BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings men's basketball team enters their final two-game home-stand of the 2011-12 season having won four of their last five outings, including splitting their previous two games on the road.
 
The Yellowjacket men return home this week with an overall record of 13-8 and a Great Northwest Athletic Conference mark of 8-5. Their record of 8-5 has them tied for fourth place with Western Oregon University with Seattle Pacific University just ahead of the wolves in third place. The Falcons own a league mark of 9-4.
 
Last week, MSUB's men traveled to the frozen tundra of Alaska where they defeated the University of Alaska Fairbanks 75-64 on Thursday before falling 85-70 to the 21^st-ranked Seawolves of the University of Alaska Anchorage Saturday night.
 
With the conference tournament just on the horizon, the Yellowjacket men will turn their attention to the Wildcats of Central Washington University and the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene University this week. The Wildcats will be on the prowl through Billings Thursday evening before the Crusaders enter the confines of Alterowitz Gymnasium on Saturday, Feb. 11.
 
Both games will tip off at 7 p.m. with Saturday night serving as “Senior Night.” Head coach Jamie Stevens and MSUB will recognize their six seniors for their contributions to the men's basketball program.
 
The last time MSUB's men faced CWU and NNU, the Yellowjackets split their away trip, garnering a 94-75 victory over the Crusaders before they fell 107-115 in shoot-out in Ellensburg, Wash.
 
The three programs are currently ranked in the top-20 nationally in seven different categories. Montana State Billings is currently seventh in the nation in three-pointers made per game (9.7) which is only second in the league to Northwest Nazarene's 9.9 treys per game which is good enough for fifth in the nation. The Yellowjackets are also ranked 16^th-nationally in both offensive scoring (81.9 pts/gm) as well as free throw percentage (.754).
 
Northwest Nazarene is currently sixth in free throw percentage (.776) while the Wildcats are third nationally with 6.0 blocked shots per contest and 13^th with 82.7 points per game scored.
 
MSUB senior point-guard Jaxon Myaer finds himself 25^th in the nation in three-pointers made per game as the Salt Lake City, Utah native averages 2.9 treys per outing. He is second in the conference to NNU's Anthony Golden who averages 3.3 three-pointers per game. Myaer is also fifth in the conference with 94 total assists that gives him an average of 4.5 per outing and is second on the team with 14.4 points per game.
 
Senior Antoine Proctor continues to pace the Yellowjackets in scoring as he averages 19.0 points per game. He is just two points shy of eclipsing the 400-point mark for the season. Only GNAC Player of the Week Taylor Rohde of the Alaska Anchorage has more points (422) than Proctor who also ranks third in the league with 2.2 steals per game.
 
Robert Mayes leads the Yellowjackets under the basket with 6.9 rebounds per game. The senior from Houston, Texas is also third on the squad in scoring as he averages 10.9 points per game while fellow senior Taylor Stevens 10.8 to round out the players averaging double-digit points.
 
Junior David Arnold has moved his way into the top-five in the league for free throw percentage as he is currently shooting at an. 848 clip from the charity stripe.
 
For Central Washington, Kevin Davis is currently seventh in the nation as he averages six blocked shots per game. With Davis and teammate Jody Johnson under the hoop, Central Washington boasts the top rebounding tandem in the league as both average 8.2 boards per game.
 
As far as scoring goes, Lacy Haddock is ninth in the league in field goal percentage as he hits on 52.3% of his shots from the field.
 
Northwest Nazarene is currently on a two-game winning streak heading into this week's conference matchups.
 
Anthony Golden is ninth-nationally and leads the league with 3.3 treys made per game as he has a conference-best 65 treys this season. He is a 45% shooter from three-point range. He is 11^th in the conference with 14.9 points per outing while JB Pillard is currently seventh in the GNAC with 15.2 points averaged per game. Pillard is also 11^th in rebounding with 6.6 boards per contest.
 
Michal Kurimsky and Pillard are both excellent from the field as the tandem hit on over 50% of their attempts from the field. Kurimsky has league third-best field goal average of .587 while Pillard is close behind in fourth with a .576 shooting average.
 
Two players the Yellowjackets will look to avoid sending to the free throw line for NNU are Jonathan Hawkins and Golden. Hawkins is second in the league as he has connected on 88.5% (69-78) of his trips to the free throw line and Golden is currently fourth as he has hit 85.1% (40-47) of his attempts.