Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. –The Montana State University Billings Men's Basketball team lost in a heartbreak, getting edged out by Northwest Nazarene University 63-61 Saturday night.

The Jackets (4-4, 1-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) came out of the gates hot, starting the contest on a 10-0 run. They led the entire half, with ten points being the largest led for MSUB behind eight points scored by Austin Hudson who finished the game 10 points and five rebounds as he would get into foul trouble early in the second half. With seven minutes and nine seconds left in the first half the Jackets were ahead 22-12 but then NNU (2-6, 1-1 GNAC) found a spark and would close out the half on a 15-7 run to make it 29-27 going into the break.

The start of the second half saw both teams' trade shots back and forth until with 13 minutes left when MSUB's Marc Matthews drove down the lane and laid in an easy basket to extend the Jacket led by eight points, 42-34. The Crusaders came storming back to take their first lead of the game, 45-43 after two free throws by Matyas Hering with nine minutes and forty nine seconds left.

The Jackets and Crusaders would battle back a forth as MSUB regained the led 58-57 after a three point shot by Jonathan Mesghna with three minutes left. MSUB built up a four point led after two free throws by Kalob Hatcher only to see Hering go back down the other side of the court and make a three point shot to bring it to 61-60.

Then NNU's Kevin Rima made a layup with one minute and thirty six seconds left to give the Crusaders the led, 62-61. Rima would go on to hit one of two free throws with twenty three seconds left to make it 63-61. MSUB would get one last chance at the win when Mesghna let loose a three point shot from the top of the arc that rimmed out as NNU secured the victory.

"Tonight was a bad loss and all the credit goes to NNU," head coach Jamie Stevens said. "They made shots and we did not. We will need to play a lot better if we are going to be successful this year and win games in this league."

Hering led all scorers with 20 points for NNU. Rima scored nine points but gathered in a game high 13 rebounds. Derek Isaak also contributed 15 points.

MSUB was led by Marc Matthews who scored a career high 13 points to go with three rebounds. Kalob Hatcher had a game high nine assists to go with five points.

The Jackets received more production from their bench, outscoring NNU 28-5. MSUB also had more points in the paint, 22-12. NNU scored more points off of turnovers, 16-10 and the NNU starting five scored an astonishing 58 of 63 points on the night.

MSUB next plays in their annual Alumni game on Dec. 14th at 2:00pm. The Jackets then travel to Las Vegas Nev. To play in the Dixie State Classic and will take on two non-conference opponents, Academy of Art University and Dixie State University on Dec. 18th and 19th.


Newspaper Box Score
Northwest Nazarene vs Montana State Billings
12/7/13 7:00 P.M. at Billings, Mont.
At Billings, Mont.
NORTHWEST NAZARENE 63, MONTANA STATE BILLINGS 61
NORTHWEST NAZARENE (1-6, 0-1 GNAC)
Hering,Matyas 6-10 4-4 20; Isaak,Derek 5-10 0-0 15; Loomis,Michael 3-6 4-4
12; Rima,Kevin 3-10 3-9 9; Olivier,Pol 2-4 0-0 5; Moore,Grayson 1-7 0-0 2;
Damon,Austin 0-0 0-0 0; Van Beuren,John 0-0 0-0 0; Perryman,Shayne 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 20-47 11-17 63.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (4-3, 1-0 GNAC)
Matthews,Marc 5-10 0-0 13; Hudson,Austin 5-8 0-0 10; Mesghna,Jonathan 3-10
0-0 9; Donaldson,Connor 3-8 2-4 8; Desin,Danny 2-5 2-3 7; Miller,Chase 2-8
0-0 6; Hatcher,Kalob 1-3 2-2 5; Wallace,Devon 0-3 2-2 2; Nelson,Tyler 0-0
1-2 1; Adams,Luke 0-0 0-0 0; Anderson,Jace 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 9-13 61.
Northwest Nazarene............ 27 36 - 63
Montana State Billings........ 29 32 - 61
3-point goals--Northwest Nazarene 12-27 (Isaak,Derek 5-7; Hering,Matyas 4-7;
Loomis,Michael 2-5; Olivier,Pol 1-3; Moore,Grayson 0-5), Montana State
Billings 10-34 (Mesghna,Jonathan 3-7; Matthews,Marc 3-7; Miller,Chase 2-8;
Desin,Danny 1-4; Hatcher,Kalob 1-2; Wallace,Devon 0-3; Donaldson,Connor
0-3). Fouled out--Northwest Nazarene-None, Montana State
Billings-Hudson,Austin. Rebounds--Northwest Nazarene 29 (Rima,Kevin 13),
Montana State Billings 26 (Wallace,Devon 5). Assists--Northwest Nazarene 14
(Isaak,Derek 6), Montana State Billings 18 (Hatcher,Kalob 9). Total
fouls--Northwest Nazarene 13, Montana State Billings 13. Technical
fouls--Northwest Nazarene-None, Montana State Billings-None.