BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings' men's basketball team enter the 2013 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament in a familiar position. The Yellowjackets open their postseason as the fifth-seed in the third annual tournament against fourth-seeded Alaska Fairbanks Thursday.
Last season, Montana State Billings entered the GNAC Tournament as the fifth-seed, and three days later it had knocked off three higher-seeded teams and won the program's first GNAC title. MSUB opened the tournament defeating fourth-seed Western Oregon, 80-75. Montana State Billings then stunned top-seeded and No. 11 Western Washington, 82-78, in the tournament semifinals. Twenty-four hours later, the Yellowjackets knocked off second-seeded and No. 15 Alaska Anchorage, 74-70. Three wins in three days by a combined 13 points.
The similarities between this year's team and last year's run are eerily close. In 2011-12, MSU Billings entered the postseason winning six of its last 10 games. This season, Montana State Billings comes into the tournament winners of six of its last 10 contests. Both last year and this year, the Yellowjackets ride into the tournament off a loss. If you look closer at the schedules, this season's team is actually playing better, winning four of its last six, compared to last year's 2-4 regular season finish.
Thursday, the MSU Billings (16-13, 9-9 GNAC) faces a familiar foe. MSUB and Alaska Fairbanks will have played just seven days prior to when they meet in the second quarterfinal game in Lacey, Wash. The Yellowjackets needed a big second half run to grab an 80-70 home win over UAF last Thursday. The Nanooks controlled the momentum for the majority of the contest, before MSU Billings used a 24-7 run to close the game and seal the victory.
The game featured five ties and four lead changes, a despite trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, MSUB rallied for the win behind a combined 34-point effort from
David Arnold and
Omar McDade.
Devon Wallace added 12, and
Jarrell Crayton had 10. Arnold grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, and
Kalob Hatcher threw a game-high seven assists. Crayton and Hatcher both had three steals.
Alaska-Fairbanks was led by Tica's 16 points. Dominique Brinson chipped in 14 points. Brinson and Pat Voeut both had four rebounds. Voeut, the conference-leader in assists, had four.
Both teams took care of the ball, as Alaska Fairbanks turned the ball over only nine times, compared to Montana State-Billings' six turnovers. The Yellowjackets turned UAF's errors into a 16-5 points off of turnovers advantage. Both teams finished with 22 points in the paint. MSUB outrebounded Fairbanks, 32-24.
In the first meeting this season, Alaska Fairbanks held off a late rally by Montana State Billings to pick up an 80-73 win on Dec. 1. UAF finished 56 percent from the field, and made 14 of its 15 free-throw attempts. The Nanooks led for the entirety of the contest, leading by as many as 15 points late in the first half. Alaska Fairbanks was led by Brinson's 20 points. Four other Nanooks finished in double-digits, Voeut had 16 points, Ronnie Baker and Sergej Pucar both added 12, and Dallen Bills chipped in 10. Voeut dished out a game-high six assists.
Arnold and Crayton both scored 15 points, and
Cameron Cusworth and McDade both had 12. MSUB finished 42 percent from the field, making 10 of its 23 three-point attempts. Montana State Billings was 15-of-21 from the free-throw line.
To say that the University of Alaska Fairbanks has had a good season would be an understatement. In only his second year at the helm, Mick Durham led the Nanooks to their first winning season in six years with a 15-11 overall record and turned in the program's best mark in conference play in seven seasons with a 10-8 record to finish in fourth place. Durham was awarded with GNAC co-Coach of the Year.
The Nanooks (15-11, 10-8) won GNAC Team of the week three times throughout the 2012-13 season and its three All-GNAC honorees (Brinson, Pucar, and Voeut) were named Player of the Week a combined five times. The signature win of the season was against Western Washington on Feb. 21, in which the Nanooks snapped WWU's program- and GNAC-record 30-game win streak with a 77-73 victory in Fairbanks.
The last time Alaska Fairbanks appeared in the postseason, the Nanooks advanced to the NCAA Div. II West Region Championships before falling to Cal Poly Pomona, 65-58.
This season, the Nanook offensive success has gone through its point guard, Voeut. The junior is the lone player on the team to start every game this season. He leads the GNAC in assists, averaging 5.3 per contest, and is ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio. Voeut is adding 11.8 points per contest. Brinson leads UAF with 12.5 points per game. Andrew Kelly has been a force off of the bench, grabbing seven rebounds a game, and shooting 58 percent from the field.
Montana State Billings' Crayton was named First Team All-GNAC this week. The senior is fourth in the conference in scoring (16.0), fourth in steals (1.5), fifth in rebounds (7.0), and eighth in field goal percentage (.558). Hatcher is fourth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, and third in the GNAC averaging 4.7 assists per game.
The GNAC men's tournament will tips off Thursday at 5:15 p.m. Pacific Time, and will match third-seed Alaska-Anchorage against sixth-seed Central Washington. Fifth-seeded Montana State Billings then plays fourth-seed Alaska-Fairbanks at 7:30 p.m. No. 3 Western Washington is the top seed and fourth-ranked Seattle Pacific is the No. 2 seed. They both receive byes in the opening round.
The semifinals are slated for 5:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The championship game, which will be televised by ROOT Sports, is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. All 10 games of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships from Saint Martin's University will be streamed live free of charge on GNAC TV. The lead announcer will be MSUB's Jeff Rosenberry. He will be joined mikeside by Brandon Sparks. Fans can access the GNAC TV portal on their smartphones, tablets and desktops via the conference web site, www.gnacsports.com.
Tickets are on sale now at a reduced price online at Eventbrite until Tuesday night at midnight (PST). Tickets will also be available at Marcus Pavilion on game days.
The winner of the championship game earns an automatic berth in the NCAA West Regional Tournament, which begins March 15 at a site to be determined.
2013 GNAC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
MEN (Mar. 7-9 at Lacey): Thursday - #6 Central Washington (14-12) vs. #3 Alaska Anchorage (18-8), 5:15 p.m.; #5 Montana State Billings (16-13) vs. #4 Alaska Fairbanks (15-11), 7:30 p.m.
Friday – 3/6 winner vs. Seattle Pacific (23-3), 5:15 p.m.; 4/5 winner vs. Western Washington (26-1), 7:30 p.m.
Saturday – Championship game at 7:30 p.m. (Root Sports).
