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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings men's basketball team scored a crucial victory Saturday night over a Seattle Pacific team it hadn't beaten in nine games, dropping the Falcons 68-56 in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference tilt. The win keeps the Yellowjackets in contention for a spot in the conference tourney, which starts in two weeks.

 

The Yellowjackets improve to 6-17 on the year and 4-12 in the conference, snapping a four game skid. The loss was the third straight for the Falcons who fall to 16-8 on the year and 10-6 in the conference. The win was the first for the Jackets over the Falcons in nine games, dating back to a 130-91 win at home on Feb. 14, 1998.

 

“I was really proud of our performance tonight,” said head coach George Pfeifer. “We did a great job of getting an early lead, but gave it back in the second half even though we stayed up by 14 or 16 points early on. I thought we did a nice job making timely stops and timely baskets down the stretch. Rob Trabing did a fantastic job off the bench for us tonight and Jaxon (Myaer) gave us great composure. Emery (Henning) also had a nice game, especially considering his foul trouble midway through the game.”

 

MSUB came out of the gates hot, starting the game on a 9-0 run thanks in part to a pair of Robert Mayes lay-ins underneath the basket. Mayes was 5-of-9 for the game, scoring 10 points along with four boards.

 

Seattle Pacific, who never led during the game, would eventually tie the game back up at 14-14 on a 3-pointer by Scott Morse, his only three of the game.

 

With the Jackets leading 25-22, SPU cut the lead to one on a pair of free throws by Ryan Sweet with 7:05 left in the half. Those were the last points the Falcons would score in the first period, going 0-for-9 down the stretch and committing five turnovers, while the Jackets closed the half on a 15-0 run.

 

For the first half MSUB shot 62.1 percent from the floor and outscored the Falcons 24-6 in the paint. The Jackets also out rebounded SPU 16-12 on the boards and shut down the Falcons on only 8-of-24 shooting for the half.

 

They Jackets built their largest lead of the game at 18 points right at the start of the half on another lay-in by Mayes. The lead wouldn't last however, as SPU slowly cut into the lead, getting the game back to single digits with 8:45 to go, 54-45.

 

After a Sweet free throw got the lead down to six, 54-48, Myaer stopped the bleeding with a huge spot-up three from the left wing with 6:02 remaining. The trey was part of a 16 point effort by Myaer, a team-high for the Jackets.

 

SPU tried to stay in the game when Andy Poling hit two of his 11 points with a jumper to cut the lead down to 61-56 with 2:26 to go in the contest. Myaer would not let the game slip away though, cutting between two defenders and hitting a jumper to push the lead back to seven, 63-56.

 

The Jackets would hit five of their final six free throws in the final minute to seal the victory, finishing the game on a 7-0 run to win by 12.

 

Myaer's 16 points came with five assists and two rebounds, while Emery Henning had a great game with 12 points and four rebounds. Raason Young also had a strong showing with 12 points and four boards, while Mayes finished with four boards to go with his 10 points.

 

The Yellowjackets shot 53.8 percent from the floor for the game, including going just 3-of-14 from the arc and 9-of-12 from the line. MSUB dominated the paint, scoring 38 points to SPU's 14, and created 15 points off of 13 Falcon turnovers.

 

SPU was led by Jeff Down's 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting with four rebounds. Poling had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Modou Niang had 10 points and five boards.

 

The Yellowjackets will finish the regular season next week with games on Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against Simon Fraser and Western Washington, respectively. Both games can be see via webstream and on live stats on msubsports.com.