Montana hampered by injury bug

[lmutourney2011]

Well good luck to them in keeping their team healthy, we know something about injuries at this place. Hopefully with the new strength and conditioning coach they will be cut down.

[phurther]

Here's an interesting note: In this exhibition, Montana is playing Lewis Clark State College, the school where former LMU undergraduate assistant Tim Collins is the assistant coach. That's like two degrees of separation. Or something like that.

[thx4leavinjimlynam]

Despite their injury woes, the Grizzlies beat a good NAIA team by 29...if we beat them, that would be a HUGE win for Max and the program.

It definitely will be the most difficult game of the three (just have to hope the fact that is the third game in three days works to our advantage since they are shorthanded....ha, having the other team shorthanded is already a 180-degree turnaround from last year). Game story below.

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A dominant second half by the Montana Grizzlies led to an 82-53 victory over Lewis-Clark State College Warriors in a Friday night exhibition matchup.

Senior guard Ryan Staudacher led the second half surge, scoring all of his 10 points in the final frame. He helped lead the Griz to 60 percent shooting from the field in the second half.

The Montana defense also stepped up their second half effort, holding the Warriors to just 29 percent second half shooting after allowing 45 percent from the field in the first half.

Montana held a hard-earned 34-28 halftime lead on balanced scoring. Seven Grizzlies scored in the first half led by Anthony Johnson with 11.

The Grizzlies started the game slow. The first Montana points of the game came on a Brian Qvale layup on a pass from Anthony Johnson nearly two minutes into the game. The slow start the helped the Warriors to an early 7-2 lead.

The Grizzlies took their first lead over five minutes into the game, a 12-11 advantage on an Anthony Johnson three. The score remained 12-11 for nearly three minutes until Johnson once again scored at the 11:45 point to up the lead to three.

Anthony Johnson led the Grizzlies with 19 points and 8 assists. Johnson again showed he is a feature player with an amazing first half play. He sent two Warriors flying with a head fake, leading to an uncontested layup.

Brian Qvale showed an increased aggressiveness with several tough rebounds and a huge first half block. He led the Griz with 10 rebounds, he also added 7 points.

New Grizzlies Raason Young and Will Cherry both saw extensive minutes with big results. Young had 8 rebounds and scored 8 points including an emphatic first half break away dunk. Cherry contributed 10 points with seven coming in the final minutes of the game.

Redshirt Freshman Mathias Ward also contributed to the victory with 7 points and 6 rebounds.

Montana now prepares for the Karl Tyler Chevrolet Grizzly Basketball Tournament. The tournament is the first home tournament since 2003. The tournament features Boise State, Loyola-Marymount, and North Dakota as well as the host Grizzlies.

[LIONS90045]

Later in the season Montana visits Gersten so we can see them in person. And the Montana coach is on the Mid-Major poll committee - a couple of victories vs Montana would improve LMU's standing.

[LIONS90045]

Montana returns 3 of their top 5 scorers from last season plus Qvale, a 6'11" 265 center who averaged 5.6 ppg and 5.0 rpg, so no crockodile tears from me on their misfortune. The four scholarship players injured did not play significant roles last year on their 17-12 team.
I expect this to be a competitive game, but LMU has a chance to make a mark against this squad if we play consistently good team ball. I think we can match up to their size up front but need to handle their guards to prevail.
Go Lions!

www.montanagrizzlies.com/pages/roster.aspx?r=26&m=17

To me, Boise State looks like to toughest opponent in this tournament from my readings.

[LIONS90045]

I now take back my comment that Boise may be our toughest game.
Montana's starters all scored in double figures in their big win over Boise State last night 95-82.
We need to clamp down on their starters as the bench did not show a lot of depth from the scoring.
Will be a tough game on Montana's home court.

We need to cut down our fouls which may be key to the game - Montana's leading scorer made 14 of 14 from the free throw line.

scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=293180149

Go Lions!

[LIONS90045]

Live internet video of today's game appears to be available (at no cost) on Montana's website - Big Sky TV.
In the past, I have found these video feeds to be delayed several seconds from live audio on the radio but hey if it works we can actually watch how our guys are doing today!

www.montanagrizzlies.com/pages/event.aspx?e=225&m=17#

Go Lions!