BILLINGS, Mont. – The end of the regular-season is within sight and the Montana State University men's basketball team is hoping to finish out the 2011-12 campaign with a strong performance on the road in a pair of tough contests that includes traveling to the 10^th-ranked team in the nation.
 
The Yellowjacket men suffered a 78-70 set-back on the road at Seattle Pacific University on Saturday, Feb. 18, but are still in a tight race in the standings with Western Oregon University and Central Washington University for fourth place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings. The Yellowjackets are currently 9-7 in the league with a 14-10 overall record and were ninth in the inaugural West Region standings last week.
 
This week, MSUB will first travel to Burnaby, British Columbia on Thursday, Feb. 23 where they will face off against the Clan of Simon Fraser University at 7 p.m. The men will then turn their focus to the nationally-ranked Vikings of Western Washington University on Saturday, Feb. 25 on the Vikings home court.
 
Earlier in the season, the Yellowjackets opened their GNAC schedule by splitting their pair of games with the Clan and Vikings, falling 81-70 on Dec. 1 at home to WWU before bouncing back to claim a close, 93-90 win over the Clan on Dec. 3.
 
The Yellowjackets are currently shooting .439 as a team that includes a .365 clip from beyond the three-point arc. MSUB is out-scoring their opposition 81.7-76.3.
 
Leading scorer Antoine Proctor is averaging a league second-best 19.4 points per game after leading the Yellowjackets in scoring in 13 games this season and is currently shooting .418 from the field. He has drained a team second-best 47 three-pointers this season and is currently second in the GNAC with 2.3 steals per game (55 total).
 
The Washington, D.C. native is currently eighth in the conference from the free throw line as he hits about 82% of his attempts. His team second-best 47 total treys this season has him also 13^th in the league with an average of 2.0 three-pointers per outing.
 
Just behind Proctor, Jaxon Myaer averages a GNAC 16^th-best 13.9 points per game. Myaer is the only Yellowjacket to have started every game for MSUB this season as he averages a league sixth-best 32.8 minutes per contest.
 
Myaer leads the team with 67 total three-pointers and a .424 shooting percentage from three-point range. His 67 treys has him second in the GNAC with an average of 2.8 three-pointers per game while he averages 4.4 assists per game which is good enough for fourth in the conference.
 
Robert Mayes is currently in the top-10 in the conference in four separate categories highlighted by him sitting sixth with 7.5 rebounds per game. The go-to man down low for the Yellowjackets averages 3.0 offensive boards and 4.5 defensive rebounds per game while also sitting fifth in the league with 1.2 blocked shots per outing.
 
The Clan of Simon Fraser is currently in the midst of a three-game losing skid which has them currently 8-16 overall and 3-13 in the conference.
 
Javari Williams leads the Clan in scoring with 23.8 points per game off a .497 shooting percentage from the field. He is also one of two players to currently lead the team with an average of 7.8 rebounds per game.
 
Jordan Sergent is the other player with 7.8 boards per game and he also averages a team third-best 14.7 point per outing. Sergent is currently hitting on an impressive 53.3% of his looks from the field while Justin Brown is the second leading scorer for SFU at 17.5 points per game.
 
The nationally-ranked Vikings suffered their first loss since early January on Saturday night at the hands of Central Washington to move to 23-4 overall and 14-2 in the GNAC.
 
WWU is led by four players who average double-digit points, highlighted by Rory Blanche's 16.9 points per game. Blanche is currently second in the GNAC in regards to his shooting percentage which is an extremely healthy .604. He also leads the team with 7.3 rebounds per game.
 
John Allen is the next-highest scorer with an average of 14.9 points per outing and a shooting percentage of .504. He has hit a team-high 62 three-pointers so far this season.