BILLINGS, Mont.  – In a battle between the top 3-point defenses in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, it was a strong shooting second half that led the Montana State University Billings Yelllowjackets (11-7, 3-4 GNAC) to a 78-73 victory on Thursday night over Simon Fraser (8-8, 2-6 GNAC).
 
The 'Jackets were facing a 12-point deficit at the half after shooting just 33.3 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. The offense hit just 4 of 19 shots from beyond the arc and only got to the free throw line for two shots. Tyler Green, in his first game back from injury, helped turn the tide in the second half by scoring 16 points in the final period. The sophomore looked his normal self, finishing the game with 22 points and making 6 of 13 3-point attempts.
 
MSUB finished the second half shooting 57.1 percent from three and making 16 of 20 free throws.
 
"We got more out of Tyler than we expected," head coach Jamie Stevens said of the guard's performance. "He's only had two practices but he's such a good shooter that you have to find him at all times. He was a great spark for us offensively."
 
Adding to the offensive onslaught was Zharon Richmond who finished the night a rebound shy of his first career double-double with 18 points and 9 boards. Richmond made 6 of 10 shots and finished the night 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. On the other end of the floor he rejected three shots to record his eighth game of the season with three or more blocks. The freshman hit the biggest shot of the game when he sunk his final 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining in the game to put the 'Jackets up by four.
 
"Zharon was steady as always," Stevens noted. "It's to the point now that you forget he's a freshman and can count on him to be productive on both ends of the floor. The three he hit at the end of the game was huge for us and we hope he can continue to build on it."
 
Simon Fraser led 40-28 at the half thanks to the offensive tandem of Kedar Salam and Tyrell Lewin. Salam scored 12 points in the first half while Lewin was a perfect 5-for-5 with 11 points at the break. However, the MSUB defense would be the story of the second half as the Yellowjackets held SFU to two points in the first seven minutes of the final period resulting in a 15-2 run.
 
"The way we came out defensively in the second half was the difference in the game," Stevens said. "In the first half we just didn't guard the way you need to at this level and we weren't hitting shots on the other end of the floor. When you're having a bad shooting night you need to rely on the tough facets of the game, which for us means getting out there and guarding people and rebounding the ball."
 
The effort showed with MSUB cutting Simon Fraser's shooting percentage by 20 percent in the second half. SFU finished the night 3-for-15 from deep compared to the 'Jackets' 12-for-33 total.
 
Kendall Denham finished the night with eight points and two assists leaving him just two assists shy from becoming the third player in MSUB history to record 100 3-pointers made while dishing 300 assists in a career. Fellow point guard Kobe Terashima scored 11 points after making 7 of 8 free throws in the second half.
 
Daniel Shedden had another solid performance with eight points in the win over SFU while adding five rebounds to his efforts. Kamal Tall put an exclamation point on the Yellowjackets second half run slamming home a pass from Terashima that stretched the lead to eight. Tall finished the night with five points and three rebounds.
 
The Yellowjackets will host Western Washington University (12-3, 7-0 GNAC) on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. following the conclusion of the 5:15 p.m. MSUB women's game against Central Washington. Both games can be followed via the MSUB Stretch Internet Portal.