Box Score

NAMPA, Idaho – Senior guard Antoine Proctor matched his season high while fellow senior Jaxon Myaer set a new season-high for himself to lead the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team to a dominating 94-75 road victory over Northwest Nazarene University in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Thursday night.
 
With their second win in a row, the Yellowjacket men are now 9-6 overall in head coach Jamie Stevens' first season and hold a 4-3 mark in league action. The Crusaders are now 8-6 overall and find themselves 2-4 in the GNAC.
 
“Tonight was a great team effort to get the win on the road,” Stevens stated. “We shot the ball very well, we took care of the ball, and we held a good offensive team to a low shooting percentage while out-rebounding them. As far as a team effort, it was as good as we have played all year.”
 
The Yellowjackets connected on just over 50% (33-65) of their shots from the field while the Crusaders struggled to finish the game with a .397 (25-63) outing from the floor. MSUB shot over 88% (16-18) of their chances from the charity stripe and added in 12 three-pointers to finish the game 44.4% (12-25) from beyond the arc.
 
Proctor led all scorers with 30 points that matches his season-high he set previously in the season. The Washington, D.C. native ended the night 10-21 from the field to go along with six rebounds, three assists and a steal.
 
Fellow senior Myaer ended the night with his own season-high, 25 points, off a 9-for-16 shooting performance that included a 5-for-9 outing from three-point range.
 
Forward Robert Mayes was the third and final of Stevens' roster to end the 19-point win with double-digit points as the senior collected 11 to go along with a team-high-tying seven rebounds.
 
Jonathan Hawkins paced the Crusaders scoring efforts as he had 16 points including a 10-for-10 effort from the free throw line. Keith Moilanen added 13 points and JB Pillard recorded the game's only double-double as he finished with 11 points and 10 boards, seven off the defensive glass.
 
Myaer opened the contest by draining a three-pointer and the Yellowjackets would roll from there, never trailing as they steadily built of a solid lead that was stretched into double-digits by a Proctor free throw with 12 minutes remaining in the opening stanza of play.
 
MSUB flirted with the idea of a 20-point lead several times, but eventually settled for a 13-point, 48-35 lead heading into the intermission.
 
Out of the break, Chase Richards added to the MSUB lead with an un-assisted layup and the Yellowjackets would never relinquish their double-digit lead that stretched out to as many as 23 with about 11 minutes remaining when Taylor Stevens drained a three-pointer off a dish from Mayes.
 
Over the final 11 minutes, the Yellowjacket lead never dipped below 16 points as MSUB played some of their best basketball of the season.
 
MSUB received 29 points from their bench and converted 14 turnovers into 18 points .
 
“Our main focus now is Saturday night and Central Washington,” said Stevens. “We had a chance for a road sweep two weeks ago and did not take care of business. We left Billings this time with the idea of getting a pair of road wins and for us to do that, we will have to play very well to beat a very athletic and talented Central Washington team on Saturday.”
 
The Yellowjackets will continue their two-game road swing with a 7 p.m. contest against Central Washington on Saturday Jan. 14, looking to complete their first road-sweep of the season.