Beasley, Griz hit the gas to beat Southern Miss
MISSOULA — His name is Robby Beasley III, and he shoots IIIs.
Beasley, a sophomore guard, hit five long-range shots Friday night in Montana’s 74-62 win over Southern Mississippi at the Zootown Classic men’s basketball tournament.
An appreciative Dahlberg Crowd of 3,135 watched the Grizzlies go 2-0 in the illness-shortened tournament — flu-ridden UNC-Wilmington took off after one game — and win the tournament finale with a 35-18 surge over the final 9:29.
Lonnell Martin scored 20 points to lead the Grizzlies, and Josh Bannan had 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Cameron Parker’s old-fashioned three-point play gave the Griz the lead for good, 42-41.
But Beasley hit two big threes at 8:21 and 5:53 as Montana asserted some command in a back-and-forth, physical game. The last made it 53-46; a dunk by Bannan made it 57-48 with 4:05 left; another drive by Parker, who had nine points, and a pretty fadeaway from Bannan boosted the gap to 62-50 with 1:30 remaining.
The Grizzlies hit 12 straight free throws from there.
“We did a good job playing through adversity,” eighth-year Grizzlies’ coach Travis DeCuire said. “We struggled offensively, to make shots, in the first half. The ball wasn’t going in the basket.”
Except for Martin, who had 13 of his points by intermission. The junior college transfer hit his third 3-pointer (he had four) to put Montana up 25-20 at the 5:42 mark, though the Golden Eagles rallied to lead 33-29 at half.
“I started off really slow,” said Martin, who scored 12 points through Montana’s first four games. “My teammates reassured me that they believed in me. I’ve been missing a lot of shots — a lot of shots that I should be making.
“I got it going early, and my coaches and my teammates let me know that they believe in me.”
While Bannan had two points (and three fouls) by halftime, Beasley was 2-for-8 from the field at intermission. They weren’t bad looks, if there is such a thing for the 6-foot-3 shooter.
“He shot 40 percent last year,” DeCuire noted. “So you have to assume he’s a 40 percent 3-point shooter. Let it fly. Just keep getting good shots and the ball is going to go in at some point.
“We recruited him as a shooter, and we kind of coach somebody by their reputation. Give him credit for what he did the year before, and that’s what happens.”
Bannan snared 10 rebounds to go with his 15 points. Mack Anderson had six points and six rebounds before fouling.
Tyler Stevenson had game highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Golden Eagles (5-3), who won their first two games at this tournament. Stevenson, a 6-8 junior, bombed in a three to cut Montana’s lead to 48-46 with 7:14 left; he then missed a three and five straight free throws as the Griz padded out their lead.
Isaih Moore, who stands 6-10, added 17 points and 6-8 DeAndre Pinckney added 12 for Southern Miss. Their size helped the Eagles to a 22-14 advantage on the glass at halftime, but the Griz held their own from there
Then the shots began to fall. It was a nice reversal from Nov. 15, when the Griz lost a 17-point lead and fell 79-77 at North Dakota.
“That was a game we walked away from feeling like we should have won. But that loss led to this streak we’re on,” DeCuire said. “(Southern Miss) wanted to minimize our penetration. We penetrated quite a bit against UC San Diego (in a 71-61 win on Wednesday). And I think they decided they were going to take that away and left our shooters open.
“Those shots weren’t going in the basket, but we knew the percentages would catch up in the second half.”
TIP DRILL: Kyle Owens, who started 25 games last season, logged just 2 minutes after a DNP Wednesday night. Josh Vazquez (16 starts) logged five minutes. “It’s hard to play 10,” said DeCuire, who saw eight players score Friday. “When those people play well, that’s who plays. What happens is you get, Who’s coming out? It’s just hard.” … Anderson, a senior out of Bozeman, blocked two shots before fouling out in 33 minutes. … Parker had eight assists and just one turnover.