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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings' men's basketball team remains on the road against Central Washington University Thursday and Northwest Nazarene University Saturday.
THE SERIES
* Thursday is the 16th all-time meeting between Montana State Billings and CWU.
* MSUB has lost five straight to Central Washington, with its last win coming on March 4, 2010, 92-85, in Ellensburg.
* MSU Billings has won one of the seven all-time meetings in Ellensburg.
* Northwest Nazarene and the Yellowjackets meet for the 26th time Saturday.
* Montana State Billings is 5-6 in Nampa all-time.
* MSUB swept the season series last season, inclduing a 94-75 win at Northwest Nazarene.
* The series dates back to the first meeting on Nov. 27, 1959. A 56-49 win by NNU at home.
QUICK HITS
- The Yellowjackets are 7-0 this season when leading with five minutes left in regulation, and 0-7 when trailing.
- MSUB is 20-1 under Stevens when they shoot better than their opponent, and is 11-0 when it shoots 50 percent or better.
- Montana State Billings is also 17-3 when outrebounding the opponent.
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Kalob Hatcher is fifth in NCAA Div. II in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.42.
- He is third in the GNAC in assists with an average of 5.0 per game.
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Jarrell Crayton is sixth in the conference in scoring (15.5), and fourth in rebounding (7.4).
- Crayton is in the top 10 in the conference in six major statistical categories.
- As a team, MSU Billings is third in the GNAC in three-point field goal percentage defense.
- The Yellowjackets are 3-7 against Top 25-ranked teams under Stevens.
- After never facing a top 10 opponent under Stevens, MSUB just faced two consecutive top 10 teams in a span of seven days.
ABOUT THE WILDCATS
Central Washington University is led by Great Northwest Athletic Conference leading scorer, Mark McLaughlin. The junior is averaging 23.1 points per contest. He is the lone player in the GNAC averaging over 20 points per outing. The Tacoma Community College transfer is eighth in NCAA Div. II in scoring. All five projected starters for CWU transferred from Tacoma Community College. The Wildcats have been an offensive force this season. Their 90.4 points per game leads the conference and is fourth in the nation. However, the Wildcats are last in the GNAC in scoring defense, giving up an average of 83.5 points per game. They also lead the conference in steals (9.4), free-throw percentage (.751), and turnover margin (+4.07). Four other CWU players average double-digit scoring per game, Dom Williams (11.6), Brandon McGee (10.9), Jordan Coby (10.9), and Chris Holmes (10.4).
THE LAST TIME THEY MET
The Montana State University Billings men's basketball team got out to an early lead and controlled the first half of Feb. 9's home Great Northwest Athletic Conference game against Central Washington University, but the Wildcats were able to come back in the second half to claim the 99-89 win over the Yellowjackets inside Alterowitz Gymnasium. The Yellowjackets had a good game from the floor as they hit on 47.2% (25-53) from the field that included hitting nearly 60% (16-27) of their looks in the opening stanza of play. But a 9-26 shooting performance in the second half that included hitting only one of 10 attempts from behind the three-point arc derailed MSUB's ability to hold onto the lead.
Antoine Proctor had a game-high 30 points that included hitting 15 of his 16 free throw attempts to lead MSUB.
ABOUT THE CRUSADERS
Northwest Nazarene University has the sixth-best free-throw shooter in NCAA Div. II. Jonathon Hawkins leads the Great Northwest Athletic Conference shooting 92.6 percent from the charity stripe. The senior has made 50 of his 54 free-throw attempts this season. Kevin Rima earned a spot on the GNAC Player of the Week honorable mention team. The sophomore had 19 points and 10 rebounds in an 85-75 victory over Simon Fraser University on Thursday. On Saturday night, against No. 5 Western Washington University, Rima posted 12 points and eight rebounds in the Crusaders 61-49 loss. NNU averages 4.4 blocks per game, the second-best mark in the conference. Northwest Nazarene turns the ball over more times than any other team in the GNAC, 16.6 per game, and has the worst turnover margin in the conference as well (-2.71). Kenny Jones leads the Crusaders scoring 15.8 points per outing.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET
The Montana State University Billings men's basketball team ended the home portion of their 2011-12 season with an 83-73 win over the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene Feb. 11, inside Alterowitz Gymnasium, giving their seniors a fitting departing gift on “Senior Night.” The Yellowjackets connected on 44.4% (24-54) of their looks from the field and were 10-24 from beyond the three-point arc. Four of MSUB's six seniors scored in double digits led by
Antoine Proctor and
Jaxon Myaer with 16 points each. Myaer went 5-8 from the field and drilled four three-pointers to lead the team. Behind the pair of guards,
Robert Mayes and
Chase Richards added 13 and 11 points respectively while junior
David Arnold rounded out the players in double-digit points with 10.
COACH STEVENS' WEEKEND PREVIEW
This is an important week for our team. Our early GNAC schedule has been difficult and we have not responded well. Obviously, we need a bounce back week after the way we didn't compete at Seattle Pacific. In the end, we need to find a way to get into the top 6. We have dug ourselves an early hole. This week, we will either keep digging or respond like a team that knows it has to win some games.
