BILLINGS, Mont. - The Montana State University Billings Men's basketball team carries a four game win streak into the final regular season weekend.  MSUB plays two road games against Northwest Nazarene University and Central Washington University. 

This weekend is a do or die weekend with two remaining Great Northwest Athletic Conference playoff spots up for grabs between three teams.  The three teams still in contention are, Central Washington, Western Oregon University and MSU-Billings.

A CWU loss to Seattle Pacific University on Thursday night, and MSUB is in.  If that happens, then Saturday's games will be to determine seeding. 
In the first meeting (Dec. 7th) this year, NNU squeaked by MSUB 63-61.  MSUB beat CWU (Dec. 5th) 82-67 when the two teams met in Billings earlier this year. 

The Yellowjackets (12-12, 8-8 GNAC) are coming off the upset of the season as the beat #13 in the NCAA Division II, Seattle Pacific University 72-70 in Seattle.  Marc Matthews hit a buzzer beating shot to beat the Falcons in dramatic fashion.  

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.  Jonathan 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.

"Another big week for our team and program," head coach Jamie Stevens said.   "We need to have a great week of preparation going into both games. NNU played well on Saturday and already beat us once this year. We will need to play well on both ends of the court and rebound the basketball to have any chance in Nampa. On Saturday we face one of the most talented teams in the league in a very tough environment to play. It will be another senior night and we will have to score enough points to keep up with Central's big time offense."

Mesghna leads MSUB (and is 13th in the GNAC) in scoring averaging 15.0 points per game to go with 5.7 rebounds.  Hudson is close behind him, at 15th in scoring in the GNAC averaging 14.5 points per game and leads the team with 7.3 rebounds per game. 

Kalob Hatcher is currently fifth in the nation at the NCAA Div. II level in assists per game, averaging 7.5.  That figure is also number one in the GNAC and he leads the conference in assists with 180.  He also is third for the Yellowjackets in scoring, averaging 12.9 per game.

MSUB ranks seventh in scoring offense, averaging 77.0 points per game, but is ranked fourth in scoring defense allowing opponents to score 75.5 points per game.  MSUB is also number one in the GNAC in field goal defense, holding opponents to .441 shooting from the floor.  That includes the number two ranked three point defense allowing the opposition to shoot only .326 from three point range.

NNU is eighth in scoring offense, averaging 72.2 points per game and eighth in scoring defense giving up 80.6 per contest.  NNU's leading scorer is Mario Donaldson who is11th in the GNAC in scoring averaging 15.3 points per game.  Right on his heals is teammate Kevin Rima who is 12th in the GNAC at 15.1 points per game.  Rima had 31 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's NNU win at Simon Fraser.  Donaldson netted 41 points and also had a team-high eight assists 

CWU (11-13, 7-9 GNAC) is led by the national NCAA Div. II leading scoring, mark McLaughlin who averages a blistering 27.3 points per game.   McLaughlin, JB Pillard and Jordan Russell combined for 104 points in the Wildcats' two road losses.  McLaughlin had 66, Pillard had 35 Russell netted 33 points. CWU is third in the GNAC in scoring offense, averaging 84.6 points per game, but deal last in scoring defense giving up 83.0 points per game. 

Stats and live video for Thursday's game against NNU can be found at http://www.nnusports.com/ .  The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM.