Box Score ST. GEORGE, Utah -- A late second half surge brought the Montana State Billings men's basketball team back into contention, but it wasn't enough as the Yellowjackets fell to host Dixie State College 81-70 Tuesday night in NCAA Division II action.

"Tonight, we got beat by a team that just took it to us in every aspect of the game," said head coach Jamie Stevens. "With the exception of a good five minute stretch at the end of the game, we did not play very well tonight, and a lot of that credit goes to Dixie State. I was proud that we were able to fight and get the game close at the end, but we just dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first 35 minutes to overcome."

"Again, we were able to force a bunch of turnovers and I was happy with that. Unfortunately, we got killed on the boards and our transition defense was awful. We also need to shoot the ball better and we have to find a way to score inside on a more consistent basis. We still have a long ways to go and we need to coach better and our guys need to perform better.”
 
Senior Jaxon Myaer led all scorers after shooting 8 of 14 from the field, including 6 of 11 from deep, as he went for 22 points. Antoine Proctor also chipped in 17 points, while Taylor Stevens was the only other Yellowjacket in double-figures with 13 points and five rebounds.
 
The Yellowjackets (2-1) struggled to shoot the ball most of the night, hitting 21 of 63 (33.3) from the field and were just 12 of 35 (34.3) from beyond the arc. The Yellowjackets did force 25 turnovers during the game, but were outrebounded by the Red Storm 47-27.
 
DSC (2-1) had four players in double digits, led by Maurice Cole who had 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting. Griffon Jones also had a big night for the Red Storm as he dumped in 14 points, eight coming from the line, and had a game-high 11 rebounds.
 
The Red Storm were 26 of 48 (54.2) from the field and took just nine three-pointers, dropping two on the entire night, but the game was really won at the free throw line where the Red Storm connected on 27 of 35 opportunities.
 
DSC opened the game on a 13-1 run over the first four and a half minutes of the ballgame, and extended their lead throughout the half as MSUB twice went on cold streaks that saw the Jackets not make a field goal for four plus minutes.
 
The Yellowjackets clawed their way back into the first half when Stevens hit a three at the 7:04 mark to spark a 10-2 run that saw MSUB hit three three-pointers and make the score 24-31. But another drought allowed the Red Storm to close out the half on a 9-1 run to take a 40-25 lead into the break.
 
DSC held a 20 point lead for much of the second half until Proctor sparked the 'Jackets offense with a three-pointer at the 5:51 mark. That's when MSUB would close to within six at 65-71 with just 2:08 after another Myaer trey from the outside.
 
That's as close as the Jacket could get down the stretch as the Red Storm hit six free throws in the final minute to preserve the eleven point victory.
 
The Yellowjackets continue their two-game road trip on Thursday evening as they take on NCAA Division I foe Southern Utah University at 7 p.m. in Cedar City.