CHENEY, Wash. – Senior DeAndre Chambers dropped 24 points and grabbed four rebounds to lead the Montana State Billings men's basketball team to a 66-60 victory over Big Sky Conference member, Eastern Washington University, Monday evening at Reese Court in Cheney.
“This was the best defensive effort I've seen since I've started here,” said head coach George Pfeifer. “We were really able to shut down their go to go guys. We had some really good possession in the second half, but we missed a lot of shots that were close. We're not anywhere close to where we will be. I was really proud of the fact that we had three guys foul out and were still able to keep fighting and making plays. I'm seeing a lot of positive things from this group of guys.”
Two other players were in double figures for the Yellowjackets as junior Emery Henning scored his first double-double in a Jackets uniform, knocking down 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Senior Raason Young almost had a double-double with 14 points and eight boards.
The Yellowjackets started the game by building an eight point lead after Young knocked down a triple at the 15:35 mark. Both teams battled back and forth as the half wore on, but Chambers knocked down a trey and scored a layup with 36 seconds to put the Jackets up by nine, 30-21.
MSUB went into the half leading by seven, 30-23. The Jackets shot 38.7 percent in the first half from the field and went 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. The defense held the Eagles to a dismal 23.1 percent shooting (6-29) from the field and just 11.1 percent from deep (1-9).
As the second half began, EWU went on a 16-5 run to begin the half and take the lead 40-35 with 14:40 to go. The Jackets would eventually tie the game back up at 40-40 when Chambers hit another triple off a fast break down the floor.
MSUB went on a 13-2 run as Henning capped it off with a layup under the basket at the 7:41 mark. Another run by Eastern tied the game at 56 when Laron Griffin got a pair of his eight points with a jumper in the paint.
The Jackets again took the lead, this time for good as they stretched the lead to five, 61-56, on an Andrew Hickman jumper. The lead would not be relinquished and the Eagles would only get as close as three as the Yellowjackets made their free throws down the stretch to close out the game.
MSUB shot 42.9 percent (24-56) from the floor throughout the game and were 5-of-11 from downtown. The Jackets also shot 13-for-22 from the charity stripe. Defensively, MSUB held EWU to shooting 15-of-60 from the field and just 3-of-15 from beyond the arc.
The Jackets out rebounded the Eagles 45-40, and created 11 turnovers with four blocks.
The Eagles were led by a pair of 14 point performances form Kevin Winford and Cliff Ederaine, who also had 10 rebounds for a double-double. Tremayne Johnson had nine points and 10 boards on the night.
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 women's basketball schedule page on www.msubsports.com.
