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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings men's basketball team erased a 14 point deficit and had a shot in the end to win the game, but the University of Mary escaped Alterowitz Gymnasium Tuesday night with a 70-68 victory in both teams' season opener.
“I thought we lost the game in the first half,” said head coach George Pfeifer. “We played in a rush most of that half and that was a credit to their four returning starters from last season. I was proud of the way we got down, but were able to pull ourselves back into the game late. When we settled down we were able to play better and we did a lot of good things in transition.”
The Yellowjackets were paced by a game-high 27 points from DeAndre Chambers (Monroe, NC). The Yellowjacket senior connected on 10-of-18 shooting, including 7-of-14 from downtown. Chambers also added a pair of assists and four rebounds.
Junior Robert Mayes (Houston, TX) also accounted for his first double-double as a Yellowjacket, scoring 15 points and 10 boards along with three blocked shots. Raason Young (Washington D.C.) was the third Jacket in double figures, scoring 12 points and grabbing three boards.
The Marauders came out of the gates hot, building an eight point lead at 15-7 with 13:48 left in the first half as Anthony Moody connected on a layup inside for two of his team-high 22 points. Moody also collected five boards, seven assists and three steals in the game.
Mary kept their distance throughout much of the half, building a 13 point lead at the 8:27 mark and then increased that lead to 14 with 3:32 on a three-pointer by Jordan Wilhelm. Wilhelm was the only other Marauder in double-figures, scoring 25 points and grabbing four boards.
The Yellowjackets eventually cut the lead back to nine, 35-26, after Young connected on a long jumper near the top of the arch.
Mary outscored the Yellowjackets 16-8 in the paint during the first half and scored 15 points off of turnovers. The Jackets did not have a single bench point, while the Marauders had just four.
As the second half got underway, MSUB outscored the Marauders 14-9 over the first nine minutes of the half to close within two. The tide certainly swung the Yellowjackets way with 11:11 remaining as Baley Johnson drove to the hole, but Mayes was there for the block, and on the follow-up by Wilhelm, Mayes got a piece of the ball again.
That's when Chambers connected on a three-pointer to get the lead down to two and another one just 17 seconds later would cut the lead to just one, 46-45.
Mary was able to build a 10 point lead back to 66-56 with 3:48 to go, but again the Jackets made a run down the stretch. Emery Henning (Great Falls, MT) cashed in a nice move inside with 3:33 to go, followed by another trey by Chambers with cut the lead to five, 66-61.
Chambers again brought the crowd to its feet with 2:16 remaining when Jaxon Myaer (Salt Lake City, UT) found him in the corner off a screen for his final three of the night to get the lead to 66-64. It was Myaer's game-high 10th dish of the night.
On the next trip down the floor for MSUB, Young tied the game at 66 with a running jumper in the lane, but a three-pointer from Wilhelm gave Mary the lead back with 41 seconds to go.
Young again made a valiant play with 22 seconds remaining as he was trapped on the far wing and just went up with the ball and drew the foul on Wilhelm to go to the line for three. After a pair of makes, Young's third shot rolled out, but MSUB still had a chance with less than 10 seconds.
Chambers, who had had the hot hand all night, rolled off a screen by Mayes and released a shot well behind the three point arc that rattled in and out. The ball was rebounded by the Marauders and another free throw by Moody gave UM the two point margin.
The Jackets finished the game shooting 52.1 percent from the field, including 36.0 percent from long range and 69.2 percent from the charity stripe. The Yellowjackets out rebounded the Marauder 32-30 and outscored them in the paint, 14-10.
Mary shot just 45.0 percent from the field and was 50.0 from three point range. UM went 6-for-11 from the line (54.5 percent) and wound up turning the ball over 11 times, while creating 16 Jacket turnovers.
The Yellowjackets return to the hardwood this Saturday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., taking on Minot State at Alterowitz Gymnasium.
All MSUB home contests can be seen live on the new Jacket Vision webstreaming page. Please log on to www.msubsports.com and click on webstreaming under the Multimedia tab. Ken Adelblue will provide play-by-play coverage of all MSUB men's and women's basketball games this season. Fans can view live statistics by navigating to the men's basketball schedule page on www.msubsports.com.
