They got a one-way ticket back to reality at halftime.
“I was really frustrated with our lack of focus and our lack of energy,” said Tinkle, whose animated halftime talk drifted out of the locker room and across the hall into the media room. “We need to believe in our depth and our bench and lay it on the line while we're out there.”
MVS had managed just 26 points in a loss to No. 9 Washington State on Saturday, but had four more than that in the first half when they grabbed a 30-28 lead at the break. Stanford Speech had 16 of his team-high 23 points in the first half to stake MVS to its lead.
“We weren't ready to go from the get-go,” Martin said. “Yesterday, that second half against Air Force Š let's just say it was a long second half. We had to keep our focus.”
The Griz shot 64 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle 31-20, and yet found themselves in a battle down to the wire. The reason: 18 turnovers.
“Our bigs had nine of those,” Tinkle said. “A lot were on penetration and dump-offs or on press breaker. We've got to shore some things up. When we're not all into it, we're less than average.”
The Delta Devils followed the same formula Air Force discovered during the second half of Montana's 59-57 win on Saturday: Pressure the Griz guards on the perimeter so that they can't get the ball into the hands of Montana's big men, its bread and butter.
“Teams are climbing up into us on the perimeter,” Tinkle said. “We've got to find ways. We were in such a fog mentally, but we got those things cleared up at halftime.”
Still, as good as the Griz were shooting the ball, they couldn't get any separation until Elgin-Taylor nailed a 3-pointer with 8:06 to play. Coming on the heels of a pretty drive by Cam Rundles, it gave the Griz a 51-44 lead.
“Cam did a good job of dragging his guy over,” Elgin-Taylor said of his clutch trey. “I knew I had to knock it down.”
The closest the Devils could get the rest of the way was three points on several occasions. The last came on a put-back by Carl Lucas that made it 61-58 with 36.5 seconds to play. But Jordan Hasquet got free for an easy layup against the full-court press to seal the outcome.
As much attention as Montana's big men receive - Hasquet and Andrew Strait combined for 23 points and 15 rebounds - it was the Grizzlies' guards who saved their bacon in WSU's tournament. Against the Delta Devils, Martin, Elgin-Taylor, Rundles and Ryan Staudacher combined for 40 points.
“I just think with (Strait) being a preseason All-American, everybody knows who he and Hasquet are,” Elgin-Taylor said. “The guards have to be ready when they kick it out and make shots.”
Martin figures the Griz will be tough when they clean up the turnovers.
“We've got to get better than that,” Martin said. “Once we do and shoot a high percentage like that, we'll be hard to stop.”
NOTES: Speech and Lucas (21 points) combined for 44 of the Devils' 62 points. Š Rundles left the game momentarily with a leg or ankle injury, but returned and limped through the rest of the game. He finished with four points, four rebounds and six assists. .... Rundles was the lone Griz named to the all-tourney team. Joining him were Washington State's Kyle Weaver (MVP), Derrick Low and Taylor Rochestie, Air Force's Andrew Henke and Carl Lucas of Mississippi Valley State.
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE (62)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Lucas 37 6-17 7-10 5 4 2 21
f-Petty 29 3-7 0-0 5 2 0 6
g-Speech 38 8-15 3-5 3 3 3 23
g-Hermason 20 0-4 0-0 2 3 1 0
g-Clark 31 1-2 0-0 1 2 0 3
Parks 10 1-1 0-0 0 0 1 3
Davis 21 1-5 0-0 2 1 2 2
Smith 14 2-2 0-0 1 0 0 4
Totals 200 22-53 10-15 20 15 9 62
MONTANA (69)
Mins FG-A FT-A Reb PF A Pts
f-Hasquet 26 6-11 1-2 7 3 2 13
f-Staudacher 33 3-5 2-2 1 1 3 9
c-Strait 31 4-5 2-4 8 0 0 10
g-Martin 30 6-10 2-3 2 1 1 16
g-Rundles 29 2-5 0-0 4 3 6 4
Elgin-Taylor 24 4-4 2-2 0 3 1 11
Spurgetis 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0
Sharp 16 1-2 0-0 4 2 0 2
Qvale 11 2-2 0-0 2 3 1 4
Totals 200 28-44 9-13 31 16 14 69
Halftime score: Mississippi Valley State 30, Zontana 28.
3-point goals: MVS 8-14 (Speech 4-6, Lucas 2-3, Parks 1-1, Clark 1-2, Petty 0-1, Davis 0-1), UM 4-11 (Martin 2-5, Elgin-Taylor 1-1, Staudacher 1-2, Rundles 0-1, Hasquet 0-2).
Turnovers: MVS 7 (Lucas 2, Speech 2), UM 18 (Sharp 4).
Blocked shots: MVS 0, UM 0.
Steals: MVS 4 (Speech 3), UM 4 (Martin 3).
Officials: Tom Wood, Randy Burkhart, Quin Crozier.
Attendance: NA
Sports editor Bob Meseroll can be reached at 523-5265 or at sportsdesk@missoulian.com.
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