Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings Men's Basketball team pulled off the upset of the season in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Saturday night.  They beat nationally ranked #13 Division II, conference rival, Seattle Pacific University 72-70. 

Marc Matthews provided the winning basket, a put back as time expired in overtime after Jonathan Mesghna missed a jump shot with two seconds left on the clock. 

MSUB played arguably their best game of the season on defense.  Frustrating SPU into its poorest shooting game of the season. The Falcons shot 34 percent (22 of 64) and made just 4 of 19 3-point attempts. MSUB shot 49 percent (28 of 57) and made 8 of 16 shots from 3-point range. 

The Yellowjackets held The GNAC's seventh leading scorer, Patrick Simon (16.5) to just four point the entire night.  SPU's leading scorer, third overall in the GNAC, David Downs (20.5) was held scoreless for the first twenty three minutes of play.  He ended the first half with just two points but would score a game high 33 points total, 31 coming in the second half.  He was the only Falcon to finish in double figures. 

Devon Wallace led MSUB in scoring with 17 points to go with five rebounds.  Mesghna finished with 15 points, while Matthews scored 13 points and six rebounds.  Austin Hudson also scored 13 points and grabbed a team high nine rebounds. 

The Yellowjackets held SPU to a season low 20 points in the first half on 23 percent shooting.  MSUB shot 54 percent and made seven first half threes to go into the break with a 32-20 lead.   

MSU-Billings was able to build a 12 point lead, 61-49 with seven minutes left in regulation after a layup by Hudson.  SPU came roaring back to four with one minute and twenty second left and would take the lead on a Downs jumper with only seven seconds left 66-65.  Matthews again came up clutch as he was fouled with one second left.  He would hit 1-2 free throws to force OT 66-66. 

In OT, MSUB shot out to a 70-66 lead half way through the extra period after Wallace hit a jumper.  Again SPU was able to mount a rally and tie the ball game up after Simon hit 1-2 from the charity stripe to make it 70-70 with 15 seconds left.

MSUB took a timeout with six second left.  Out of the time out, Danny Desin inbounded the ball to Wallace on the right wing who then kicked the ball out ot Mesghna who put up a jumper from the right elbow with two seconds left.  It clanked off the rim to the left, where Matthews grabbed the rebound and quickly tossed up a five foot shot that dropped through the basket as time expired, giving MSUB the 72-70 victory. 

The win vaulted MSUB back into the playoff picture.  They moved into sixth place in the GNAC with two games remaining.  The top six regular season finishers qualify for the GNAC conference tournament.  The win also returns MSUB to .500, 12-12 overall and 8-8 in the GNAC.   MSUB gained revenge on SPU who escaped Billings with a 92-87 double-overtime decision on Jan. 25.  SPU falls to 22-5, 13-3 in the GNAC, but remains in first place in the league. 

SPU is the second nationally ranked team the Yellowjackets have beaten in three weeks (they beat Western Washington two weeks ago at home 102-101 when WWU was #24 at the time).  The win is also MSUB's fourth in a row. 

"I am very happy for our guys to pull out the win," head coach Jamie Stevens said.  "I thought they had to fight through some major adversity to get the win.  We were fortunate that SPU didn't shoot the ball well, but I think some of that was our defense.  It was just a great college basketball game.  We are looking forward to a big week ahead of us." 

The Yellowjackets play their final two regular season games next week against Northwest Nazarene University and Central Washington University on the road. 



Newspaper Box Score
MSU Billings vs Seattle Pacific
02/22/14 7:00 p.m. at Brougham Pavilion (Seattle, WA)
At Brougham Pavilion (Seattle, WA)
MSU BILLINGS 72, SEATTLE PACIFIC 70
MSU BILLINGS (12-12, 8-8 GNAC)
Wallace,Devon 7-13 2-4 17; Mesghna,Jonathan 5-13 1-2 15; Matthews,Marc 5-9
2-3 13; Hudson,Austin 6-10 1-1 13; Donaldson,Connor 2-3 0-0 5; Hatcher,Kalob
2-5 0-0 4; Miller,Chase 1-3 0-0 3; Nelson,Tyler 0-0 2-2 2; Desin,Danny 0-1
0-0 0. Totals 28-57 8-12 72.
SEATTLE PACIFIC (22-5, 13-3 GNAC)
Downs,David 10-21 11-12 33; Borton,Matt 3-9 2-3 9; Carroll,Brendan 3-7 2-2
8; Hutsen,Cory 2-7 1-2 5; Stockton,Riley 1-8 3-6 5; Simon,Patrick 1-7 1-2 4;
Penner,Mitch 1-3 2-5 4; Todd,Ryan 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-64 22-32 70.
MSU Billings..................   32   34    6  -   72
Seattle Pacific...............   20   46    4  -   70
3-point goals--MSU Billings 8-16 (Mesghna,Jonathan 4-6; Matthews,Marc 1-2;
Donaldson,Connor 1-1; Wallace,Devon 1-2; Miller,Chase 1-3; Desin,Danny 0-1;
Hatcher,Kalob 0-1), Seattle Pacific 4-19 (Downs,David 2-7; Borton,Matt 1-4;
Simon,Patrick 1-5; Stockton,Riley 0-2; Carroll,Brendan 0-1). Fouled out--MSU
Billings-Hatcher,Kalob, Seattle Pacific-None. Rebounds--MSU Billings 40
(Hudson,Austin 9), Seattle Pacific 36 (Stockton,Riley 9). Assists--MSU
Billings 13 (Hatcher,Kalob 5), Seattle Pacific 7 (Stockton,Riley 4). Total
fouls--MSU Billings 24, Seattle Pacific 10. Technical fouls--MSU
Billings-Hatcher,Kalob, Seattle Pacific-None. A-654