BOISE, Idaho — When it was over, Travis DeCuire said he didn't have all the answers for why Montana was out of sorts in a 77-66 loss to Idaho late Wednesday in the championship game of the Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournament.
"These are always the tough ones," said DeCuire, Montana's 12th-year coach. "I know (Idaho) wanted it. We knew they were playing good ball. Going into it, I thought we had a good game plan. Unfortunately we left our offense in the locker room. "
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Under the din of a crowd that was decidedly Vandal-heavy, the Grizzlies struggled to find a lot of flow or rhythm for much of the night at Idaho Central Arena and saw their bid for a second straight trip to the NCAA tournament fall short. It was Montana's third consecutive appearance in the Big Sky tournament title game.
Montana star Money Williams wasn't the same player he was in the previous two nights when he went for 40 and 32 points in second-round and semifinal wins to vault the Griz to a shot at the championship. He finished with 19 points.
But it certainly wasn't all on Williams' shoulders — he still won tournament MVP honors after scoring 91 total points and breaking the league's single-tournament scoring record of 83 points previously held my late Montana star Anthony Johnson.
The Griz limited Idaho to 40.7% shooting, which DeCuire pointed to as a formula for success. But Montana shot the exact same percentage and hit just 6 of 25 3-pointers, having never found a level of consistency though 40 minutes.
Sources said Williams played the game while battling an illness. He didn't deny it in the postgame press conference.
"No excuse," said Williams, who was one of a few UM players to sit and watch Idaho's on-court celebration as a form of motivation. "If I feel bad, if I feel good, I still chose to go out there and play. I didn't play my best at the end of the day."
Not since the days of the legendary Orlando Lightfoot had Idaho been this close to a Big Sky Conference championship; this was the Vandals first appearance in the league title game since 1993 when Lightfoot was an All-American.
It had been even longer for Idaho to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. This will be its first trip to the Big Dance since all the way back in 1990.
"I'm proud of him," DeCuire said of Idaho coach Alex Pribble. "I think he's a great coach. He had to scrap from the bottom with that program. And so this is their first winning season in, what, five years? Six years? Actually since 2017-18. That's what makes it special for teams like them."
The Vandals improved their overall record to 21-14 with the win, and captured the championship by winning four games in five days as the No. 7 seed.
The fourth-seeded Grizzlies came into the tournament one game over .500 but took out No. 3 seed Northern Colorado and No. 1 Portland State to reach the final contest. With Wednesday's loss, their record slipped to 18-16.
"It's been hard for this group," DeCuire said. "There's some roles that never really were filled and we had a lot of guys that had to multitask, and that led to a lot of the ups and downs.
"It was hard this year, but it's going to be hard next year, the year after that, and I'm up for the fight and I enjoy the fight."
Big Sky men's tournament scoreboard
Saturday, March 7
Game 1: No. 9 Idaho State 73, No. 10 Northern Arizona 65
Game 2: No. 7 Idaho 68, No. 8 Sacramento State 45
Sunday, March 8
Game 3: No. 1 Portland State 85, No. 9 Idaho State 78
Game 4: No. 7 Idaho 78, No. 2 Montana State 74
Monday, March 9
Game 5: No. 4 Montana 95, No. 5 Northern Colorado 89
Game 6: No. 3 Eastern Washington 84, No. 6 Weber State 79
Tuesday, March 10
Game 7: No. 4 Montana 75, No. 1 Portland State 72
Game 8: No. 7 Idaho 81, No. 3 Eastern Washington 68
Wednesday, March 11
Game 9: No. 7 Idaho 77, No. 4 Montana 66, championship
