As an aside, the WBI is not happening this year. They were plugging the thing (which would've been played in tandem with the CBI in Daytona Beach) on their twitter just 5 days ago, but they announced today that they hope to be back for 2025.
The Big Sky NCAA drought continues as the Bobcats blew a double-digit lead and lost to Grambling 88-81 in overtime. Montana State led 53-39 early in the second half, but the Tigers countered with a 23-6 run that gave them the lead. The 'Cats made 13 threes to Grambling's 4, but the Tigers won the boards by 14. Robert Ford had 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Tyler Patterson, on the other hand, went 1/8 from the arc.
Montana beat Boise in the first round of the WNIT 92-66. The Lady Griz led by about 10 for most of it, but Boise really went cold down the stretch and the lead ballooned. Montana shot 52% from the field and went 15/25 from three.
Mvemjsunpx wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 6:04 pm
The Big Sky NCAA drought continues as the Bobcats blew a double-digit lead and lost to Grambling 88-81 in overtime. Montana State led 53-39 early in the second half, but the Tigers countered with a 23-6 run that gave them the lead. The 'Cats made 13 threes to Grambling's 4, but the Tigers won the boards by 14. Robert Ford had 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Tyler Patterson, on the other hand, went 1/8 from the arc.
Mvemjsunpx wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 6:04 pm
The Big Sky NCAA drought continues as the Bobcats blew a double-digit lead and lost to Grambling 88-81 in overtime. Montana State led 53-39 early in the second half, but the Tigers countered with a 23-6 run that gave them the lead. The 'Cats made 13 threes to Grambling's 4, but the Tigers won the boards by 14. Robert Ford had 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Tyler Patterson, on the other hand, went 1/8 from the arc.
Mvemjsunpx wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 7:54 pm
Montana beat Boise in the first round of the WNIT 92-66. The Lady Griz led by about 10 for most of it, but Boise really went cold down the stretch and the lead ballooned. Montana shot 52% from the field and went 15/25 from three.
And Macey Huard (Brock's daughter), who had a career-high 16 points in this win, is now in the portal.
Northern Colorado, who made the WNIT for some reason, lost to Texas-San Antonio 80-62 in the first round. The Bears shot 50% in the odd-numbered quarters but only 26% in the even-numbered quarters (UTSA shot 48% for the game). It didn't help the Bears that they had multiple players enter the portal prior to this game, among them Seneca Hackley and her 9.0 ppg.
Eastern Washington's 13-game win streak came to an end in Corvallis as they lost to Oregon State 73-51. The Eagles led 18-10 late in the first quarter, but they struggled mightily to make shots and defend the post after that. The Beavers lost turnovers 19-7, but they won shooting 55%-30% and rebounding 46-27. Jamie Loera had 21 points to lead EWU.
Northern Colorado's season came to an end in Daytona Beach after losing to Cleveland State 51-49. The Bears badly missed their stars as Dejour Reaves is in the portal and Saint Thomas didn't play for some reason (I don't think he's in the portal). NoCo went 1/18 from three and shot 18% from the field in the first half. They still managed to tie it late, but the Vikings made a shot at the buzzer to win it.
Montana survived 82-79 in overtime against a Presbyterian team that had no business being in a postseason tournament (their computer rankings were on par with the bottom of the Big Sky). Aanen Moody went 14/21 from the field and had a game-high 34 points (all of his points were from the field). The Griz still had trouble, though, because the Blue Hose won points-off-turnovers 24-13—this included a steal for a fast-break layup that tied the game at the end of regulation.
The Griz men lost to Arkansas State 74-61 in the CBI quarterfinals, thus ending the season for men's Big Sky. Montana outshot the Red Wolves 46%-39%, but they lost the boards by 11 and lost turnovers 15-6. Laulu Oke led the Griz with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists in his final game. On the other hand, Aanen Moody had just 4 points in his final game after scoring 34 in the first round.
The Lady Griz season came to an end as they lost to NDSU in Fargo 72-63. Montana went 11-24 from three but just 10/37 (27%) inside the arc. The Bison thoroughly dominated the glass 46-25; Dani Bartsch had 13 boards for UM, but the rest of the team combined only had 12 (8 if you take out "TEAM" rebounds). With Macey Huard in the portal, the Lady Griz bench was decidedly unproductive: 1/6 FGs, 2 pts., 3 reb., 6 fouls. Gina Marxen had a season-high 24 points in her final game, but Carmen Gfeller fouled out of her final game with a full 7 minutes to play.
This result leaves the NAU women, who have yet to play their first postseason game, as the only Big Sky team left standing.
The Big Sky basketball season is officially over as NAU lost to South Dakota in Vermillion in the second round of the WNIT 79-65. The 'Jacks led by 6 at the half and by 2 after three quarters, but they went 5/22 from the field in the fourth and were outscored 28-12. South Dakota went 27/28 from the line while NAU only got 6 total FT attempts. Grace Larkins had 34 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Coyotes. Grace Beasley & Emily Rodabaugh both had rough final games for the Lumberjacks, going a combined 5/22 from the field and 2/13 from three.
Big Sky Postseason Thread - 2024
