Box Score
PHOENIX – Despite career high's from Jaxon Myaer (Salt Lake City, UT) and Robert Mayes (Houston, TX), the Montana State Billings men's basketball team fell 77-57 in their second game at the Grand Canyon Holiday Tournament to the host Antelopes Saturday evening at Antelope Gymnasium.
Myaer led the way with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting and had five assists to lead the Jackets in scoring, while Mayes dropped 17 points behind 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Tyler Barnes (Portland, OR) led the team in rebounds, pulling down a game-high nine during his 24 minutes.
The Jackets fell to 2-7 on the season just one night after defeating defending national champion Cal Poly Pomona. The Antelopes finished a weekend sweep of GNAC teams, defeating Simon Fraser the night before, improving to 4-5 on the year.
MSUB shot 43.4 percent on the night, connecting on just four of 15 three point attempts. The Jackets made just nine trips to the free throw line, converting seven attempts.
Grand Canyon's Nick Witherill had a career night, shooting 6-of-11 from beyond the arc to spark 22 points and three boards. Rony Tchatchoua and Kyle Speed also finished in double figures, scoring 19 and 17 points, respectively. Tchatchoua went 6-of-7 from the field and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
As a team the Antelopes shot 55.1 percent from the field and made 42.9 percent of their three-point field goals. The Lopes took 18 trips to the line and converted on 14 of those.
GCU controlled the boards throughout the game, outrebounding the Jackets 32-24, 10 of which were on the offensive end. Grand Canyon outscored MSUB 30-28 in the paint and converted 13 Jacket turnovers into 27 points. The Antelopes also outscored the Yellowjackets 28-6 off the bench in the win.
MSUB jumped out to a 6-0 lead to start the game when Mayes had back-to-back field goals and Raason Young (Washington D.C.) drove home a thunderous dunk before GCU called a timeout. The Jackets maintained the lead until Speed converted a layup off a steal to tie the game at 16-16.
Justin Wesolowski gave the Antelopes the lead for good at 18-16 on an easy layup with 9:47 to go in the half. GCU stretched the lead out over the final six minutes of the first half, using a 20-5 run to close out the half and take a 43-26 lead into the break.
The Yellowjackets only managed to close the lead back within 18 points during the second half and Grand Canyon built a lead by as many as 29 during the game.
The Yellowjackets now take a long break over the Christmas holiday and will be back in action at home to start conference play on Thursday, Dec. 30, at 7 p.m. The Jackets will also play on New Year's Day in a doubleheader with the women's team, taking on Western Oregon at 7:30 p.m.
