The evidence was in the stats. Montana’s defense forced 18 Warriors’ turnovers, while nabbing nine outright steals. On the other end Montana reversed a year-long trend of soft assist-to-turnover stats with a sparkling 17-to10 assist-to turnover ratio on the night. It didn’t hurt that Montana shot 60.6 percent from the field in the second half runaway, triggered by some surprising full-court pressure defense.
Senior Jack McGillis -- playing most of the night at power forward in the absence of injured Derek Selvig -- scored 15 points on a variety of his patented herky-jerky bulldog drives, while senior sharpshooter Ryan Staudacher scored 10 on 4-of-9 conversions from long range. The remainder of the equally promising Griz frontcourt -- forwards Raason Young (8) and frosh Mathias Ward (7) and junior post Brian Qvale (7) -- helped the Griz dominate inside. They also helped to contribute to a 40-29 Montana margin on the boards, led by Qvale’s 10 and Young’s 8.
Sophomore point guard Shawn Stockton scored points with productive minutes behind Johnson and Cherry, and senior forward Vassy Banny, still recovering from a knee injury, scored two points while snaring six rebounds.
Montana Coach Wayne Tinkle -- who’s seen Selvig and freshman forward Eric Hutchison felled by serious foot injuries, and junior off-guard Michael Taylor hobbled with a shoulder injury -- couldn’t hide his pleasure or his surprise at Montana’s solid play.
Johnson is a known quantity and has capable assumed his role as a vocal team leader. But Cherry’s easy assumption as a backup floor general is a promising sign for a Montana team that’s struggled to find confident floor leaders.
It’s not a matter of wishful thinking to predict that this year’s Griz have the potential to be a much improved team from last season. Simply put, they’re faster and quicker on both ends of the court.
A natural result of that team-wide quickness are a variety of full-court and half-court defensive pressure strategies, which Montana briefly unveiled over a short second half span. The pressure D quickly expanded Montana’s lead to the final 29-point margin. Montana fans haven’t seen effective pressure D from Montana since its 2006 championship season. Full court man pressure is exactly what Cherry relishes. (more on Cherry tomorrow and Sunday)
Once the Griz can harness that raw power, they’ll have the tools to compete with most -- if not all -- the teams on their non-conference schedule this year.
Tinkle said he recruited specifically to inject physical quickness into his squad. Still, he seemed mildly surprised in the post-game interview, that the Griz full-court defense, including two zone traps, worked so quickly and so efficiently. He said the squad had only worked on the pressure D for a day.
Newcomers Raason Young and Will Cherry had a lot to do with Montana’s defense. Cherry was most impressive, displaying the ability to force ballhandlers away from their offense and, in several cases disrupt passing lanes. Young is still struggling with his perimeter defense, but played efficient baseline defense.
Forward Tanner McIntosh scored 15 points for the Warriors while senior post James Craft scored 13.
Montana now turns its attention to the beginning of nonconference play when they host their own Karl Tyler Chevrolet Tourney next weekend. The Griz tip off against North Dakota on Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.
