Montana guard Jordan Gregory hit a game-winning layup to move the Grizzlies past Northern Arizona and into the Big Sky finals, but it wasn’t without some controversy.
After Northern Arizona’s Kris Yanku hit a free throw to tie the game at 59 with eight seconds remaining, Gregory took it the length of the court and drove to the hole for the clutch basket. As the ball went through the basket, Montana’s Jermaine Edmonds excitedly rushed the court without realizing there was still 0.4 seconds left on the clock.
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Edmonds, an academically ineligible player who wasn’t in uniform, quickly realized his mistake and dove back to the sideline as NAU was inbounding the ball.
Edmonds’ mistake could have resulted in a technical foul, but the officials “determined that the commotion did not interfere with the play, and no technical was called.”
NAU coach Jack Murphy wasn’t pleased with the way things turned out and got in the face of Montana coach Travis DeCuire in the post-game handshake line. A brief scuffle ensued, but no punches were thrown.
Here’s the entire wacky sequence in its entirety, thanks to Dan Cimmino of KPAX in Missoula.
The video clearly shows Murphy sparking the confrontation and he was apologetic after the game.
"I'd like to start by apologizing there at the end," Murphy said. "Montana played a fantastic game and I don't want anything to take away from the quality of that game. I thought that Montana played very, very hard and we played hard. ... Obviously at the end of the year like this when everything is on the line and it's a tight game emotions bubble over at times. I want to give Coach DeCuire a big congratulations."
Big Sky commissioner Doug Fullerton complimented the players from both sides for the way they handled things and trying to break up the fracas. However, the league will continue to review Murphy’s actions.
“First thing, I want to compliment the players," Fullerton said in a statement. "The players as we watch them, there are no punches thrown, and they are breaking it up. They absolutely did a good job, both sets of players. The one thing people want to know about is (Montana coach) Travis (DeCuire), I see absolutely no action by Travis that would cause us to suspend him or cause any problems for Travis tomorrow. We're still reviewing the head coach at Northern Arizona.”
The win improves Montana’s record to 20-11 on the season and sets up a Big Sky championship matchup with 25-8 Eastern Washington, a team that upset Indiana earlier in the season.
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The teams split two matchups during the season with Eastern Washington winning 75-69 on Feb. 5 and Montana coming out on top 77-76 on Feb. 28.
The winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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