The odds were against Montana before the season even began.

Will Cherry, the Grizzlies’ celebrated point guard, broke his right foot in a pick-up game before the start of his senior campaign. Midway through February, leading scorer Mathias Ward sprained the arch in his left foot when he landed awkwardly on another player’s foot.

But even after two of Montana’s best players were taken off of their feet and handed crutches, the Grizzlies never lost their footing.

“It feels great,” head coach Wayne Tinkle said of his team’s return to the NCAA Tournament. “Just everything we’ve been through. We committed to doing what we could to try to get back. And facing all the adversity, the injuries, to be able to accomplish that just means the world to us.”

Although Cherry’s broken right foot sidelined him for 10 games and Ward’s injury ended his season, the Grizzlies (25-6, 19-1 Big Sky) earned themselves a No. 13 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, drawing fourth-seeded Syracuse in their first matchup. Junior swingman Kareem Jamar emerged in Ward’s absence and earned Big Sky Player of the Year honors, leading his team in rebounding and scoring 18.7 points per game after Ward went down.

Much was expected of Cherry going into this year after his performance last season garnered honors of Mid-Major All-American and Mid-Major Defensive All-American. He was also named first-team, All-Big Sky for the second year in a row. Some anticipated the 6-foot-1 guard would be the league’s premier player.

So, when Cherry’s broken foot cost him the first seven games of the year – and 37 minutes of UM’s eighth game as he slowly worked his way back – Montana struggled. The Grizzlies started 3-1, but lost three out of four games and dropped to a mediocre 4-4 record.

“He’s really our catalyst. He sets the tempo for us on both ends of the floor,” Tinkle said. “So once he got healthy, then we were able to play like we knew we were capable.”

It’s no coincidence Montana embarked on a lengthy winning streak once Cherry returned to the starting lineup. The point guard averaged 14.1 points and 4.9 assists per game as the Grizzlies reeled off win after win for a 14-game winning streak.

“He’s everything. He’s our engine,” Jamar said of Cherry. “He’s dealt with so much this year and bounced back.”

After Montana’s win over North Dakota on Feb. 9, the Grizzlies improved to 18-4 and stood 2.5 games ahead of rival Weber State in the Big Sky standings.

“I think a big part of it was the adversity we dealt with,” Tinkle said of his team’s winning streak. “We had to play guys early in the season against tough, stiff competition a little earlier than we had planned. They got tougher and more confident. And I think that paid off.”

As Cherry anchored the Grizzlies defensively – he tallied at least three steals in nine games throughout the season – Ward proved to be the Grizzlies’ go-to scorer. The forward scored at least 20 points in five contests, each one a Montana win.

But after the North Dakota win, the Grizzlies began a five-game road trip that cost them more than their winning streak. Two days after the streak snapped with a 24-point loss at Weber State, Ward suffered his foot injury at Idaho State on Feb. 16. The leading scorer underwent surgery in the first week of March and was ruled out for the rest of the season.

“People wrote my teammates off when I got hurt. They wrote us off when Mathias Ward got hurt. They wrote us off when both of us got hurt at the same time,” Cherry said. “But my teammates had a never-say-die attitude.”

The subtraction of a leading scorer was a loss that would’ve disrupted many other teams. But how the Grizzlies stayed on their feet despite Ward’s absence is why Tinkle’s peers voted him Big Sky Coach of the Year.

A true small forward now mans Ward’s power forward slot, Tinkle said, making Montana a smaller team, but with refined ball skills.

“We’ve just kind of had to retool things,” Tinkle said. “So maybe we’re a little more athletic and a little more perimeter-oriented than we were with him. We’re not getting those inside baskets, but we’ve got four handlers and four shooters out there at any given point.”

In the Grizzlies’ first game without their top scorer, they took on a 20-win team in Davidson on Feb. 23. Down by nine at halftime, Montana battled back to force overtime. In the extra period, Jamar scored nine of the team’s 11 points – he finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, both season-highs – but even that wasn’t enough. The Wildcats prevailed by six as Cherry re-injured his foot. He would miss the next three games.

But Montana’s effort spoke for itself as it battled with NCAA Tournament-bound Davidson.

“I thought that was a real turning point,” Tinkle said. “To go that far without our leading scorer, we know it’s a tough place to win. To take them to overtime I think told our team that we can really compete with anybody.”

The Grizzlies haven’t lost since. They clinched the Big Sky regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, as well as home-court advantage throughout.

They squared off with Weber State in the championship, a chance to redeem themselves from their only conference loss of the year. Ahead by two points with less than a minute remaining and the shot clock winding down, Cherry took a pass on the left wing from Jamar and buried a 3-pointer to put the game away and secure Montana’s return to the Big Dance.

“It was special. I was sitting out about three months with a broken foot and not even knowing if I was going to be able to return this season,” Cherry said. “To have my team get to this point is really just making me reflect on the hard road it took for me to make that shot.”

Despite the hardships that were thrown in the team’s direction and the injuries that tried to cripple it, Montana was left standing.

On Thursday night, the Grizzlies will face a bigger Syracuse team that poses potential mismatches in length, athleticism and talent.

Once again, adversity will threaten to knock Montana down. And once again, the Grizzlies will need to stay on their feet.

“We play with a chip on our shoulder,” Cherry said. “That’s when we’re at our best because we don’t expect anything to be given to us. So we go into games with the mentality that we’ve got to take it.”

Published on March 20, 2013 at 1:55 am

Contact Phil: pmdabbra@syr.edu | @PhilDAbb