Box Score

PHOTO GALLERY              JAMIE STEVENS POSTGAME                JARRELL CRAYTON POSTGAME

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings' men's basketball team handed Carroll College an 86-76 non-conference loss Saturday.

Montana State Billings played for the first time since a 78-57 home loss to Montana Western on Dec. 19. Saturday, Jarrell Crayton finished one rebound shy of a double-double for the Yellowjackets (7-6, 0-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference). The senior scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. He made 10 of his 17 attempts from the field. Omar McDade dished out a team season-high 10 assists. Brian Ridgeway and Cameron Cusworth added 17 and 13 points respectively.

The 148th meeting was a counter for MSU Billings, but an exhibition for the Saints. MSUB shot near 46 percent in the victory, while Carroll shot 42 percent. The Yellowjackets made seven of their 28 three-point attempts, compared to Carroll's 7-of-21. The Saints were 17-for-21 from the free-throw lines, and MSUB was 16-of-11.

“We've gone really hard in practice the past few days, including an hour-and-a-half today,” MSUB Head Coach Jamie Stevens said. “We're building for our first GNAC game. Our thoughts going into this game was let's use this as great practice for us, and obviously we wanted to win the game and knew Carroll would give us all they had.

“I thought we did some good things and did some bad things, but we played with more spirit than we did before the break. We just have to figure out how to make some shots. We're getting good looks. This will be a nice win to build some things off of.”

Montana State Billings improved to 16-2 under Stevens when it outrebounds its opponent. Saturday, the Yellowjackets held a 44-34 advantage on the boards. MSUB also had a 23-11 assist advantage.

Cusworth gave the Yellowjackets a 12-6 lead five minutes into the game, but the Saints closed within 12-11; and extended their run to 11-4 by taking their first lead after a Dennis Mikelonis' three-pointer at the 11:43 mark of the first half. The teams traded baskets and Carroll had a 21-20 lead with 9:33 left in the first stanza.

The Yellowjackets then made their move. A 10-0 run capped by a Sam Johnson three-pointer began the decisive momentum shift. MSU Billings outscored the Saints, 27-14, over the final 10 minutes of the first half. Johnson closed the half with a dunk as time expired, giving MSUB a 47-33 lead at halftime.

Montana State Billings shot 51 percent from the field in the opening period, and held the Saints to 37 percent. Nine of Carroll's 15 turnovers came in the first half, while MSUB had three of their 10.

Ridgeway increased the Yellowjacket lead to 17 points, the largest margin of the game, after a three-point play just into the second half. Montana State Billings held a double-digit advantage for the majority of the half. Carroll closed within nine points four more times before the end of regulation, but would come no closer.

Carroll (1-11, 0-1 Frontier Conference) had four double-digit scorers. Riley King, Nick Jones, and Mikelonis all finished with 15 points, while Brett Ball added 13. Mikelonis added eight rebounds, and King had five assists. The Saints last win in Billings over MSUB was a 61-59 overtime victory on Feb. 19, 1979.

The Yellowjackets open their home GNAC schedule against Simon Fraser (B.C.) Thursday. The Clan (5-4, 0-1) has lost four of their last five after opening the season with four straight wins. It's only the sixth meeting between the programs, and SFU has dropped all three of its games at Montana State Billings. Thursday's matchup features live video and stats on MSUBSports.com, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

MSUB – CARROLL POSTGAME NOTES
* Montana State Billings now has an 86-62 all-time advantage over Carroll.
* The Yellowjackets have won four straight matchups with CC.
* MSU Billings won the previous regular season meeting on Jan. 3, 1998, 109-80, in Billings.
* MSUB has won 49 of the 72 all-time meetings in Billings.
* Carroll last beat the Yellowjackets on Feb. 14, 1994, 105-91, in Helena.
* The last time the Saints beat MSU Billings in Billings was 43 years ago, a 61-59 overtime win on Feb. 19, 1979.
* Omar McDade became the first Yellowjacket to throw 10 assists since Jaxon Myaer had 12 against Simon Fraser on Dec. 3, 2011.
* Brian Ridgeway's 17 points were a career-high.
* Montana State Billings is now 18-3 when leading at halftime under Stevens, and 19-1 when it has a better field goal percentage than its opponent.
* Cameron Cusworth has made a combined seven three-pointers in the past two games.