BOZEMAN — For the past month, there’s been no successful formula to beating the Montana men’s basketball team.
For Grizzlies coach Travis DeCuire, there’s been no stopping his ascent in the program record book.
PHOTOS: GRIZZLIES, BOBCATS BATTLE TO THRILLER IN BRAWL OF THE WILD IN BOZEMAN
Withstanding a raucous crowd of 5,580 Saturday night at Worthington Arena, Montana won in a pressure cooker over archrival Montana State 89-85 in the second of their two Brawl of the Wild matchups, capturing their ninth straight game and giving DeCuire his 221st career victory to tie him for the top spot in program history with George Dahlberg.
"Great win. The Cats had no quit in them," DeCuire said. "They just kept coming. They were explosive offensively tonight, but we had enough firepower to respond and answer."
Of tying Dahlberg's record, DeCuire said: "Stew Morrill, Blaine Taylor, Mike Montogomery ... those guys really impacted my Division I coaching career. The record is the record. Obviously I stuck around and saw it out. Any of those guys I just named could have the record, including Wayne Tinkle.
"So to hang in there for 11 years is a big part of it."
Another win will make DeCuire, in his 11th season in Missoula, the Grizzlies’ all-time winningest coach. But this game also served as a continuation of the team’s late-season surge — the Griz haven’t lost since falling at Idaho State way back on Jan. 18.
First-place Montana is now 20-8 overall and 13-6 in the Big Sky.
"The season we've had, we've had close games throughout, and we're able to finish them out," said Montana's Kai Johnson, who led with 23 points.
But it didn’t come without second-half adversity. UM led the entire first half and took a nine-point lead into halftime up 49-40. The Bobcats (12-16, 7-8) worked the deficit down to two after a pair of Jabe Mullins free throws at the 14:18 mark, making the score 56-54.
It was then that the Grizzlies went on a 13-5 run to go back ahead by 10, 69-59, after a corner 3 by Johnson with 10:02 remaining. A three-point play by Brandon Whitney proved crucial in that stretch, as well.
Two big plays by Patrick McMahon — a two-handed dunk and a three-point play — cut the Grizzlies’ lead to 80-77 with just over 4:00 left. But a floating layup through a foul by Johnson put Montana up by five.
Johnson made another driving basket to give the Griz an 84-77 lead with 3:07 to go, and then Whitney followed his own miss to extend the advantage to nine points on Montana’s next trip down.
But the Bobcats didn’t go quietly and got back to within one possession. Yet under a deafening roar, Money Williams made 1 of 2 foul shots for the Griz with 27.3 seconds left to keep UM ahead 87-83, but McMahon scored on a drive and was fouled to cut the lead to 87-85.
McMahon missed the ensuing free throw, and Te’Jon Sawyer hit a pair on the other end for the Grizzlies to ice the game with 12 seconds left.
Montana State missed 11 second-half free throws, which coach Matt Logie decried in the aftermath, along with a string of fouls that allowed Montana to make 12 of 15 from the line in the final 20 minutes.
"You do the math on the margins with that, and with missed free throws you feel like it was a game you had a chance to win," Logie said. "It's certainly disappointing. But these are details and lessons that hopefully we can learn from and pay heed to moving forward the rest of the season."
Five players scored in double figures for the Grizzlies. Johnson had his 23 points before fouling out. Whitney added 18 and Malik Moore 15 for Montana, which shot 54.5% as a team.
McMahon’s 22 points led the Bobcats, while Mullins added 17 and Brandon Walker scored 16. MSU shot 53.6% from the floor collectively.
The Grizzlies, with the win, earned a season sweep of MSU following a 77-70 victory in Missoula on Jan. 25. It is DeCuire's seventh sweep of the Cats and Montana's 10th overall since 2010.
UM returns to the court on Thursday at Sacramento State as DeCuire goes for win No. 222. The Bobcats are at Portland State on Thursday.
