Idaho misses tying shot at the buzzer in 73-71 loss to Montana

MOSCOW, Idaho – The last time Idaho swept Montana and Montana State at home was February, 2018. The Vandals beat the Bobcats, 88-78, and sneaked past the Grizzlies, 79-77, in overtime, when Nate Sherwood made one of the memorable plays in Idaho’s basketball history and put back a baseline buzzer-beating tip in.

Seven years later, history almost rhymed.

Trailing by a basket with 9 seconds remaining Saturday, Idaho men’s basketball coach Alex Pribble said his team came out of a timeout and tried to set up Kolton Mitchell for a 3-point attempt.

Montana’s defense forced Mitchell to make the catch about 3 feet beyond the arc, and his shot fell short.

But 6-foot-3 guard Kristian Gonzalez crashed to grab the offensive rebound. From under the basket, he shot in serious traffic in the final second to attempt to force overtime. He couldn’t quite get the ball to crawl over the rim, though, and Montana escaped 73-71.

“I honestly didn’t see how much time I had left,” Gonzalez said of his effort.

Montana improved to 9-6 overall, 2-0 in the Big Sky. Idaho is 6-9, 1-1.

In the final timeout, Montana coach Travis Decuire said he told his team to hang tough.

“This is when your fortitude and toughness are challenged,” he said. “Hang in there, hang in there, have each other’s back and make a play.”

In the second half, as Montana rallied from a three-point deficit, Idaho had to cope with a diminished front court as Takai Hardy fouled out with about 5 minutes remaining, Julius Mims had to play with four fouls from 7:24 on, and Kyson Rose couldn’t play while recovering from a concussion.

“That was an issue,” Pribble said.

Pribble said the Grizzlies regularly defeated Idaho screens.

“Their physicality hurt us,” he said.

After a slow start that saw the Vandals fall behind 12-3 on 1-12 shooting, Idaho rallied in the final 10 minutes of the first half to take a short-lived 28-27 lead as Mims slammed home Jack Payne’s rim-high pass. When Malik Moore followed with a basket for the Grizzlies, Payne got the Vandals in front again with a turnaround from the baseline, and Gonzalez increased the lead to 32-29 on a put back under the hoop with the shot clock reading two seconds. The relentlessly attacking Gonzalez, led Idaho’s scoring with 12 points in the first half. Moore matched him with 12 for the Grizzlies. Gonzalez led all scorers with 19 points. He added six rebounds and two steals. UI’s Jack Payne scored 18 points.

Montana’s Money Williams and Malik Moore scored 18 apiece.

In the second half, Payne was a large part of reason the Grizzlies did not overtake the Vandals until the final 3:17. He dropped in shots three times from the arc and spun around Montana’s Austin Patterson for another basket.

Gonzalez also grabbed an offensive rebound and took it to the rack.“He is kind of a do-it-all kind of guy,” Pribble said of Payne. “He will do whatever the team needs. Tonight, he needed to score.”

Payne said Pribble “put his trust in me. It was fun.”

Pribble said of Gonzalez “he is showing what an elite guard he is becoming.”

Idaho couldn’t duplicate the magic of 2018, when Idaho defeated Montana 79-77 in overtime. Pribble summed up the near miss against Montana.

“We have been using the word ‘potential’ a lot,” Pribble said. “But potential is just potential until you do it on the court.”

Idaho women

Idaho 63, Montana 50: Hope Hassmann scored 20 points, Olivia Nelson and Sarah Brans added 12 apiece to lead the Vandals (7-8, 2-0 Big Sky) past the Grizzlies (5-8, 1-1) at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.