Yellowjacket men host Rocky in exhibition Wednesday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Monday, November 16, 2015 Yellowjacket men host Rocky in exhibition game Wednesday

MSUB’s men’s basketball team returns home to host Rocky Mountain College in an exhibition game on Wednesday evening at Alterowitz Gym before resuming the regular season with a road trip this weekend.

BILLINGS, Mont. – After playing the first two games of its 2015-16 regular season over the weekend, the Montana State University Billings men’s basketball team returns to Alterowitz Gym on Wednesday to host Rocky Mountain College in an exhibition game at 7 p.m.

The contest will be the second of the season between the two Billings colleges, with RMC winning an exhibition game on Oct. 28 80-65 at the Fortin Center.

Verizon Cellular Plus will serve as the game sponsor for Wednesday’s contest, and $2 tickets may be purchased at any of the store locations in Billings, Lockwood, or Laurel. The first 75 MSUB students who attend Wednesday’s game will also receive a free gold MSUB t-shirt. MSUB will don retro Eastern Montana College jerseys, as Wednesday’s contest will be themed as the Yellowjackets’ annual Throwback Night.

The Yellowjackets will resume regular-season play this weekend, traveling to the Dakotas to take on Black Hills State University on Saturday and the University of Mary next Monday. Saturday’s game will feature a 2 p.m. tipoff in Spearfish, S.D., with next Monday’s contest starting at 6 p.m. Mountain time in Bismarck, N.D. “Our true focus this week is on the Saturday game at Black Hills and the Monday game at Mary,” said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. “Our guys need to go out and play 40 minutes, and taste some success. The Wednesday game is important, and we are going to prepare to win the game. Hopefully that will help us moving forward into the weekend.”

The Yellowjackets are coming off of a pair of losses at a tournament hosted by Cal State University East Bay last weekend, as MSUB opened its season with a 92-66 setback against California Collegiate Athletic Association preseasonfavorite Chico State University on Friday. The ‘Jackets then fell to Cal State East Bay 64-50 on Saturday in Hayward, Calif.

HITTING HIS MARC: Through the first two games of the season, junior guard Marc Matthews leads the team in scoring with 34 points. He netted 16 on Friday before scoring a game-high 18 on Saturday against the Pioneers. So far, Matthews has converted 7 of 12 3-point attempts for a percentage of .583, and has made 7 of 8 free throws for a mark of 87.5 percent.

Matthews was one of the Yellowjackets’ top long-range shooters last season, ranking second on the team in made 3-pointers with 41. He is the team’s top returning scorer from last season as he averaged 9.9 points per game as a sophomore.

JP 24: In 24 minutes in the season-opener against the Wildcats, sophomore Jordan Perry made the most of his time with a team-high 19 points. He made 6 of 10 shots from the field and converted 7 of 8 free throws to lead the way for MSUB.

Junior Marc Matthews.

“In that game, I felt like I could get by their defense,” Perry said. “I also had a lot of fouls called in my favor so I went to the line multiple times. Marc Matthews did a phenomenal job getting to the rack, and I really like his game.”

22 FOR EJ: Scoring 22 points in the two games last week, senior forward Emmanuel Johnson also led the squad in rebounding with 13. Johnson made the most of his attempts from the foul line, converting 12 of 16 shots as the ‘Jackets are off to a strong mark of 73.1 percent from the line this season.

FRESHMAN HOMECOMING: Making their first collegiate appearances, freshmen Cade Alcorn and Preston Beverly saw their first action in their home state of California over the weekend. Alcorn started both games and grabbed six rebounds, while Beverly netted 11 points with two steals, two assists, and six boards.

“It was pretty exciting getting to play my first college game,” Beverly said on his debut last Friday. “I feel like we are gelling pretty good and are clicking. I have a pretty good connection with Cade (Alcorn) because he is another California guy. We gel pretty good.”

EVANS DEBUTS: After redshirting a season ago, Christian Evans made his collegiate debut in California as well, scoring 14 points and taking in 11 rebounds over the weekend. The Bigfork, Mont., native played the third-most minutes on the team (58) in the two games, coming off the bench and providing two assists and a steal.

LESSINGER TO REDSHIRT: Suffering an injury during practice, freshman forward Zack Lessinger will be sidelined for 12 weeks and will take a medical redshirt for the 2015-16 season.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Yellowjackets completed the first of three tournaments on the preseason schedule, the next of which will run over Thanksgiving weekend at Alterowitz Gym. MSUB will host University of Alaska, Dixie State University, and Dominican University (Calif.) in a four-team affair on Nov. 27-28.

The ‘Jackets will also compete in a four-team tournament hosted by Seattle Pacific, running Dec. 11-12 in Seattle.

Conference play begins on Dec. 3 and 5 with a pair of road games, before picking up again on New Year’s Eve at home against Simon Fraser University.

Wednesday, November 18 – Rocky Mountain College Battlin’ Bears (Exh.) – 7 p.m.

2015 Record: 5-0 Head Coach: Bill Dreikosen, 16th season The Bears have started their season 5-0, with two more counting games on tap before they begin Frontier Conference play in early December.

Rob Nyby, who scored a game-high 28 points in the last exhibition game between the teams, is pacing the squad with 19 points and 10 rebounds per game. Zach Hinton (14.5), Chad Kananen (13.6), Taylor Longo (12.2), and Trenton Pollard (11.0) are also in double figures in scoring average for the Battlin’ Bears this season.

RMC is outscoring its opponents 91.4-56.2 on the season, and is winning the battle on the boards 58.2-34.

Freshman Christian Evans works against RMC’s Joe Stulc during the teams’ first meeting on Oct. 28 at the Fortin Center.

The Series: The Yellowjackets hold an alltime record of 88-80 against the Bears in the 167 historic meetings dating back to the 1929 season. MSUB is 51-30 alltime in Alterowitz Gym.

Saturday, November 21 – at Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets – 2 p.m.

2015 Record: 1-1 Head Coach: Jeff Trumbauer, 2nd season Having played two games this season, BHSU dropped its opener 75-74 against Presentation on Friday before a solid 8361 win over Johnson & Wales (Colo.) on Saturday in a pair of home games. Ryan Riley headlined a trio of double-figure scorers in the opening weekend, totaling 30 points in 29.5 minutes per game.

Also averaging in double-digits in the two games were Nick Ongarato (13.0) and Fraser Malcolm (10.0). The Yellow Jackets outrebounded their opponents 40-32 in the two games, and shot 42.1 percent from the field overall.

Ryan and Ongarato are two of three seniors on BHSU’s roster, joining Tate Hilgenkamp as a trio of veteran leaders for second-year head coach Jeff Trumbauer.

The Series: In 17 historic meetings, MSUB has held the slight upper hand with a 17-10 record against their similarlynamed opponents. MSUB will be looking to even the series at the Donald E. Young Center, where it has gone 2-3 historically.

Last Time Out: MSUB prevailed in a preseason contest last year, defeating BHSU 79-61 at Alterowitz Gym on Nov. 29, 2014. Matthews led the way in that contest with 23 points, while Perry was the top rebounder with eight.

Monday, November 23 – at University of Mary Marauders – 6 p.m. MTN 2015 Record: 2-0 Head Coach: Joe Kittell, 1st season The Marauders are off to a 2-0 start under new head coach Joe Kittell, defeating Henderson State University 79-70 on Friday before handing Southern Arkansas University a 77-76 loss the following evening in Lancaster, Texas.

Mary will take on South Dakota School of Mines on Wednesday prior to next Monday’s meeting with the Yellowjackets.

So far on the season, Bryan Jefferson has stolen the show with 19 points per game and 8.5 rebounds, both team highs.

Marquealis Edwards (13.5) and Brandon Tyler (13) are also in double figures in scoring, with the former close behind Jefferson with eight rebounds per game.

As a team Mary has shot well early on, with a field-goal percentage of 50.4 and a free-throw percentage of 80. The Marauders have used their high-scoring offense to out-muscle opponents this season, averaging 78 points per game but giving up 73.

The Series: The Yellowjackets hold a 5-3 alltime record against the Marauders, with the series sitting at an even 2-2 in games in Bismarck. UM has won two of the last three and three of the last five meetings, after MSUB started the series with three straight wins from 1979-2008.

Last Time Out: None of the current Yellowjackets have played against the Marauders, with the last meeting coming during the 2011-12 season. MSUB held off UM in a 79-75 road win in Bismarck on Nov. 26, 2011.

--@MSUBSports | #JacketNation--