In their first NCAA tournament in school history, the Grambling State Tigers emerged victorious, erasing a double-digit second-half deficit to defeat Montana State 88-81.
Grambling State came into this game off winning its first-ever SWAC tournament championship, winning 75-66 over a Texas Southern team that had won the last three conference tournaments.
Jimel Cofer, averaging 2.8 points per game for Grambling this season, came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points, making 7-of-9 shot attempts.
Jourdan Smith, however, was the star of the game for the Tigers, finishing with 18 points and hitting 6-of-10 shots from the field. He also recorded nine rebounds, three blocks, and two steals.
Antwan Burnett scored 18 points for Grambling, adding five rebounds to his stat line, while Mikale Stevenson scored 10 points off the bench.
Things looked bleak to begin for the Tigers as Montana State hit back-to-back three-pointers to take an 18-9 lead in the game’s first eight minutes.
After Grambling quickly responded, going on a 10-2 run over the next two minutes, they would eventually take a 29-27 lead with 5:15 remaining in the half.
First-ever NCAA Tournament appearance ✅
First-ever NCAA Tournament win ✅What a start to March for Grambling State 👏 pic.twitter.com/mCuVpiLRWH
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 21, 2024
The momentum, however, switched back to Montana State as they outscored Grambling State 15-6 to take a 42-33 lead into the halftime locker room.
With 14:40 left in the second half, Montana State took a 53-39 lead, marking its largest advantage of the game.
From there, the Grambling State defense began going to work, putting together consecutive scoring possessions together off Montana State turnovers.
In a stretch spanning 13:49 to 12:08 remaining in the second half, Grambling State scored seven straight points on three consecutive possessions, scoring 53-47.
Montana State got a glimmer of hope as star guard Robert Ford III began to get hot from three-point range, hitting two straight from deep to give his team a 59-51 lead.
That is until the Tigers responded with a 9-0 run to take its first lead since the latter minutes of the first half.
Trailing 72-70 with 52 seconds left in regulation, Cofer hit a layup to tie the game and send the game to overtime.
CLUTCH PUTBACK DUNK FOR GRAMBLING STATE 😤🔨 pic.twitter.com/W0KvEQA5io
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 21, 2024
In overtime, Smith began to take over for the Tigers, making big plays down the stretch to spark his team. This included a big block on a Montana State three-point attempt and a big put-back dunk that gave his team a four-point lead with 56 seconds to go.
Grambling State sealed the win, hitting its free throws down the stretch to move on to the Round of 64.
The Tigers will now look ahead to a matchup against Midwest Region No. 1 seed Purdue in the next round.
