Verplancken hits game-winning 3, Weber State basketball tops Montana 59-57
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- Weber State guard Steven Verplancken Jr., top, is held up by teammates after his game-winning 3-pointer to beat Montana on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, in Missoula, Mont.
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- Weber State forward Dillon Jones, left, shoots a 3-pointer over Montana’s Josh Vazquez on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, in Missoula, Mont.
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- Weber State center Alex Tew (20) grabs an offensive rebound against Montana’s Dischon Thomas (24) on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, in Missoula, Mont.
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- Weber State’s Dyson Koehler (4) fends off Montana’s Lonnell Martin Jr. on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023, in Missoula, Mont.
In a low-scoring slugfest at Montana, Dillon Jones was the hero for 39 minutes.
The Weber State forward shot 5 of 7 from the 3-point line, scored 17 points and racked up a career-high 21 rebounds. That’s the first time a Weber State men’s basketball player pulled down 20 or more boards in a game since Joel Bolomboy did it on Feb. 11, 2016.
And after a disastrous 10-turnover outing against Idaho State, Jones had only two Thursday night.
But he needed some help. After grabbing his final rebound on a missed Aanen Moody free throw, Jones raced the other way with his team trailing 57-55 and drew a foul with 4.9 seconds left and Jones — a 90% free-throw shooter this season entering the game — missed his first free throw.
After Jones made the second free throw, WSU’s defense forced Montana into a timeout to avoid a five-second inbound violation. And after the timeout, the Wildcats struck gold.
Montana guard Lonnell Martin Jr. ran the baseline back and forth, then fired a pass near midcourt and right into the hands of Weber State wing player Dyson Koehler. Koehler flipped it to an awaiting Steven Verplancken Jr. on the right wing and he canned a game-winning 3-pointer with 1 second left, lifting Weber State to a dramatic, 59-57 road win.
NO. WAY. ????@WeberStateMBB TAKES THE LEAD.#ExperienceElevated https://t.co/QkFAH7tND2 pic.twitter.com/7W36lbF20b
— Big Sky Conference (@BigSkyConf) January 13, 2023
“That was the ‘Miracle in Missoula’ I think tonight,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “What a great play by Dyson Koehler, had the wherewithal to keep his wits about him and find Steven. Just a great ending, you can’t beat that.”
The play rewarded Weber State for having Jones make his second free throw instead of missing intentionally.
“There’s a lot of things that work into your decision-making there,” Duft said. “They have struggled against the press a little bit and I thought if we can’t make a play and we have to foul, we still have a chance to advance it back down and have another shot at it.”
Verplancken’s big shot was the final in a sequence of several over the game’s final 8 minutes.
After Weber State (8-9, 3-1 Big Sky) took a 45-39 lead on consecutive 3s from Jones, Jones and KJ Cunningham, Montana forward Dischon Thomas was a one-man answer. He sandwiched a post bucket between two 3-pointers to put the Griz (8-9, 2-3) ahead 47-45.
Then Jones hit his final triple of the night on the next possession for a 48-47 Weber State lead with 5:30 left.
From there, a stretch of basket-trading came to WSU guard Junior Ballard driving the lane, taking a bump at the basket while scoring and making his free throw to put his team up 55-54 with 52 seconds left.
Montana star forward Josh Bannan answered after he lost the ball at the elbow and grabbed it before Jones could, spun and found an open lane for a dunk to put Montana ahead 56-55 with 31 seconds left.
Ballard lost the ball the other way and was tied up by Moody, resulting in his 1-of-2 trip that began the wild final sequence.
“Tonight, we just hung in there,” Duft said. “I thought where we made strides … defensively, we made them earn everything. We really guarded them well, and that’s the difference. It’s a small little thing. Small margins for us.”
Jones added three assists to his 17-point, 21-rebound night and played all 40 minutes to lead Weber State. And after the late, missed free throw, Jones was said on postgame radio to return to the court and put up a few practice shots.
Verplancken scored 12 points. Big man Alex Tew added 10 points and seven rebounds; of those seven boards, five were on the offensive glass and three of those in key moments down the stretch.
Ballard scored nine points and Koehler, who was scoreless, had three assists, the big steal and one block.
Moody led Montana with 17 points, knocking down three early 3-pointers that helped the Griz recover from a 9-0 deficit to start the game. Bannan had 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Thomas finished with 11 points.
Weber State now buses to Bozeman where it will play Montana State at 4 p.m. Saturday.
MONTANA 67, WEBER STATE 64 (OT)
Weber State women’s basketball rallied in the fourth quarter and forced overtime, as each team missed potential game-winners in the paint in the final 10 seconds, before Montana did just enough to win in the extra period and extend WSU’s losing streak to eight games.
Laura Taylor hit a 3 to make it 65-64 with 5.2 seconds left in OT and ultimately got another chance at the buzzer to tie it, but hit back iron.
Jadyn Matthews led Weber State (4-12, 0-4 Big Sky) with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Taylor scored 11, and Daryn Hickok and Kaiija Lesane each scored 10 points.
Carmen Gfeller scored 24 points for Montana (7-9, 3-2).
