'Jacket men head to Emerald City for Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Wednesday, December 9, 2015 ‘Jacket men head to Emerald City for Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic

MSUB’s men’s basketball team takes on Azusa Pacific on Friday and Northwest University on Saturday in a pair of nonconference games hosted by Seattle Pacific University.

BILLINGS, Mont. – After splitting its first two Great Northwest Athletic Conference games of the 2015-16 season, the Montana State University Billings men’s basketball team returns to non-conference play this weekend with a pair of games at the Oak Harbor Freight Lines Classic hosted by Seattle Pacific University.

The Yellowjackets (3-5, 1-1 GNAC) will challenge west-region opponent Azusa Pacific University on Friday before facing Northwest University (NAIA) on Saturday. Both games will begin at 5:30 p.m. Mountain time at Royal Brougham Pavilion on the SPU campus in downtown Seattle. Live video for both games will be available free of charge here, and live statistics for both games will be available here.

“Four of our first 10 games this year are against teams that were in the NCAA tournament last year, and Azusa continues that streak of playing a really tough schedule before Christmas,” said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. “It will be a nice measuring stick to see where we are at in the west region. Hopefully we have a little bit of edge to us, and we are going to have to play really well against a team like Azusa.”

The two games this weekend will be the final two counting contests before the holiday break, with an exhibition game at Carroll College scheduled for next Wednesday in Helena, Mont. MSUB will resume GNAC play on New Year’s Eve, hosting Simon Fraser University in the first of 18 straight conference games in the race to the GNAC Championships.

MSUB is coming off a road trip to Oregon that started with a 76-59 win over Concordia University last Thursday and wrapped up with a 91-69 loss at No. 4 Western Oregon University last Saturday. The ‘Jackets are one of three GNAC teams that split during the opening weekend of conference play, with four teams going 2-0 and four teams going 0-2.

“Any time you go on the road and get a split in conference, you should be happy,” Stevens said of last week’s games.

“We just didn’t compete the same way Saturday night that I felt we did Thursday night, but overall I am happy with the split.”

FAB FRESHMEN: Among the top individual-game performances through the first eight games of the season, three have come from freshmen on MSUB’s roster. Cade Alcorn, Preston Beverly, and Christian Evans have each recorded a double-double, with the two true freshmen achieving the feat last week.

Against the Cavaliers on Thursday, Alcorn crashed the boards for 13 rebounds and added his first-ever double-figure scoring performance with a dozen points to help MSUB to victory. On the year Alcorn’s 5.0 rebounds rank third on the team.

“If you look at what the three freshmen have done, they’ve had ups and downs and all three of them have had a double-double,” Stevens said. “If we can get all three of them clicking at the same time, we will really have something. Looking forward, everyone can tell that we have a nice group of young freshmen.”

Freshman Cade Alcorn.

Matching his fellow Californian teammate on Saturday, Beverly turned in a season-best 19 points and also picked up 13 rebounds in 31 minutes against the Wolves. Beverly leads the team in rebounding with 5.4 per game, and is averaging 10.8 points per game over his past four appearances.

“My teammates just helped me get open,” Beverly said. “I give credit to them for driving and kicking. Cade can do it all, he is a really good rebounder, and he is starting to finish really well in the paint. His performance (Thursday) is something he is capable of putting up every night.”

DENHAM EFFECTIVE IN RETURN: After missing four games with a foot injury, sophomore point guard Kendall Denham provided MSUB with a boost last weekend in his return to the court. Playing just 15 minutes against Concordia on Thursday, Denham scored a dozen points and had a pair of rebounds and an assist without turning the ball over. He followed that up with a 10-point effort at Western Oregon, and made 7 of 12 shots and all six free-throws overall on the week.

“It just felt good to be back and help the team,” Denham said. “We just need to share the ball like we did when we were out on the road against Black Hills and Mary. We need to get back to sharing the ball and knocking down shots, and that will come to us with the hard work we are putting in.”

“Kendall was playing hard, and it didn’t look like his foot was bothering him,” Stevens said. “Having a seasoned guy like Kendall coming off the bench is big and he relishes that role. He comes off, attacks, is aggressive, and we need that from our guys coming off the bench.”

MATTHEWS AMONG GNAC LEADERS: Topping the team with 15.6 points per game, junior Marc Matthews ranks No. 12 in the GNAC in scoring overall. He is shooting 48.4 percent from the field, 48.9 percent from 3-point range, and has made 14 of 16 foul shots for the ‘Jackets.

ANDERSON, PERRY IN DOUBLE FIGURES: Among the team’s top scorers all season has been junior guard Jace Anderson, who had two more solid performances last weekend. Anderson made 5 of 11 3-pointers and 10 of 21 shots overall, as he scored 13 points on Thursday and 15 on Saturday. His 12.6 points per game rank second on the team, and he holds a solid assist-turnover ratio of 1.27.

Sophomore Jordan Perry, meanwhile, has scored in double figures in three of his last four games, and came up just shy of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds against the Cavaliers last week. Perry is among team leaders in scoring (10.1 ppg) and rebounding (4.0 rpg), and also has a positive assist-turnover ratio at 1.1.

JOHNSON STRONG ON THE BOARDS: Matching Perry’s effort last Thursday, senior Emmanuel Johnson also had nine rebounds in helping MSUB to victory.

On the season Johnson is averaging 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds, and is shooting a strong 77.8 percent from the free-throw line while averaging 27.9 minutes.

Junior Marc Matthews.

TASTE OF THE OREGON COAST, GNAC COUNTRY: In between games last weekend, MSUB made a stop at the Oregon Coast on its way to Monmouth, Ore., from Portland. The Yellowjackets had a team workout on the beach, and spent time relaxing away from the court.

“It was good team bonding, and we had a great time on the beach,” Beverly commented. “It was really green in Oregon and I had a good time.”

TEAM FIGURES: As a team MSUB is averaging 73.4 points per game while allowing 80.6, and is averaging 32.4 rebounds while giving up 36.2. MSUB is shooting 43.1 percent from the field, 38.3 percent from 3-point range, and 72.4 percent from the foul line. MSUB is nearly identical in terms of scoring per half, averaging 35.6 points in the first half and 35.4 points in the second half.

MSUB scored a season-best 98 points in its road win over University of Mary on Nov. 23, and was held to a season-low 50 points on the road against Cal State East Bay on Nov. 14.

Friday, December 11 – Azusa Pacific University Cougars – 5:30 p.m. MTN time Brougham Pavilion | Seattle 2015-16 Record: 6-2, 1-1 PacWest Conference Head Coach: Justin Leslie, 9th season 2014-15 Record: 27-6, 17-3 PacWest Coming off of an upset of No. 10 Cal Baptist last week, Azusa Pacific has started its season 62 overall and split its first two PacWest Conference games of the season. APU rallied for a 7372 win over the Lancers last Saturday, after falling to Point Loma Nazarene University 92-86 in overtime on Thursday.

The Cougars are outscoring opponents 79.1-68.0 overall on the season, and hold a plus-3.8 rebounding margin (38.835.0).

Leading a balanced offensive front for APU is sophomore forward Austin Dyer, who is averaging 10.1 points in 16.9 minutes. The Cougars have eight players averaging between 7.9 and 9.5 points, and the team is shooting 47.6 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from long distance, and 67.7 percent from the free-throw line.

Senior LyDell Cardwell has started all eight games and is averaging 8.8 points while shooting a team-best 55.9 percent from the arc (19-for-34). Freshman Connor Peterson and sophomore Petar Kutlesic are the other two Cougars to have started every game, with the former leading the team with 38 assists and the latter grabbing a team-best 7.9 rebounds.

Former Western Washington University standout Joey Schreiber is in his first season with APU, and is averaging 9.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 19.6 minutes coming off the bench.

APU is coming off a west region title a season ago, as the Cougars advanced to the Elite Eight before ending their season at 27-6 with a 69-65 loss to Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

The Series: MSUB and APU have met just once before, with the ‘Jackets collecting an 83-77 win in Billings 38 years ago on Dec. 21, 1977.

Saturday, December 12 – Northwest University Eagles – 5:30 p.m. MTN time Brougham Pavilion | Seattle 2015-16 Record: 5-7, 1-2 Cascade Collegiate Conference Head Coach: John Van Dyke, 14th season 2014-15 Record: 16-14, 6-12 CCC

Having dropped three of their last four games, the Eagles opened play in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (NAIA) with a 1-2 record. Most recently, NWU lost to Pacific Lutheran University (NCAA Division III) 68-61 on Tuesday. The Eagles split a pair of games in Portland, defeating Multnomah University 90-73 last Saturday after losing at Warner Pacific College on Friday 87-79.

The Eagles will challenge tournament host Seattle Pacific University on Friday evening directly following MSUB’s encounter with APU. Michael Dupree is leading the offense for the Eagles, averaging 20.5 points per game while also turning in 6.5 rebounds in six games. Dak Shagren (16.7 ppg) and Ben Tucakovic (14.5 ppg) are close behind, and Tomas Ogbaslassie (10.7) and Zach Smith (10.5) are also averaging in double figures.

Tucakovic is leading the team with 8.8 rebounds per game, helping the Eagles out-rebound opponents 38.2-37.4.

Shagren, the team’s leading scorer last season with 14.6 points per game, is the team’s top facilitator as a junior guard with 3.3 assists per game.

Offensively, NWU is outscoring opponents 79.5-76.3, and is shooting 44.5 percent from the field, 33.1 percent from 3point range, and 71.2 percent from the foul line.

The Series: Saturday’s meeting will be the first-ever between MSUB and NWU.

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