Box Score Stevens Interview                                     Gallery 

BILLINGS, Mont. –The Montana State University Billings Men's Basketball team took advantage of an ice-cold University of Alaska-Anchorage on their way to a 75-67 victory in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game Thursday night at Alterowitz Gym.

UAA, which came into the game as the No. 3 three-point field goal team in the nation (13.8 per game) and No. 6 scoring team in the country (92.1 ppg), made only six-of-26 three pointers and were held to 25 points under their season average while the swarming Jacket defense held UAA to a season-low 34 percent from the field.

UAA started the game with a 11-5 lead, but the MSUB came storming back to take a 34-29 lead into the locker room at halftime after Kalob Hatcher sank a three point shot as time expired in the first half.

The Yellowjackets came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and took off on a 12-2 run grabbing a 15 point at 46-31 with 15:20 to go. MSUB was able to maintain a double-digit lead for much of the second half before the Seawolves went on a 13-2 run down the stretch to pull to within three after a Brian McGill layup, 70-67, with 1:09 remaining.

MSUB put the game away at the free throw line going 5-5 in the last minute of play to seal the 75-67 point victory.

The GNAC's second leading assist provider, Kalob Hatcher paced the Jackets as he scored 16 points and dished out a game high 9 assists. Chase Miller continued his hot shooting, scoring a team high 17 points going 5-10 from behind the arc and now has 35 points in his past two games. Austin Hudson went 3-4 from the field and finished with 11 points in 11 minutes of play as he was in foul trouble early.

"We played well," head coached Jamie Stevens said. "UAA did miss some shots and part of that was our defense. We had a good plan going in, we wanted to run them off the three point line as much as possible and we did that. This was a good bounce back win after the defeat against WOU. Our emphasis is finish the weekend and go out Saturday to do that."

UAA had three players finish in double figures, led by McGill who finished with a game high 23 points. Travis Thompson finished with 21 for UAA as well.

MSUB next takes on the University of Alaska-Fairbanks who were defeated 66-46 by Seattle Pacific Thursday night. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 PM at Alterowitz Gym. Stats and live video can be found at MSUBSPORTS.COM

Newspaper Box Score
University of Alaska Anchorage vs Montana State Billings
1/9/14 7:00 PM at Alterowitz Gym, Billings Mont.
At Alterowitz Gym, Billings Mont.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS 75, UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE 67
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE (9-6, 2-2 GNAC)
McGill,Brian 8-15 7-7 23; Thompson,Travis 6-17 6-6 21; Stafford,Teancum 1-10
7-8 10; Lauwers,Colton 1-4 3-4 6; Fossman,Kyle 2-5 0-1 5; Mears,Brad 1-4 0-0
2; Blossom,Boomer 0-0 0-0 0; Leckband,Christian 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-56
23-26 67.
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (7-6, 3-2 GNAC)
Miller,Chase 6-11 0-0 17; Hatcher,Kalob 2-6 10-13 16; Hudson,Austin 3-4 5-8
11; Donaldson,Connor 4-7 0-2 9; Wallace,Devon 3-10 3-4 9; Matthews,Marc 2-5
1-1 6; Nelson,Tyler 2-3 0-0 4; Mesghna,Jonathan 1-8 0-1 3; Anderson,Jace 0-0
0-0 0; Desin,Danny 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 19-29 75.
University of Alaska Anchorage 29 38 - 67
Montana State Billings........ 34 41 - 75
3-point goals--University of Alaska Anchorage 6-26 (Thompson,Travis 3-12;
Fossman,Kyle 1-3; Stafford,Teancum 1-5; Lauwers,Colton 1-4;
Leckband,Christian 0-1; McGill,Brian 0-1), Montana State Billings 10-29
(Miller,Chase 5-10; Hatcher,Kalob 2-3; Mesghna,Jonathan 1-5; Matthews,Marc
1-4; Donaldson,Connor 1-3; Desin,Danny 0-2; Wallace,Devon 0-2). Fouled
out--University of Alaska Anchorage-Lauwers,Colton, Montana State
Billings-None. Rebounds--University of Alaska Anchorage 31 (Stafford,Teancum
8), Montana State Billings 38 (Wallace,Devon 9). Assists--University of
Alaska Anchorage 8 (McGill,Brian 2; Fossman,Kyle 2; Thompson,Travis 2),
Montana State Billings 15 (Hatcher,Kalob 9). Total fouls--University of
Alaska Anchorage 20, Montana State Billings 23. Technical fouls--University
of Alaska Anchorage-None, Montana State Billings-None. A-337