‘Jackets come up short against No. 6 Western Oregon 80-72

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Thursday, February 25, 2016 ‘Jackets come up short against No. 6 Western Oregon 80-72

The Yellowjackets fight to the finish but No. 6 Western Oregon holds on for an 80-72 win at Alterowitz Gym on Thursday.

BILLINGS, Mont. – Five Wolves scored in double figures as the No. 6 Western Oregon University men’s basketball team held on for an 80-72 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory over host Montana State University Billings Thursday night at Alterowitz Gym. MSUB rallied late to pull within two possessions inside of two minutes to play, but the Wolves held off the push down the stretch. Jordan Perry scored his 19th and final point of the game on a free throw to cut it to 75-70 with 1:05 remaining, but WOU limited the ‘Jackets to just two points the rest of the way to secure the win.

Perry, the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game, matched his season high in scoring, and also had three rebounds, three assists, and two steals for the ‘Jackets. “Jordan played awesome,” said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. “We challenged him in practice this week to come out with energy, and he did that tonight. He was playing harder than anybody on the court, and he kept us in it.”

Perry’s efforts were overshadowed by reigning GNAC Player of the Year Andy Avgi, who scored 17 points, and had six rebounds, four assists, four blocks and a steal as he finished his senior regular-season campaign as the frontrunner to

claim the conference’s top award again. Devon Alexander led the Wolves with 19 points, Julian Nichols chipped in 15, Jordan Wiley had 13, and Tanner Omlid scored 10 as all five starters were in double digits.

The Wolves (25-3, 18-2 GNAC) completed their regular season schedule with their third win in a row, and will enter next week’s GNAC Championships as the No. 1 overall seed. With the loss, the ‘Jackets fell to 10-17 on the year and 7-12 in conference play, and were eliminated from contention for a postseason berth.

“We stayed with them the whole game, but we just could never get it back to even,” Stevens said. “When you play really good teams like that, you have to string a bunch of made shots together, and we were not able to do that tonight.”

The ‘Jackets started the game just 2-for-10 from the field, with Preston Beverly scoring his team’s first five points in the opening six minutes of the game. The true freshman led the ‘Jackets with 22 points and eight rebounds in the game, as he connected on 8 of 15 shots including 4 of 7 from 3-point range.

Preston Beverly grabs one of his teamhigh eight rebounds during Thursday’s loss to Western Oregon. Tanner Omlid (11) had 10 points and a game-high four steals for the Wolves.

A five-point burst on a pair of foul shots and a trey from Perry helped the ‘Jackets keep it close, as MSUB trailed 15-10 midway through the first. Avgi completed a threepoint play with just under five minutes before the break, driving hard for a layup and converting the foul shot to push WOU ahead by 15, 37-22. The ‘Jackets fought hard to get back into the game, as Perry scored seven points over the next four minutes to cut the spread to 42-37 at halftime.

Johnson drained back-to-back 3-pointers at the 8-minute mark in the second half, pulling MSUB within two possessions down 61-55. The senior reached the 20-point mark for the third time in his last four games, and also had six rebounds and a pair of assists in 38 minutes.

On the game, the Wolves shot 46.2 percent from the field (24-for-52), 40.9 percent from 3-point range (9-for-22), and made 23 of 33 foul shots. The ‘Jackets shot 37.3 percent overall (22-for-59), including 33.3 percent from long range (10for-30). MSUB was solid as usual from the free-throw line, making 18 of 21 attempts (85.7 percent). Emmanuel Olufemi grabbed seven rebounds and also had a block in the game, as he helped the ‘Jackets out-rebound the Wolves 43-29.

MSUB committed 15 turnovers however, which WOU turned into 19 points. The visitors gave the ball up just nine times, leading to 11 points off of turnovers for the ‘Jackets.

“Our number one job now is to send EJ out the right way,” Stevens commented on Saturday’s Senior Night which will honor Johnson. “Our main focus over the next two days is getting ourselves ready go out and play as hard as we possibly can Saturday. We want to send a very good player and person for our program out the right way.”

THE BUZZ: Johnson had his fifth 20-point game of the season…Beverly had his seventh 20-point game of the year and just missed his seventh double-double…Olufemi kept his streak of at least block in every game alive, and he now has 47 on the season.

COMING UP: MSUB plays its final game of the 2015-16 season on Saturday, as the ‘Jackets host Concordia University with a 7 p.m. tipoff at Alterowitz Gym. Johnson will be honored in a pre-game ceremony as the Yellowjackets’ lone senior, and live video and statistics will be available through MSUB’s Stretch Internet portal here.