FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Monday, January 4, 2016 Anderson picked as GNAC Player of the Week; will miss remainder of 2015-16 season
Scoring 18 points in each of MSUB’s GNAC victories last week, junior Jace Anderson is selected as the GNAC Player of the Week, but will miss the rest of the season with an injury. PORTLAND, Ore. – After a pair of standout performances that helped the Montana State University Billings men’s basketball team to two Great Northwest Athletic Conference wins last week, junior guard Jace Anderson has been selected as the conference’s Player of the Week announced Monday. With 40 seconds left in Saturday’s game against the Vikings, Anderson suffered a knee injury that will keep him out for the remainder of the 2015-16 season. “Last week’s performance was the same thing Jace has given us for two years now,” said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. “This is a well-deserved honor, and we don’t win either game without Jace playing the way he played. Obviously moving forward, other guys are going to have to step up, and we are preaching to our guys to be resilient and a next-man-up philosophy. We feel like Jace is a hard guy to replace, and no one guy can replace him because he has been so valuable. We are looking forward to having him back next year, and we want him to go out right as a senior.”
Anderson scored 18 points in each of MSUB’s wins last week, helping the Yellowjackets to a 94-83 victory over Simon Fraser University on Thursday before a tight, 77-75 win over Western Washington University on Saturday. On Thursday, Anderson led all players with six assists and added six rebounds in 30 minutes. The Whitewater, Mont., native also made all seven of his free-throws, and had two steals in the victory. On Saturday, Anderson had two more steals and two more assists to go with his 18 points and again played 30 minutes. Overall on the weekend Anderson made 11 of 22 shots (50.0 percent) including an outstanding 7 of 13 from 3-point range (53.8 percent). He was perfect from the foul line, had seven rebounds, and had eight assists and four steals against just four turnovers. On the season, Anderson is averaging 14.1 points per game and leads the team with 33 assists. He netted a career-high 30 points in MSUB’s victory over the University of Mary on Nov. 23, and has scored in double figures in nine games including his last six. He is shooting 48.7 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from 3-point range, and 83.9 percent from the foul line. This is Anderson’s first-ever GNAC Player of the Week honor, and is the first such award of the 2015-16 season for the Yellowjacket men. The Yellowjackets (6-6, 3-1 GNAC) kick off a four-game road trip next week, facing Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday. --@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--