The Montana Grizzlies and the Air Force Falcons traded full halves of momentum-fueled dominance in the fourth game of the Washington State Cougar Hispanic College Fund Challenge Saturday.
But the Grizzlies -- behind a clutch three point shot from Cameron Rundles with 1:04 remaining, and critical free throws by guards Matt Martin and Greg Spurgetis over the final 30 seconds -- barely preserved the slimmest remnants of their 16-point, 37-21 halftime lead, and outlasted the Falcons to win 59-57 before 2509 tourney spectators.
PHOTO: Cameron Rundles drives through traffic past Jordan Hasquet for two of his 13 points.
“It’s crazy,” said a relieved Montana coach Wayne Tinkle afterward. “We got a big lead in the first half and we stretched it at the beginning of the first half. “It was a good thing we did, because obviously they made a ton of nice plays late.”
The Griz parlayed their 16-point halftime lead into a seemingly insurmountable 44-21 margin with 17 minutes remaining on quick scores by Rundles, Jordan Hasquet and Andrew Strait.
But then the Falcons applied a series of full-court and half-court traps, which were quickly converted to points on eight second-half Griz turnovers. So, within the span of two minutes, the Griz led by only 12, 44-32.
From there it was a floor battle, with the Grizzlies fighting for every possession until -- with 2:33 remaining, the Falcons trailed by only 52-49.
At that point the Griz got a final solid time-elapsing possession and worked the ball for an open baseline shot by guard Ryan Staudacher. But his shot rimmed out and the Falcons’ Anwar Johnson drove the lane for a short jumper to pull the Falcons within 52-51.
Rundles -- who scored 13 for the game -- took over on the next possession with his critical trey to extend the Griz lead to 55-51.
“I didn’t make a lot of shots tonight, but on that possession I told Jordan not to ball-screen for me because I decided to go one-for-one, and I got an open shot when he (defender) was backing off.”
“They were trapping on us a few times at that point,” said Tinkle. “So we told Cam we were going to let him try to make the play. He saw the opening and pulled up. And that’s one thing about Cam,” Tinkle added. “He makes big shots for us.”
Rundles’ shot changed the Falcons’ strategy from pressure to having to foul for possession. That’s when Martin and Spurgetis stepped up. Their shots preserved what would be a mere split second of breathing room, since the Falcons had a final shot with .8 second remaining.
“In a way I’m kind of glad it happened,” said Rundles. “We were up 20-some points in the second half and it showed us that you’ve got to bury teams. You can’t give teams any life because any chance they get they think they can come back,” he added.
Martin, who paced the Grizzlies with 15 points and four assists, converted 7-for-9 shots from the free 
throw line. His critical free throws came with 27 seconds remaining when -- on an inbounds pass in front of the Air Force bench -- Martin took the pass and was quickly shoved out of bounds by Falcon defender Andrew Henke.
PHOTO: Matt Martin drives to the bucket in first-half action. Martin was fouled and made both free throws.
The referee closest to the play called Martin out of bounds. Immediately afterwards the referee on the far baseline over-ruled the play and called Henke for the foul, much to the fury of the Air Force bench.
“My heart was up in my throat,” said Tinkle. “It was clear from my angle that the guy shoved him,” he added.
“Call it controversial or whatever, but I thought it was the right call,” said Tinkle. And then Matt went down and made some free throws for us.”
Tinkle said the win was well-deserved by his squad. “It was a great gut-check,” he said. “That’s their first loss. That’s a heck of a team, and we found a way to figure it out.”
Hasquet scored 10 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Griz. Staudacher contributed 8 points, nailing two pure treys in the early going. Strait was again pummeled down low, but grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Griz.
The Grizzlies out-shot and out boarded the Falcons. They made 43.5% of their field goals compared to 40% by the Falcons. Each team made 8 treys.
The Grizzlies had a 36-28 rebounding edge, but were forced into 12 turnovers, compared to only 7 by the Falcons.
The Grizzlies meet winless Mississippi Valley State tomorrow at noon while the Falcons play the Cougars in the final game of the round-robin tourney.
