A quick glance at the stat sheet for the Montana-Cal State Fullerton men's college basketball game at Dahlberg Arena Friday evening might lead the casual fan to conclude an easy Griz win.
What the final 100-91 win by the Titans does not reveal -- among other things - is the ease with which the visitors won. Call it a spanking, a dismantling or a good old-fashioned whipping if you will. The final score -- proof that statistics sometimes lie -- indicated a closer game than a passive crowd of 4236 actually witnessed.
In a span of five-plus minutes midway through the second half of a -- to that point -- spirited Titan-Griz 
standoff, Cal-Fullerton shooters rolled the dice with six consecutive three-point shots -- sandwiched between a layup and a dunk -- and emerged with flair, chest beating, high fives and a general jaunty comportment, to an 18-point, 80-62 lead that was never seriously blunted from there.
Most befuddling about the Titan win was that Montana shot a better field goal
PHOTO: Ceylon Elgin-Taylor is fouled by Kenneth Alexander (#21). Elgin-Taylor missed both free throw shots.
percentage (57% to 52%), and even had a better three-point field goal percentage (58% to 56%). So it boiled down to this: when you're hot, you're hot.
In a game where the remaining statistics reveal an evenly-played contest, an 18-point, six-for-six from three-point range, blisteringly hot streak for the Titans quickly, efficiently, almost surprisingly, sealed the win. The term "surprise" is not cheaply used here, because Montana defenders -- behind their relatively soft 3-point defense -- seemed surprised that Titan players would shoot from 19, 21 or 23 feet... and make 8-for-10 of them in the process.
For a Montana defense that had been holding opponents to 31 percent from beyond the arc, the 80 percent second-half shooting binge by the Titans (56% for the game) was a back-breaker.
Montana guard Ceylon Elgin Taylor, getting his first start at the point, diagnosed it simply.
"They caught fire," said Elgin-Taylor. "It was hard to stop them. They shot the hell out of the ball. I mean, if we had eliminated even a couple of those shots, the game would have gone down to the wire."
"The thing is..." said Montana assistant coach Nate DuChesne, "We let them get going. The scouting reports told us that when they catch the ball we've got to defend and we weren't there."
PHOTO: Andrew Strait scores two of his 21 points.
Montana coach Wayne Tinkle was even less forgiving. "We played poor defense. There's no excuse for that."
Tinkle added that the defensive game plan was to "force" Titan players to drive rather than shoot. It became a problem of finishing, said Tinkle.
"We just allowed their shooters to catch and shoot. We were there but we didn't have a hand up. We didn't make our presence known."
The game still boiled down to that 6-minute stretch.
PHOTO: Jordan Hasquet scores two of his team-high 26 points. Hasquet was fouled and made the free throw.
Otherwise the game was a battle, particularly in a rapid-paced first half that saw eight lead changes. Montana had its last lead of the game with four minutes left in the first half after two Martin free throws. The game was tied at 43 with just over a minute remaining.
Fullerton jumped to a quick 6-point lead after halftime, but Montana -- boosted by a two-minute run of 8 consecutive points -- pulled within one at 55-54 on a Martin trey off of a pass from Staudacher.
Then disaster struck. A chance for a Montana lead turned into an open court steal and a layup by CSU forward Frank Robinson. And that was the start of the fateful Titan run... and Montana's collapse.
From their 18-point deficit at the end of CSU's streak, Montana battled back with three mini surges -- the last one ending at 1:18 with a 6-point 87-81 deficit. But by then the Griz had to foul for possession, and the Titans made 11-of-12 free throws to keep the Grizzlies at bay. Titan wing Frank Robinson led CSU with 30 points while guard Josh Akognon scored 26 and contributed a game-high 6-for-11 treys.
What Montana did right seems moot at this point. But Grizzly front court players Jordan Hasquet and Andrew Strait turned in yeoman's efforts. Hasquet shot 9-for-16 from the field -- for a team-high 26 points -- and snared a game-high 12 rebounds. Hasquet converted 4-of-6 free throws.
Strait returned to his power-post form with a dominant game. Strait sank 9-for-13 shots in the paint -- many on his patented step-through pivot moves -- and converted 3-for-4 from the free throw line.
Grizzly shooting guard Matt Martin continued his steady arc of heady back-court play, scoring 17 points on 4-for-6 three pointers and 3-for-4 free throws. But it was Martin's game-high six assists (tied with Cameron Rundles) that most signaled his development into a senior leader.
Despite shooting only 1-for-5 from the free throw line, Elgin-Taylor continues his solid development as part of Montana's point-guard tandem, contributing five assists while commiting a single turnover. Grizzly shooting guard Ryan Staudacher scored 11 points with 3-for-4 treys and had four assists.
Grizzly Guards turned in a creditable floor game under intense Titan full-court pressure, logging 25 assists in the game against 16 turnovers.
Perhaps the most telling stat in the 9-point loss was the 9 missed free throws that led to a poor 60.9 shooting percentage from the line. Several first half misses kept the Grizzlies from getting a lead.
Both DuChesne and Tinkle saw positive signs in the loss. Strait's resurgent game. The 25 assists against only 16 turnovers. The Grizzlies scored 24 points in the paint. And Montana converted 9 second-chance scoring oportunities.
"We didn't struggle with their pressure," said DuChesne. "We did a good job getting the ball into the post."
"We scored more than enough points to win this game," DuChesne concluded.
"But it was all about our defense..."
