Junior provides inside force for UNC

Despite the brace and sleeve on his right knee, Northern Colorado junior forward Taylor Montgomery is a force in team practices.

Montgomery, who missed three weeks earlier this season with a sprained medial collateral ligament, is third on the team in scoring, averaging 8.4 points per game and second on the team with 4.6 rebounds per game.

Despite the strong offensive numbers, Montgomery, as well as his teammates and coaches, said his ability to defend is his strongest asset on the court.

“In my opinion, he’s the best post defender in the league,” UNC head coach Tad Boyle said.

Montgomery came to the University of Northern Colorado from Cherry Creek High School in Aurora with an all-state pedigree and an athletic heritage. Montgomery’s father, Marvin, played eight seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Denver Broncos.

He averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game as a senior at Cherry Creek, and started 50 games in his first two seasons as a Bear. He started 20 times in the first 22 games of his junior season.

Late in UNC’s 64-62 loss to Montana on Jan. 28, Montgomery came down awkwardly and injured his knee. The injury was revealed to be a grade-three sprain of his MCL.

“It was a near-complete tear of the medial collateral ligament,” UNC trainer Rawley Klingsmith said.

Klingsmith said the team’s doctors expected Montgomery to miss four to six weeks. He returned to game action on Feb. 18 against Eastern Washington, exactly three weeks after he suffered the injury.

“That’s a credit to the training staff,” Montgomery said. “I was probably in there about three and a half hours a day.”

The MCL sprain was not Montgomery’s first injury at UNC.

During practice leading up to the beginning of his sophomore season, center Jabril Banks went up for a rebound and landed with an elbow to Montgomery’s head, giving him a concussion.

Montgomery felt ill effects from the injury throughout his sophomore season, and his numbers decreased from his freshman year. Montgomery scored 3.2 points and grabbed 2.5 rebounds per game as a sophomore after putting up numbers of 5.1 and 3.8 rebounds per game as a freshman.

Among the four games Montgomery missed with his MCL sprain was one against Big Sky regular-season champion Weber State. In the teams’ first matchup, Montgomery dominated Weber State center Steve Panos, a second-team all-conference selection, holding him to eight points and four rebounds.

“If there’s one thing I think I can do when I’m not scoring, it’s guard the post,” Montgomery said.

In the game, UNC and Weber State played without Montgomery, Panos scored a career-high 29 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

“I got my butt kicked,” UNC sophomore forward Mike Proctor said after the game. “Having Taylor out there would’ve helped out a lot.”

Montgomery did not return to UNC’s starting lineup until the Big Sky semifinals against Montana. He scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in the Bears’ 68-63 loss.

Montgomery has one season left at UNC. If he is healthy it will go a long way toward helping the Bears repeat this year’s success.