Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. –The Montana State University Billings Men's Basketball fell to Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Thursday night 88-74.

The Yellowjackets only had the lead once in the game, 5-4 two minutes into the first half after Jonathan Meshgna hit a three point shot.  After that shot, UAF went on an 11-2 run to make it 15-7 with thirteen minutes left to play.

The Yellowjackets would have to fight to get themselves back into the game, but never could quite close the gap in the first half as UAF held around a ten point cushion for the remainder of the half.  They would take 12 lead into the locker room, 45-33.

MSU-Billings would indeed fight their way back into the game on the back of Austin Hudson who finished the game with a double-double of 24 points and 22 rebounds.  It was his fifth double-double of the season.  The 22 boards in the game is a season high for an individual Jacket this year.  It is also a GNAC high for rebounds in a game and is the most UAF has allowed one person to get on their home court this season.  Hudson's 22 total rebounds equaled second most in GNAC history.  Blake Poole of Saint Martin's had 24 vs. Western Oregon on Jan. 11, 2011

Hudson's nearly single handedly bested the entire UAF team who finished with 25 total rebounds.  The 22 boards were more than the entire starting five for the Nanooks who finished with 16 rebounds combined.  Of the 22 rebounds, 13 were offensive which set a GNAC record for most offensive rebounds in a game.  The old record was 12 by Stanley Ratcliff of Western Oregon vs. Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 7, 2006.

 He had nine rebounds at half time and at the nine minute mark of the second half, in the span of 30 seconds, Hudson accounted for five offensive rebounds in a row.  His effort ties him for 8th most in program history and the most in a single game since 1971 when Bill Mummert recorded 28.   

 Behind gutty efforts like that, MSUB pulled to within four points, 69-65 after Devon Wallace layup with six minutes and fourteen seconds left. 

That would be the closest MSUB would get as UAF would go 7-9 from the field and 4-4 form the free throw line to close the game out in the last five minutes of play.

The Nanooks were led by Stefan Tica who finished the game with 21 points going 8-11 from the field.  Andrew Kelly added 16 points and three other Nanooks finished in double digits. 

Hudson led all players in points and rebounds and was 11-19 from the field.  Wallace finished with 14 points and five assists while Marc Matthews chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.  Kalob Hatcher finished with a game high eight assists, one above his GNAC leading season average, and eight points. 

Fairbanks shot 51.7 percent from the field including a staggering 66.7 percent from three point range (12-18).  MSUB shot 45.3 percent for the game and 31.6 from behind the arc (6-19).

"It's hard to beat a good team when they shoot 12-18 in threes," Head Coach Jamie Stevens said.  "I was pleased with the effort most of the guys put in and unfortunately we just got beat by a better team tonight." 

Turnovers did not end in the favor of MSUB, as they had eight first half turnovers and 17 total.  Fairbanks had nine turnovers the entire game.

MSUB finished with 42 points in the paint compared to UAF's 32.  MSUB also had 40 rebounds, their highest of the year, while UAF had 25 total. 

With the loss, MSUB drops to 8-12 overall and 4-8 in the GNAC.  UAF improves to 13-7, 8-4 GNAC. 

MSUB returns home next week for their final two home games against Western Washington University and Simon Fraser University.  WWU beat MSUB 84-71 in their first meeting (Jan.18).  MSUB rolled over SFU 100-70 in their first meeting (Jan. 16).