BILLINGS, Mont.  – In their final road trip of the 2017-18 season the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team (12-13, 4-10 GNAC) will visit Great Northwest Athletic Conference foes Western Washington (17-6, 12-3 GNAC) and Simon Fraser (9-14, 3-12 GNAC). The Yellowjackets will visit Bellingham, Wash. on Thursday at 7 p.m. Pacific time before traveling to Burnaby, B.C. for a 7 p.m. (PST) showdown with Simon Fraser.   
 
LAST TIME OUT: Splitting a pair of games last week, the Yellowjackets hosted the No. 4 Western Oregon Wolves and the Concordia Cavaliers in Billings. In the game against Western Oregon, the 'Jackets put the Wolves on upset alert after grabbing a 15-point lead in the first half. Zack Rollins' 13 first-half points led the 'Jackets as MSUB shot 56.7 percent in the opening 20 minutes to take a 42-34 lead into the break.
 
The Wolves defense responded by holding the Yellowjackets to a 22.6 percent rate from the field in the second half allowing WOU to outscore MSUB 37-18 in the period. Rollins scored 20 in his first game coming off of the bench while Tyler Green and Kendall Denham scored 14 and 10 respectively. With the win, the Wolves swept the season series.
 
On Saturday, it was the Cavaliers visiting Billings. MSUB completed the season sweep with an 80-79 victory after a thrilling final five minutes of play. The 'Jackets had the game under control with a 10-point 75-65 lead with 4:30 remaining in the game but CU closed the game on a 14-5 run and had a game-winning shot in the air as the buzzer sounded.
 
Denham had a game-high 23 points with three rebounds and three assists. Hafeez Abdul collected 10 boards to go with 11 points as he recorded his first double-double as a Yellowjacket. Rollins scored 17 in the contest and Zharon Richmond scored 13. Kobe Terashima did a little of everything as the 6-foot-1-inch guard collected eight assist and seven rebounds while scoring eight points in the win.
 
SIMON FRASER AT WESTERN WASHINGTON: The Vikings welcomed the Clan to Bellingham on Tuesday night as Western Washington claimed a season sweep over Simon with an 86-64 win in Carver Gym. WWU had six players score 10 or more points while shooting 50.9 percent as a team and making 22 of 26 shots at the free throw line. Deandre Dickson and Daulton Hommes led the Vikings with 15 each with Dickson leading the team with five blocks and five assist. Logan Schilder recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds in the win. Simon Fraser's Kedar Salam had 23 points and five boards to lead the Clan but 15 turnovers and a 45.5 team shooting percentage allowed WWU to put the game away comfortably.  
 
NUMBERS AND NOTES
 
COUNTING KENDALL: Kendall Denham recorded three steals in the win against Concordia on Saturday which moved him to 10th in Yellowjacket history with 96 career swipes. He is now just two assists away (314) from becoming the third MSUB player to rank in the career top-10 for both steals and assists along with his coach Jamie Stevens and Dominic Washington who rank first and second in each category respectively. The point guard has an outside shot of becoming the 23rd player in program history to score 1,000 points after his 23 point performance on Saturday gives him 903 career points with six games remaining this season. His 305 points this season is the highest total for a season in his career surpassing his 237 points from his junior season.
 
ROLLINS MAKING HIS MARK: Junior forward Zack Rollins currently leads the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with 73 made 3-pointers this season. He is currently eight makes from beyond the arc from joining the top-20 for most 3-pointers in a single season in MSUB history. He averages nearly three makes a game from deep while scoring a Yellowjacket-leading 15.2 points per game. With six games left in the season it is likely that Rollins could finish the season with 91 or more threes this season which would be just 13 3-pointers away from a top-10 season total. Nationally, Rollins ranks 16th in 3-pointers made and 17th in 3-point attempts out of 250 Division II athletes.
 
TERASHIMA'S TRIPLE THREAT: Against Concordia, freshman guard Kobe Terashima scored eight points while dishing eight assists and collecting seven rebounds. It is the third time this season that he has posted five or more points, rebounds and assists in a game. Denham and Rollins are the only other Yellowjackets to perform the feat this season with Denham doing it twice and Rollins once. Terashima is averaging 7.2 points, 4.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. He has 107 assists this season making him the first MSUB-freshman to dish to 100 or more scorers since 2005. His 4.3 assist average is the second-best rate in the conference.
 
ABDUL'S DOUBLE-DOUBLE: In Saturday's win over Concordia, Hafeez Abdul recorded his first career double-double for MSUB with 11 points and 10 rebounds. It is the third double-double for the Yellowjackets this season with Rollins and Terashima also completing the feat. Abdul has had an increased role recently and earned starts in both of last week's games. In his two starts he averaged 7.5 points and eight rebounds in 55 total minutes of action. During his double-double performance, the forward recorded five offensive and five defensive rebounds and added two assists.
 
Western Washington University Vikings
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 | 7 P.M. (PST) | Bellingham, WA
2017-18 Record: 17-6, 12-3 GNAC (2nd Place)
Head Coach: Tony Dominguez (6th Season)
2016-17 Record: 25-6, 17-3 GNAC (1st Place)
Roster | Stats   
 
FIRST MEETING WITH MSUB: The Vikings earned a 100-91 win in Billings earlier this season as they outscored the Yellowjackets 55-34 in the first half and MSUB couldn't complete the comeback. WWU had six players score in double-figures during the meeting led by 26 from Trey Drechsel. Zharon Richmond and Kobe Terashima each scored 20 points in the game to lead the 'Jackets with Rollins and Denham adding 17 and 16 points respectively.
 
Western has strung together two wins after a surprising three-game losing streak for the number two team in the GNAC standings. They're the top scoring offense in the conference with an average of 85.2 points per game and outscore their opponents by an average of 10.7 points per contest. The Vikings top the league in free throw percentage and are second in the conference with a 49.7 team-shooting percentage throughout the season.
 
Forward Daulton Hommes leads the team with 18.3 points per game with Drechsel (15.5) and Deandre Dickson (14.3) close behind. Hommes also leads the league's top rebounding team with 7.3 boards per game. Along with the 6-foot-7-inch forward, Logan Schilder (6.8 rpg) and Dickson (6.7 rpg) give the Vikings three of the top-10 rebounders in the GNAC.
 
Simon Fraser University Clan
Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018 | 7 P.M. (PST) | Burnaby, B.C.
2017-18 Record: 9-14, 3-12 GNAC (11th Place)
Head Coach: Steve Hanson (2nd Season)
2016-17 Record: 4-24, 2-18 GNAC (10th Place)
Roster | Stats 
 
FIRST MEETING WITH MSUB: Twenty-two points from Tyler Green guided the Yellowjackets to a 78-73 win over the Clan earlier this season in Billings. Richmond scored 18 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds in the win. Simon Fraser was held to just 20 percent shooting from 3-point range while the MSUB offense sunk 12 shots from deep. Kedar Salam scored 22 for Simon Fraser while shooting 20 shots against the 'Jackets.
 
The season has been a story of two different teams for the Clan as they hold a 7-4 record at home while going winless in nine games on the road. They have lost their past four contests after an 81-80 victory over Seattle Pacific. Simon Fraser is currently the top 3-point percentage defense in the conference as they are holding opponents to 32.2 percent shooting from three. Their defense is second in the league in steals (7.8) and the Clan have the league's second-best turnover margin.   
 
Salam is the top scorer in the GNAC as he averages 19.2 points per game for the Clan. He has two 30-plus point performances this season including a 40 point game against Central Washington. JJ Pankratz is 11th in the conference in rebounding with 6.1 per game and Michael Provenzano is third in the league with 4.1 assists per game.
 
Both games will be streamed with live stats via the MSUB Stretch Internet Portal.