BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings Men's Basketball team will welcome in Seattle Pacific University to Alterowitz gym this Saturday, Jan. 25th for the "Hall of Fame Game" sponsored by the Hilton Garden Inn.  

It will be a battle of top ranked defenses as SPU leads the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in scoring defense holding opponents to 65.7 points per game which is also 21st nationally.  The Yellowjackets carry the third ranked scoring defense in the GNAC, allowing opponents to score 71.9 points per contest.  SPU is fifth in the league in scoring offense averaging 77.8 points per game, while MSUB is seventh averaging 74.8.

"This week's game is big for many reasons," head coach Jamie Stevens said.  "Obviously, we are playing one of the best teams in the country. Don't be fooled by their 4 losses. The two league losses came when they were missing one of their top guns. They were pre-season number one in the country for a reason."  This also concludes the first half of our GNAC season. After Saturday, all teams will have played 9 games. We would obviously like to end the first half on a high note. Looking at the standings, every game is huge. With the exception of one team, nobody in the league is more than 2 losses out of first place. The fight for positioning in the league is as wide open as any year since I have been here."

SPU (15-4, 6-2 GNAC) is currently sitting in first place in the conference and is currently riding a four game win streak.  The Falcons defeated Western Washington University 76-60 (Jan. 15) and trounced Simon Fraser University 73-49 (Jan. 18) in their two games last week.  They began the year ranked number one in the National Association of Basketball Coaches/NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll.

MSUB (8-8, 4-4 GNAC) is currently the fifth place team in the conference.  They are coming off of a week in which they romped SFU by 30, 100-70 (Jan.16) and then came up short against WWU 84-71 (Jan. 18).  MSUB has split each conference set of games this season, winning on Thursday's game but losing on Saturday's games dating back to the first set of GNAC games in early December.

The Falcons are led by David Downs who is third in the GNAC in scoring and leads the team in scoring (20.4), assists (4.6) and field goals made (108).  He leads the GNAC in three point percentage (54.4) and is first on the team in free throw attempts per game (7.1).  Patrick Simon, a second year transfer from Washington State, is sixth in the GNAC in scoring (16.5) and second in the league in three point percentage (49.4) just behind his teammate Downs.  Corey Husten is the other Falcon averaging double figures in scoring (13.1).

Kalob Hatcher has steadily moved up the National rankings each week and now is in the top ten for assists per game.  He averages 6.8 per contest which is ninth nationally and first in the GNAC. Hatcher is third on the team in points per game (11.1).  His 16 assists in the past two games pushed him to become the 39th player in GNAC history to have 250 career assists.

Austin Hudson had 25 points and 12 rebounds against SFU, then netted 14 points and 11 rebounds against WWU for his third and fourth double-doubles of the year.  He leads MSUB is field goal percentage (62.7 percent) and is second on the team in rebounding (5.9).  Jonathan Mesghna leads the team in scoring (13.6) and rebounds (6.1).  He also leads MSUB in three point shots made per game (2.5) and field goal attempts per game (12.1).

The game is the second half of the "Hall of Fame" double header sponsored by the Hilton Garden Inn.  The MSUB women's basketball team is playing host to Western Oregon University at 5:15 PM on Jan. 25.  At half time of the Men's game against SPU, four new members of the Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets Athletics Hall of Fame & Distinction will be honored.  They are: Dr. Jim Elliot, Heidi Lehman, Pryor Orser and Dr. Megan (Plank) Holden.

The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM, Jan. 25th.  Live video and Stats can be found at MSUBSPORTS.COM.