Box Score

KALOB HATCHER POSTGAME               JAMIE STEVENS POSTGAME              SAM JOHNSON'S DUNK            PHOTO GALLERY

BILLINGS, Mont. – Four Montana State University Billings' men's basketball student-athletes finished over 20 points in a 102-90 come-from-behind victory over cross-town rival, Rocky Mountain College Monday.

The Yellowjackets (6-5, 0-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) scored 100 points for the first time this season, with 92 of the 102 points came from four players. Kalob Hatcher led all scorers with 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. Sam Johnson recorded 23 points, including an ESPN Top 10-worthy dunk. The junior made eight of his 10 attempts from the field, including 3-of-4 from behind-the-arc. Jarrell Crayton and Omar McDade both added 22 points.

Crayton recorded his second straight double-double adding 10 rebounds. Robby Trabing also grabbed 10 rebounds. Hatcher added a team-high eight assists. Brian Ridgeway matched a team season-high with four steals.

The game featured plenty of records, including a season-high 36 made field goals by MSUB on 69 attempts. The Yellowjackets also shot a season-best 75 percent from the free-throw line, making a season-high 22 free-throws on 29 attempts. They also made eight of their 23 shots from behind the perimeter.

“I thought in the second half we played well,” MSU Billings' Head Coach Jamie Stevens said. “We scored 61 points in the second half and the three-ball started going in for us. It was nice to see some guys step up and make some big plays. I thought we played looser and that's important to us, because we've really been struggling to score. It was just good to come out and get the win.”

Montana State Billings used a decisive 28-5 run midway through the second half to rally for the victory. The Battlin' Bears took an early 9-4 lead, but MSUB answered with six straight points to begin a back-and-forth first half. The opening stanza featured five ties and seven lead changes. A Brian Ridgeway three-pointer gave MSU Billings its largest lead of the first half, 18-14, with 12:54 remaining in the half.

Ten minutes later, RMC had its largest lead of the half, 46-37. The Battlin' Bears took a 46-41 lead into the halftime break. Rocky Mountain shot 48 percent from the field in the first half, and made six three-pointers.

After scoring the final four points of the first half, the Yellowjackets scored the first four points of the second half, closing the gap to 46-45. Rocky Mountain responded and stretched its advantage back to 64-56 at the 14:16 mark of the second half. MSUB then made its run.

Montana State Billings scored 28 of the next 33 points over an eight-minute span. The Yellowjackets made 12 of their 15 attempts from the field during the run.

Leading 88-71 with 6:03 remaining in regulation, MSU Billings saw its lead shrink to 88-81 with 3:41 left to play, but the Battlin' Bears came no closer. The Yellowjackets built its lead back to double-digits and pulled out the 102-90 win. MSUB scored 61 second half points, shooting 60 percent from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range.

Montana State Billings had a 44-38 points in the paint advantage, and turned 19 RMC turnovers into a 21-17 points off of turnovers advantage. Both teams scored 13 second chance points. The MSUB bench had a 26-22 advantage, with 22 coming from Johnson.

After winning four straight, the Battlin' Bears (8-5, 1-0 Frontier Conference) have dropped back-to-back games. RMC finished 45 percent from the field, 9-of-33 from behind the arc, and 15-for-23 from the free-throw line. The Bears forced 20 MSUB turnovers, totaling 15 steals. Four Rocky Mountain players finished in double-digit scoring, led by Joel Barndt and Jeremy Nicolas, both totaled 23 points. Barndt added 10 rebounds. Don Parham also had a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists. Nile Finney scored all 10 of his points in the first half.

The Yellowjackets remain in Billings and welcome Montana Western (9-4, 1-0 Frontier Conference) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. It will be the 149th meeting between MSU Billings and the Bulldogs. The all-time series is split, 74-74. The matchup will feature live video and stats on MSUBSports.com.

MSUB – ROCKY MOUNTAIN POSTGAME NOTES
* Montana State Billings leads the all-time series over Rocky Mountain, 87-79.
* The Yellowjackets snap a three-game regular season losing streak to Rocky Mountain.
* MSUB is 50-29 all-time in Alterowitz Gymnasium against the Battlin' Bears.
* MSU Billings snapped a three-game losing streak to RMC in Alterowitz Gymnasium.
* Jarrell Crayton has scored in double figures in nine straight games.
* Crayton recorded his second straight double-double performance.
* It was the first time the Yellowjackets have scored 100 points in a game this season.
* It was the 199th time MSUB has reached 100 points in the program's history.
* MSU Billings' 36 made field goals were a season-high.
* MSU Billings' 22 made free-throws were a season-high.
* MSU Billings' .759 free-throw percentage was a season-high.
* MSU Billings' 20 turnovers were a season-high.
* Rocky Mountain's 73 field goal attempts were a Yellowjacket opponent season-high.
* Rocky Mountain's nine made three-pointers were a Yellowjacket opponent season-high.
* Rocky Mountain's 33 three-point attempts were a Yellowjacket opponent season-high.
* Rocky Mountain's 23 assists were a Yellowjacket opponent season-high.
* Rocky Mountain's 15 assists were a Yellowjacket opponent season-high.
* Kalob Hatcher matched a team-season high with 25 points.
* Don Parham's 12 assists were an opponent season-high against MSUB.

Rocky Mountain vs MSU Billings
12/17/12 7:30 p.m. at Billings, Mont.
At Billings, Mont.
MSU BILLINGS 102, ROCKY MOUNTAIN 90
ROCKY MOUNTAIN (8-5, 1-0 Front.)
Joel Barndt 8-16 4-5 23; Jeremy Nicolas 8-12 7-11 23; Don Parham 3-11 3-4
11; Nile Finney 4-10 0-0 10; John Bayo 3-6 1-2 7; Darryl Alexander 2-3 0-0
6; Malachi Roberts 3-11 0-1 6; Matt Strickland 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 33-73 15-23
90.
MSU BILLINGS (6-5, 0-2 GNAC)
Hatcher,Kalob 7-10 9-10 25; Johnson,Sam 8-11 4-4 23; McDade,Omar 7-15 7-11
22; Crayton,Jarrell 11-16 0-0 22; Desin,Danny 1-7 1-2 4; Trabing,Robby 1-4
1-2 3; Ridgeway,Brian 1-3 0-0 3; Nelson,Tyler 0-0 0-0 0; Cusworth,Cameron
0-2 0-0 0; Arnold,David 0-1 0-0 0; Wallace,Devon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-69
22-29 102.
Rocky Mountain................   46   44  -   90
MSU Billings..................   41   61  -  102
3-point goals--Rocky Mountain 9-33 (Joel Barndt 3-8; Nile Finney 2-6; Darryl
Alexander 2-3; Don Parham 2-7; Matt Strickland 0-2; Malachi Roberts 0-4;
John Bayo 0-2; Jeremy Nicolas 0-1), MSU Billings 8-23 (Johnson,Sam 3-4;
Hatcher,Kalob 2-4; Desin,Danny 1-5; McDade,Omar 1-4; Ridgeway,Brian 1-2;
Cusworth,Cameron 0-1; Trabing,Robby 0-1; Crayton,Jarrell 0-2). Fouled
out--Rocky Mountain-None, MSU Billings-None. Rebounds--Rocky Mountain 33
(Joel Barndt 10), MSU Billings 37 (Crayton,Jarrell 10; Trabing,Robby 10).
Assists--Rocky Mountain 23 (Don Parham 12), MSU Billings 19 (Hatcher,Kalob
8). Total fouls--Rocky Mountain 19, MSU Billings 17. Technical fouls--Rocky
Mountain-TEAM, MSU Billings-TEAM. A-1375