‘Jackets headed to GNAC tourney despite loss to WOU Saturday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Saturday, February 25, 2017 ‘Jackets headed to GNAC tourney despite loss to WOU Saturday

MSUB’s men’s basketball team loses its regular-season finale at Western Oregon 72-56 Saturday, but earns its first berth into the GNAC Championships since the 2013-14 as the No. 6 seed.

MONMOUTH, Ore. – For the first time since the 2013-14 season, the Montana State University Billings men’s basketball team is headed to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships despite a 72-56 loss at Western Oregon University in the 2016-17 regular-season finale Saturday night at the New P.E. Building.

The Yellowjackets (14-14, 9-11 GNAC) advanced to the tournament on the final day of the season, by securing the sixth and final spot and winning a tiebreaker in the GNAC standings.

“This was a crazy night, and our guys played really hard against a really good team,” said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. “The goal is always to extend your season as long as possible and somehow, we were able to do that. We are 00 now just like everybody else, and we can’t wait for Thursday.”

MSUB will have a rematch against the Wolves in the opening game of the tournament, which is hosted by Saint Martin’s University at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Wash. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, and live video and live statistics will be available online through GNAC.tv. Tickets are available for online purchase through the Event Brite link here.

In Saturday’s loss, MSUB shot just 31.5 percent in the game (17for-54), including a dismal 3-for-21 from 3-point range (14.3 percent). The Wolves meanwhile shot at a clip of 44.8 percent from the floor (26-for-58) and made 9 of 21 treys (42.9 percent).

Western Oregon had already clinched the No. 3 seed in the tournament, and the defending GNAC champions finished the regular season 16-12 overall and 13-7 in league play.

WOU was led by Tanner Omlid, who had 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and a block. “We just couldn’t make enough shots tonight,” Stevens said. “Western is great and is very well coached, and Tanner Omlid is a great player.”

The teams traded buckets early on, with MSUB rolling out to an early 16-12 lead on a trey by Sven Jeuschede with 11:02 to go in the first half. The Wolves rattled off an 8-0 run after that however, and wound up leading the rest of the ballgame.

Junior Kendall Denham had a career-high 10 rebounds in Saturday’s loss at Western Oregon.

The home team began to stretch out its lead towards the end of the first half, embarking on a 10-2 run that made the score 36-23 with 3:27 to play before halftime. WOU held a 38-30 advantage at the break.

MSUB got as close as four points, down 45-41 after a jumper by Kamal Tall with 13:01 remaining in the game. A long scoring drought hurt the Yellowjackets’ chances of getting back in the game, as the team didn’t score again until a pair of free throws by Jace Anderson almost 4:30 later. By then WOU had built a double-figure advantage, and was never in danger of losing control of the lead the rest of the way.

Anderson led the ‘Jackets with 16 points, while Preston Beverly had 15 and Tall added a dozen. Kendall Denham grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, and just missed a double-double with nine points. Beverly added six boards, two blocks, two steals, and an assist to his line in 36 minutes.

For the Wolves, Ali Faruq-Bey and Demetrius Trammell each had 11 points, and Evan Garrison added 10. Faruq-Bey and JJ Chirnside each chipped in six rebounds, and the Wolves won despite being out-boarded 39-33 in the game.

The ‘Jackets also committed 16 turnovers, which WOU turned into 19 points. Conversely, the Wolves turned the ball over just nine times leading to just seven points off turnovers for MSUB. THE RACE TO LACEY: The Yellowjackets awaited the results of two other crucial conference games, and wound up in a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference standings at 9-11 in league play along with Northwest Nazarene and

Central Washington. CWU lost at Alaska Anchorage 84-72 earlier in the day, and NNU fell at the University of Alaska 7370 Saturday night. A 93-82 upset win by last-place Simon Fraser over Seattle Pacific prevented a four-way tie, and eliminated the Falcons from contention. Since MSUB, CWU, and NNU were each 2-2 against one another during the season, the Yellowjackets won the tiebreaker by virtue of holding a 2-2 record against top-seed Western Washington and second-place Alaska Anchorage. NNU was 1-3 against the conference leaders (teams with a winning percentage of .750 or higher) while CWU went 0-4.

THE BUZZ: Denham was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…MSUB and WOU split the season series, after MSUB won 79-71 in Billings on Dec. 5…MSUB is 11-13 all-time in the series against WOU…the three 3pointers were the second fewest in a game for MSUB this year, and the fewest since the team went just 2-for-12 in its season-opener on Nov. 11 at Cal Baptist…the 56 points were the second-fewest scored by MSUB in a game this year, with only a 54-50 loss against Cal State East Bay on Nov. 19 standing as a lower scoring game.

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