Travis DeCuire is coach of the year as Montana Grizzlies clean up Big Sky awards

MISSOULA Montana's first Big Sky Conference championship season in six years led to the men's basketball team hauling in a number of awards.

Travis DeCuire was named the league's coach of the year for the second time in his 11 seasons leading his alma mater and the first time since 2018.

He broke the UM career wins record last week and won his fourth regular season title.

The Griz went 22-9 overall and 15-3 in the Big Sky to share the title with Northern Colorado and get the No.

2 seed in the league tournament in Boise.

Sophomore guard Money Williams also earned an individual accolade as he was named the top reserve.

He started the first 20 games of the season, including the first seven in Big Sky play, but switched to being the first player off the bench in the final 11 games of the regular season, providing a spark that helped UM go on its 10-game winning streak.

Senior forward Joe Pridgen earned first-team honors in his first season at Montana, which is his fourth college team.

Pridgen, who will be using a waiver to return to the Griz next year , was the Patriot League rookie of the year, made the all-conference third team and landed on the all-rookie team in the 2020 season at Holy Cross.

Williams also picked up second-team recognition along with senior guard Brandon Whitney and junior guard Malik Moore.

Whitney, who broke the UM career assists record Monday, also made the all-defensive team this year after being an All-Big Sky honorable mention and an all-tournament team selection last season.

Moore is in his first year at UM after transferring from Pepperdine.

The four all-conference honors are the most for the Griz since they had four in 2012.

DeCuire and Wayne Tinkle are Montana's only two-time Big Sky coach of the year honorees.

Junior forward Brandon Walker was Montana State's lone honoree, earning all-conference honorable mention status.

He was benched and didn't play in the final two games of the regular season as the Cats moved up to the No.

5 seed.

Idaho State's Dylan Darling was named the most valuable player and the newcomer of the year after he transferred from Washington State.

The Bengals' Evan Otten was chosen as the freshman of the year.

Portland State's Tre-Vaughn Minott was picked as the defensive player of the year.

Individual Awards Most Valuable Player: Dylan Darling, Idaho State Newcomer of the Year: Dylan Darling, Idaho State* Freshman of the Year: Evan Otten, Idaho State Defensive Player of the Year: Tre-Vaughn Minott, Portland State Top Reserve: Money Williams, Montana Coach of the Year: Travis DeCuire, Montana First Team All-Conference Dylan Darling, Idaho State* Langston Reynolds, Northern Colorado* Trent McLaughlin, Northern Arizona Blaise Threatt, Weber State Joe Pridgen, Montana Isaiah Hawthorne, Northern Colorado Jaron Rillie, Northern Colorado Second Team All-Conference Malik Moore, Montana Carson Towt, Northern Arizona Terri Miller Jr., Portland State Jacob Holt, Sacramento State Money Williams, Montana Brandon Whitney, Montana All-Conference Honorable Mention Jaylin Henderson, Portland State Qiant Myers, Portland State Jake O'Neil, Idaho State Brandon Walker, Montana State Jack Payne, Idaho All-Defensive Team Tre-Vaughn Minott, Portland State (DPOY) Carson Towt, Northern Arizona* Brandon Whitney, Montana Jake O'Neil, Idaho State Zach Bloch, Northern Colorado * Indicates a Unanimous Decision Frank Gogola is the Senior Sports Reporter at the Missoulian and 406 MT Sports.

Follow him on X @FrankGogola or email him at [email protected] .

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