BILLINGS, Mont. – Visiting Simon Fraser cut into a 17-point second-half deficit and pulled within one point down the stretch, but the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team persevered and held on for a big 85-78 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory Thursday night at Alterowitz Gym.
 
Sango Niang of SFU drilled a 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining that cut the score to 76-75, but the Yellowjackets refused to relinquish the lead. MSUB converted 7 of 8 free throws – including a 4-for-4 effort by Kendall Denham – in the final 1:08 to prevent the Clan from coming back.
 
"Our guys made some good basketball plays down the stretch," said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. "Our guys hit some free throws and got some stops, and we rebounded the ball incredibly well tonight."
 
Yellowjacket senior Tyler Nelson finished with a career-high 13 points, and added 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Eight of Nelson's 10 rebounds were offensive, as the Yellowjackets' 45-21 edge in boards and 13-2 advantage in offensive rebounds keyed the victory.
 
"Guys were putting up some shots that I could rebound, and I was able to grab some boards," Nelson said. "We were efficient and our guys made some big-time plays down the stretch that ultimately helped us win the game. It was a total team effort and everyone was bought in. We outrebounded them as a team by 20, and I think that was the big stat."
 
Matching his second-highest point total of the season, Jace Anderson led five MSUB players who scored in double figures with 19 total, and Emmanuel Johnson was close behind with 18. Kendall Denham finished with 14 points and Jordan Perry had a double-double with a dozen points and 10 boards.
 
"Jace made some big plays down the stretch, and he created his own shots," Stevens said. "Tyler played his tail off with eight offensive rebounds, and that is big time."
 
With the win MSUB improved to 5-17 on the season and 3-9 in GNAC play. The Yellowjackets are still very much in contention for a berth in the GNAC Championships, as the team is currently in a three-way tie for seventh place and just two games out of sixth place. The top-six teams at the end of the regular season earn a berth in the GNAC Championships, hosted by MSUB March 4-7 at Alterowitz Gym.
 
For SFU (8-12, 3-9 GNAC), Sango Niang led all players with 26 points as he topped his conference-leading average of 23.1 on the season. Niang also had four rebounds and five assists, and finished shooting 10-for-16 from the floor. Roderick Evans-Taylor connected on 6 of 12 shots for 15 points, and Justin Cole and Hidde Vos were also in double figures for the Clan with 12 points apiece.
 
The win was the second of the season for MSUB over the Clan, which entered the game as the No. 1 team in the NCAA Division II in scoring offense at 110 points per game. The point total of 78 was the second-lowest of the season by SFU, and the 'Jackets halted a four-game losing skid.
 
"At the 11 minute mark they came out of the press and started playing us man-to-man, and that's something we hadn't seen out of them all year," Stevens said. "They had been pressing and pressing, and after we got them out of it we played the last 10 minutes kind of like a normal game."
 
Carrying a 48-41 advantage into halftime, the Yellowjackets began to distance themselves with a 10-5 run to open the second period.
 
MSUB led by as much as 63-46, but the Clan cut the deficit to 10 points on a three by Niang midway through the second. Evans-Taylor sank a deep three from the corner that brought the score within seven at 72-65, and the junior followed with a fast-break dunk the next time down to make it a two-possession game with seven minutes left.
 
SFU kept chipping away until it was within a single point, but after a three by Niang with 2:02 remaining, the Clan scored just one point the rest of the way.
 
While Nelson and Perry each had double doubles, Johnson was just one rebound away with nine and Denham was two off with eight. Perry and Anderson tied for the team high with four assists apiece, and Marc Matthews had six points, four boards and a pair of steals for MSUB.
 
The 'Jackets shot well from the field on the night at 46.4 percent (26-for-56), and a strong percentage of 77.8 from the foul line (28-for-36) was another big factor. From long range, MSUB made 5 of 19 attempts.
 
SFU was slightly below MSUB in shooting percentage at 44.8 (30-for-67), and the Clan connected on 11 of 29 shots from beyond the arc (37.9 percent). From the foul line SFU made 7 of 11 attempts (63.6 percent).
 
No player had more than four rebounds for SFU, but the Clan held true to their GNAC-leading turnover margin of plus-9.7 by giving the ball up just nine times compared with 18 by MSUB. On the game the Yellowjackets outscored the Clan in the paint 42-34 and held a 12-9 advantage in assists.
 
Nelson was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game for his career-effort. The 'Jackets played without their two leading scorers in Antoine Hosley (12.7 ppg) and Momir Gataric (11.8) who were each sidelined with injuries.
 
"We are looking forward to facing Western Washington next, they are really talented," Stevens said regarding his team's next matchup. "We are going to have to play really well, and we are going to go out there and fight our tails off."
 
NEXT UP: The Yellowjackets continue GNAC play on Saturday, hosting Western Washington at 7 p.m. in Alterowitz Gym.