BELLINGHAM, Wash. – On Thursday, the Montana State University Billings Yellowjackets (12-14, 4-10 GNAC) opened their final Great Northwest Athletic Conference road trip of the season with a 91-65 loss to the Western Washington Vikings (18-6, 13-3 GNAC) in Bellingham.
 
MSU Billings suffered one of their poorest shooting nights of the season in the loss as they converted on just 39.7 percent of their shots from the field. The offense was stagnant in the first half scoring just 20 points while shooting 21.2 percent from the floor and making 1 of 16 3-point attempts.
 
"Our poor shooting start allowed them to build a lead early and play with confidence," head coach Jamie Stevens said after the game. "All the credit goes to them, looking at the percentages coming into the game we wanted to make them take threes but they made them early and often. We have to move on to Simon Fraser on Saturday and get ready for another opportunity."
 
Western Washington came into the game shooting 32.7 percent from three as a team, but shot a season-best 60 percent from deep against the 'Jackets. The Vikings set a new season high for 3-pointer made with their 15-for-25 effort.
 
The lanky WWU defense held the Yellowjackets without a field goal for the first 4:57 of the game. Hafeez Abdul scored the first four points of the night for MSUB with a pair of free throws and a layup. He would go on to score seven in the opening 20 minutes, tied with Zack Rollins for the team lead at the break. MSUB trailed 45-20 at the half.
 
The second half was a different story for the offense as shots began to fall. MSUB shot 64 percent in the period and made 7 of 11 treys. But the Vikings would keep pace with a 57.1 shooting percentage of their own and never allow the 'Jackets with 16 in the final period of the wire-to-wire victory.
 
Rollins finished the night with a team-best 19 points and seven rebounds. Abdul scored 18 in the contest while adding seven boards of his own after getting his third consecutive start of the season. With 10 second-half points, Tyler Green finished the night with 16 and three assists in 26 minutes of action off the bench. Kobe Terashima led the team with six assists and added four points and three rebounds to his ledger.
 
The Viking defense held Zharon Richmond to the first scoreless game of his collegiate career as he finished the game 0-for-6 while failing to get the foul line for only the third time in his career. Kendall Denham only got four shots up over the tall defense and scored five points.
 
The road trip continues of Saturday after the Yellowjackets bus to Burnaby, B.C. to visit the Simon Fraser Clan. It will be MSUB's final road contest of the season with tip scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Pacific time. The game will be streamed with live stats via the MSUB Stretch Internet Portal. MSU Billings defeat SFU earlier this season 78-73 in Billings.