC shot 32% (8-for-25) from the field in the first half, but shot 50% (14-for-28) in the second half.
Montana was 8-for-16 behind the arc in the contest, and shot 49% from the field.

ACCORDING TO COACH SMILEY
"Losing is not fun. It's one of the few professions, any type of sport, it's one of the few professions where you're judged on a public stage, and it is what it is. We all signed up for this, and we love doing what we do, but when a CPA screws up a tax return, no one knows. I feel bad for our guys, I feel bad for us. I thought we competed. We got down 18, and even at that point I thought this is a much different team than on Thursday. I'm really proud of the guys, but I'm disappointed that they can't enjoy the win, that we didn't find a way to get the win. You can't get down 18 points, and the effort was great to get back to it. Everything we wanted to get to, where they missed a free throw, it's a one-point game, and we have a chance to win it. That is the reality of the team right now.

There's a program that I really respect. Last year they played 11 games that were two-possession games, and they were 9-2, and their season was awesome. That team this year, they're 0-6 in the same games halfway through, and their season is not any good. I feel the same about us, we've won a couple of close games, but we've lost a lot of close games, whether it's Air Force, this, Colorado Christian, overtime at Idaho Stat a two-possession game, Weber State, and you could go on and on. When you lose those games it's painful, and that was painful tonight because it kind of felt like the stars were aligned to get it done, they miss a free throw, but it just doesn't happen. So that's kind of where we are I think."

UP NEXT
The Bears head out west to take on Sacramento State and Portland State on Jan. 12 and Jan. 14, respectively. Both games will begin at 8 p.m. (MT). The games will be streamed on ESPN+ and will also be aired on 1310 KFKA/103.1 FM.