BILLINGS, Mont. – For the 10^th time in program history, the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team is going to the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament. The Yellowjackets secured the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the “Big Dance” by defeating the University of Alaska Anchorage 74-70 in the championship game last Saturday.
 
But that is now in the past.
 
MSUB (18-11) now faces another steep road if they wish to advance further into the tournament as they enter the West Regional as the No. 7 seed. The low seeding has the Yellowjackets facing an all-too familiar opponent, the Seawolves of second-seeded and 16^th-ranked Alaska Anchorage.
 
Alaska Anchorage, which is advancing to the tournament for the 16^th time in program history, is currently 22-6 for the season.
 
The Yellowjackets are 1-2 against the Seawolves this season and 3-3 against ranked opponents heading into Friday's game.
 
With MSUB heading to the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament for the first time since 2002, the Yellowjackets will look to first-year head coach Jamie Stevens' playing experience even more as he has been exactly where his players are now. When Stevens played for MSUB, his 1995-96 squad advanced to the West Region tournament and posted a 19-9 record under another first-year head coach, Craig Carse.
 
That Yellowjacket squad's time in the “Big Dance” was a short one as the University of California – Davis downed MSUB 89-80 in the opening round, eliminating MSUB from contention.
 
This year's squad will look to their six seniors and deep bench, as well as Coach Stevens' own playing experience, to make this trip a longer one, and last week's run through the GNAC tournament proves that this Yellowjacket squad is more than capable.
 
In the three games of the GNAC tournament, the Yellowjackets recorded a shooting percentage of 48.1% (90-187) from the field and hit 36.1% (26-72) of their looks from three-point range. For the season, MSUB has a shooting percentage of 44.6% from the field and 36.6% from beyond the arc.
 
The Yellowjackets were led in the GNAC tournament by Robert Mayes who was named the tournament Most Valuable Player as he averaged 18.3 points and nine rebounds per game in the GNAC Men's Basketball Championship. The Houston, Texas native recorded two double-double performances that included 16 points and 10 rebounds against Alaska Anchorage in the final game and 20 points and 10 rebounds in MSUB's semifinal victory over nationally-ranked Western Washington.
 
For the season, Antoine Proctor currently leads the team with an average of 18.9 points per game. Proctor, who averaged 14.3 points and five steals per game during the conference tournament, was named to the 2012 Daktronics West Region All-Star first team earlier this week.
 
The third and final Yellowjacket to average double-digit points in the GNAC tournament was starting point guard Jaxon Myaer with 14.6 points per outing. The Salt Lake City, Utah native, who averages 14.4 points per game for the season, drained 12 three-point shots during the tournament and leads the squad from beyond the arc with 89 treys for the season.
 
UAA is led by GNAC and West Region Player of the Year Taylor Rhode. The two-year transfer from Arizona State currently averages 19.9 points per game for the season. Prior to the GNAC championship game, Rhode averaged 27.5 points in the two games against MSUB, but the Yellowjackets held him to just 15 points in their last meeting.
 
MSUB will also look to contain guards Travis Thompson, who averages 11.9 points per outing, and Kyle Fossman, averaging 10.3 points per game. The duo leads the team in three-point shots as together, they have 128 including Thompson's 66.
 
Tip-off for Friday's game is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Pacific time (3:30 p.m. Mountain time).  The winner will advance into Saturday's semifinal round to face the winner of Friday's 12:30 p.m. game between No. 6 seed Dixie State University and No. 3 seed Seattle Pacific University.
 
Action from Bellingham, Wash. can be followed via live stats and a free, live webcast. To access either service, just log onto www.msubsports.com and click the links on the schedule page.
 
For all the action from the West Regional tournament, log onto http://www.wwuvikings.com/sports/m-baskbl/WestRegional.html. The page includes recaps from every game, links to each teams' stats, schedules and rosters as well as ticket pricing, hotel information and more.