Box Score HELENA, Mont. – The day after picking up its second Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory of the week, the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team dropped a road exhibition game at Carroll College 76-63 Sunday evening at the PE Center.
Marc Matthews led all scorers with 20 points and
Preston Beverly added 16, but the 'Jackets couldn't overcome a balanced scoring effort by the Saints. Zach Taylor led Carroll with a dozen points, while Match Burnham was also in double figures with 10.
"I am proud of how our guys fought tonight," commented MSUB head coach
Jamie Stevens. "Carroll is a solid ball club, but we did some good things that will help us moving forward."
A 57.5 shooting percentage from the field (17-for-47) led the efficient Saints to the win, as MSUB shot just 34.4 percent (21-for-61). The Saints made 3 of 8 3-pointers (37.5 percent) and 19 of 23 foul shots (82.6 percent). The 'Jackets made 5 of 23 shots from downtown (21.7 percent), and hit 16 of 18 foul shots (88.9 percent) an evening after making 16 of 19 from the line.
The 'Jackets were out-rebounded 38-24 in the game, with Beverly's six boards leading all players.
A three by Matthews just over five minutes into the game gave MSUB a four-point lead, but it was the largest advantage of the evening for the Yellowjackets. The Saints went on a 20-5 run over the next five minutes to build a double-digit lead, and didn't waver en route to a 40-35 halftime edge.
A jumper by
Kamal Tall early on in the second brought the 'Jackets within two points, but an ensuing 11-2 Carroll run pushed the Saints' lead to double figures again where it stayed the rest of the game.
Matthews made 8 of 18 shots from the field and 3 of 11 from downtown. After making all nine of his free throws in a 77-75 win over Western Washington University on Saturday, Beverly stayed hot from the line and went 10-for-10 for the majority of his points.
Jordan Perry and
Emmanuel Johnson had four rebounds and five points apiece for MSUB, which remained at 6-6 overall on the season and 3-1 in conference play. Freshman
Sven Jeuschede finished with seven points for the 'Jackets, while Tall finished with four.
The Saints improved to 9-3 on the season with the win, as the game counted towards the team's nonconference schedule. Carroll is unbeaten at 3-0 in Frontier Conference (NAIA) games this season.
"Our guys need a break after three games in four nights and picking up a couple of GNAC wins," Stevens said. "All in all I am very pleased with where we are as a team, and we are looking forward to next week's road games."
THE BUZZ: Beverly was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…Sunday's contest was MSUB's third and final exhibition game of the season…the 'Jackets were without junior
Jace Anderson, who suffered a knee injury at the end of Saturday's win over the Vikings.
AHEAD: The 'Jackets return to regular season play next week with road games at Northwest Nazarene University and Central Washington University. MSUB has won three games in-a-row and is off to a 3-1 start in GNAC play.
