Box Score Gallery Steven's Interview


BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings Men's Basketball team kicked off Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a win against Central Washington University, 82-67.

The Jackets played with great hustle, overwhelming the Wildcats both at the start of the game and in the closing minutes. MSUB shot 48.1 percent from the field including 33.3 percent from three point range and also reached the free throw line 30 times going 21-30 for 70.0 percent. CWU was 44.3 percent from the field to go with 30.0 percent from three point land and only managed to reach the free throw line 13 times making 7-13 for 53.8 percent.

"The guys played really, really well," head coach Jamie Stevens said. "We emphasized being physical and getting after the rebounding. We held them to 67 and they are a great scoring team, McLaughlin is a great player. We out rebounded them and got to the line a lot more than they did."

The Jackets opened up a 21-8 lead within the first ten minutes of the game behind a solid team effort with baskets by four of the five jacket starters. Danny Desin led the initial charge scoring all eight of his points in the first ten minutes while grabbing two rebounds. CWU would battle back to go into half time only down by eight, 38-30. They were led by GNAC scoring leader Mark McLaughlin who scored 12 of his 21 points in the first half.

The Wildcats began the second half with a little run of their own to bring them within three, 40-37. Then the Jackets would go on a run to extend the score to 48-39 after a three point shot by Connor Donaldson who finished the night with 11 points.

That was followed by a CWU run to bring the score to within three, 45-48 after McLaughlin laid in the ball on a fast break for CWU with fourteen minutes and twenty one seconds left in the game.

That would be as close as the Wildcats would get. MSUB would go on to push the led to 61-49 following a 13-4 run after Donaldson cashed in another three point shot with ten minutes and thirteen seconds left.

With three minutes and forty four seconds the Jackets had sealed it away, going up by 20 points, 77-57 after a layup by Austin Hudson who finished the night with his second consecutive double-double, scoring 12 points and gathering in 11 rebounds.

McLaughlin would be the game's high scorer with 21 points and seven rebounds followed by JB Pillard who scored 10 points. But the Jackets would finish with four players in double figures. Jonathan Mesghna and Devon Wallace both finished with a team high 15 points along with Hudson's 12 and Donaldson's 11 points. Mesghna also pulled down eight rebounds while the win was Wallace's best game of his career. He would score 10 straight points including hitting two key three point shots in a row late to push the game out of CWU's grasp. Kalob Hatcher had a game high seven assists and now has 44 on the year, to go with nine points.

The Wildcats held a slight advantage in the paint scoring 32 to the Jackets 30 and held a 16-7 advantage of points off turnovers. But MSUB would receive more production from the bench out scoring CWU's bench 27-12. The Jackets also had more second chance points, outscoring the Wildcats 13-4.

MSUB next takes on Northwest Nazarene University on Dec. 7th at 7:00 P.M. at Alterowtiz. "Another tough GNAC game and we are going to have do those things again," Stevens said of NNU. "We are going to have to get the ball inside and we are going to have to make shots." Stats and live video can be found at MSUBSPORTS.COM.



Newspaper Box Score
Central Washington vs Montana State Billings
12/5/13 7:00 P.M. at Billings, Mont.
At Billings, Mont.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS 82, CENTRAL WASHINGTON 67
CENTRAL WASHINGTON (3-3 0-1 GNAC)
McLaughlin,Mark 10-18 1-6 21; Pillard,JB 5-6 0-1 10; Lord,Joshua 2-8 4-4 9;
Roppo,Joey 3-8 0-0 8; Davis,Kevin 3-8 0-0 7; Peake,Jalen 2-4 0-0 6;
Budinich,Jeff 2-5 0-0 4; Radliff,Dylan 0-1 2-2 2; Rodgers,Marc 0-2 0-0 0;
Dawn,Terry 0-0 0-0 0; Russell,Jordan 0-1 0-0 0; Vaughn,Julian 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 27-61 7-13 67.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (4-3 1-0 GNAC)
Mesghna,Jonathan 3-7 6-7 15; Wallace,Devon 4-7 5-7 15; Hudson,Austin 6-8 0-0
12; Donaldson,Connor 4-9 1-2 11; Hatcher,Kalob 3-7 3-4 9; Desin,Danny 3-5
0-0 8; Matthews,Marc 2-4 4-6 8; Adams,Luke 1-1 1-2 3; Nelson,Tyler 0-0 1-2
1; Miller,Chase 0-5 0-0 0; Anderson,Jace 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-54 21-30 82.
Central Washington............ 30 37 - 67
Montana State Billings........ 38 44 - 82
3-point goals--Central Washington 6-20 (Peake,Jalen 2-4; Roppo,Joey 2-6;
Davis,Kevin 1-1; Lord,Joshua 1-3; Russell,Jordan 0-1; Radliff,Dylan 0-1;
Budinich,Jeff 0-2; McLaughlin,Mark 0-2), Montana State Billings 9-27
(Mesghna,Jonathan 3-4; Donaldson,Connor 2-6; Desin,Danny 2-4; Wallace,Devon
2-4; Miller,Chase 0-4; Anderson,Jace 0-1; Matthews,Marc 0-1; Hatcher,Kalob
0-3). Fouled out--Central Washington-Pillard,JB, Montana State
Billings-None. Rebounds--Central Washington 28 (Davis,Kevin 10), Montana
State Billings 36 (Hudson,Austin 11). Assists--Central Washington 9
(McLaughlin,Mark 4), Montana State Billings 16 (Hatcher,Kalob 7). Total
fouls--Central Washington 22, Montana State Billings 17. Technical
fouls--Central Washington-None, Montana State Billings-None. A-357