BILLINGS, Mont. – The Great Northwest Athletic Conference named the Montana State University Billings men's basketball its team of the week Monday afternoon, after the Yellowjackets swept two road games against University of Alaska Anchorage and University of Alaska Fairbanks to clinch the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament over the weekend.
MSU Billings (15-13, 10-10) finished the regular season with its first road sweep of the season and jumped two positions in the standings to earn a top-six spot and a trip to the postseason for the first time since 2016-17.
"It was a great road trip with two wins and we secured a conference tournament berth also," said MSUB head coach
Mick Durham. "Our guys were very determined and knew what was at stake in the last week of league play. We had good contributions from everyone and again we were very balanced on the offensive end of things."
Thursday, the Yellowjackets soundly defeated the Seawolves 67-56 at Alaska Airlines Center.
Kobe Terashima recorded his second career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Brendan Howard and
Melvin Newbern Jr. each put up 11 points and
Zack Rollins also reached double-figure scoring with 10 points.
MSUB shot 45 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from 3-point range. The 'Jackets also out-rebounded Alaska Anchorage 37-32 in a must win game to keep their playoff hopes alive.
In position to clinch a postseason berth, the Yellowjackets took care of Alaska Fairbanks 92-65 Saturday night. MSU Billings led by as many as 31 points and never surrendered the lead to win decisively in Fairbanks.
Howard finished the night two points shy of his career best with 25 points and seven rebounds on 10-for-13 shooting. Rollins had a strong effort with 19 points and seven rebounds. The 'Jackets connected on 61 percent of shots from the field and made 12 3-pointers on 23 attempts (52.2-percent).
Men's basketball became the first MSUB team to win GNAC team of the week since baseball earned the distinction in April, 2018. In the regular season, Howard and Green led the 'Jackets with 15 points per game. Rollins was a close third with 14 points per game.
Zharon Richmond (11.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg),
Sven Jeuschede (5.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg), and Newbern Jr. (10.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg) have also been impact players this season and will likely be relied upon in the playoffs.
No. 5 seed Montana State Billings is slated to play No. 4 seed Western Oregon University Thursday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Bellingham, Washington at Carver Gymnasium in the conference quarterfinals. The winner will earn a semifinal matchup with No. 1 seed Saint Martin's University Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. MSUB is making its fourth appearance in the championships and its first since 2016-17.
Tickets for the Championships are available for online purchase at
GNACHoopTicket.com. The championships will be comprised of five separate sessions -- afternoon and evening sessions on Thursday and Friday, and an evening session on Saturday.
- Session 1 -- Thursday (noon and 2:15 p.m., women's quarterfinals)
- Session 2 -- Thursday (5:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., men's quarterfinals)
- Session 3 -- Friday (noon and 2:15 p.m. women's semifinals)
- Session 4 -- Friday (5:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., men's semifinals)
- Session 5 -- Saturday (5:20 p.m. and 7:35 p.m., women's final and men's final)
Fans can also watch every game of the tournament live on GNAC.tv with available live statistics. Other tournament information and schedules can be located at the
Championship Central homepage on GNACSports.com
A full men's basketball preview for this week's conference tournament will be released on msubsports.com later this week.
