‘Cats come clutch in OT, race past ‘Jackets 88-79

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Thursday, February 4, 2016 ‘Cats come clutch in OT, race past ‘Jackets 88-79

Tied entering overtime at 74-74, the Wildcats outscore the Yellowjackets 14-5 in the encore period Thursday night as MSUB loses to Central Washington 88-79 at Alterowitz Gym. BILLINGS, Mont. – A motivated Central Washington University men’s basketball team kicked off overtime with a 9-0 run and the Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets came up short despite a valiant comeback effort in an 88-79 Great Northwest Athletic Conference loss Thursday night at Alterowitz Gym. The ‘Jackets trailed by double figures with 7:12 to go in regulation, but worked their way back into the game before a Marc Matthews layup tied the score at 74-74 with 1:07 left. CWU missed two layups and the ‘Jackets missed one over the final minute, as each team had opportunities to win in regulation.

Preston Beverly led all players with 21 points and came up one rebound shy of his third straight double-double, while Jordan Perry led the team in rebounding with 10 and added eight points in 26 minutes. Marc Matthews finished with 14 points, and Kendall Denham and Emmanuel Olufemi had 13 apiece.

The Wildcats won their second game in-a-row thanks to a 20-point evening from Gary Jacobs, who added a game-best 14 rebounds including five on the offensive end. Joey Roppo hit three shots from long range and scored 15 points, Devin Matthews had a dozen, and Joseph Stroud chipped in 10 for the visitors.

CWU moved to 14-5 on the season and 9-5 in the GNAC, while MSUB fell to 7-14 overall and 4-9 in conference games.

“I am proud of our guys’ effort to get back into the game tonight,” said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. “They battled all night and hopefully we can carry over our second half tonight into Saturday’s game.”

The Wildcats’ lead peaked at 21 points, as they built on a 49-32 halftime lead by scoring four straight points to open the second. But the ‘Jackets slowly crept back into the game throughout the entire second half. A three-point play by Denham capped off a 9-3 run, and back-to-back threes by Perry and Beverly five minutes later narrowed the spread to seven points.

Beverly grabbed a rebound and fed a long pass to Matthews, who finished a fast-break layup on the next possession to make it 67-62 in favor of the ‘Cats.

The ‘Jackets remained close, but didn’t tie the score until Matthews’ layup made it 74-74. The junior had a tough look on MSUB’s final possession of regulation, but his layup wouldn’t fall and the ‘Cats took control in overtime.

Junior Emmanuel Olufemi had a season-high 13 points Thursday in MSUB’s overtime loss to Central Washington.

The Wildcats out-rebounded the ‘Jackets 44-37 in the game, and had 13 turnovers compared with 14 by MSUB. Beverly made a team-high seven shots, and MSUB shot well from the field overall at 44.8 percent (26-for-58). The ‘Jackets struggled from 3-point range however, making just 5 of 21 shots for 23.8 percent. Despite reaching the foul line often, MSUB made only 66.7 percent of its free throws (22 of 33) including just 7 of 13 in the second half.

The Wildcats shot 40.0 percent from the field (28-for-70), and made 10 of 20 3-pointers and 22 of 26 foul shots (84.6 percent). Thirteen offensive rebounds led to a dozen second-chance points for CWU, and the ‘Cats had eight steals while MSUB managed just five.

CWU began to pull away midway through the first half, gaining its first double-figure lead at 29-19 with 9:02 before the break. The ‘Jackets hit a cold spell over the final five minutes of the first, hitting just 2 of 6 shots and turning the ball over three times to dig themselves a hole heading to the locker room.

THE BUZZ: Beverly was picked as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…he now has four 20-point games this season and reached the mark for the second game in-a-row…Olufemi’s 13 points were a season high and he kept his streak of at least one block in every game alive…Perry’s 10 rebounds were a season high…Denham’s 14 points was his second-best mark on the year…last season’s game at Alterowitz between the ‘Jackets and Wildcats was also decided in overtime, as CWU won 104-99 the night Antoine Hosley set a GNAC record with 50 points.

AHEAD: The Yellowjackets will welcome Northwest Nazarene to Alterowitz Gym on Saturday, with a 7 p.m. tipoff scheduled against the Crusaders. NNU won the first game between the teams 98-96 in Nampa, Idaho on Jan. 7.

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