BILLINGS, Mont. – Despite coming back from a 12-point deficit and making two critical defensive stands at the end of regulation and in overtime, the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team fell short 68-67 in overtime against the Northwest Nazarene University Nighthawks in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener on Thursday night.
 
"I thought we battled all night," MSUB head coach Mick Durham said. "We just needed to hit some big shots down the stretch, although I thought we had some good looks. We fought hard to get it to overtime with a great drive to the basket by Damen Thacker."
 
"We also had some good performances off the bench from Emmanuel Akpan and Emmanuel Ajanaku," Durham added.
 
Damen Thacker's coast-to-coast layup with five seconds left sent the game to overtime; he finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Carrington Wiggins scored a game-high 20 points for the Yellowjackets (2-5, 0-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference), while the Nighthawks (2-3, 1-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) were led by Gabriel Murphy's 14 points and 11 rebounds.
 
QUICK HITS

• Damen Thacker was the St. Vincent Player of the Game for his 19-point, 11-rebound and four-assist outing. He also shot 6-of-15 from the field.
• Emmanuel Ajanaku tied the team-high with 11 rebounds to go along with his six points and a block.
• Emmanuel Akpan had a career-high seven points and six rebounds off the bench.

 
After shaking off a few empty possessions in the early goings, Bilal Shabazz went to work on the elbow, backed down his defenders and quickly gave MSUB a 4-0 lead off a pair of hook shots.
 
The Nighthawks went on an 8-0 run in retaliation, yet Carrington Wiggins and the offense put on a show.
 
First, Wiggins sent an NNU defender flying with an up-and-under layup before the first media timeout. Several minutes later, Damen Thacker seamed a low, cross-court bounce pass to a streaking Wiggins, whose tomahawk jam made the score 15-11, NNU. However, the Nighthawks would go on an 8-0 run before Emmanuel Ajanaku came off the bench and threw down back-to-back dunks.
 
Trailing 24-18 with 5:44 left, Thacker baited his defender into fouling him on a three-point attempt and sank all three free-throws. Thacker then found a wide-open Sam Elliott, who scored his first points of conference play on a deep two, which sparked a 7-0 run late in the first half. Wiggins knifed through the Nighthawk defense again, then found Thacker for a transition three several moments later to pull MSUB within one, 28-27, then Emmanuel Akpan scored his first points of the night just before the buzzer sounded.
 
MSUB promptly tied the game at 31 on its first possession of the second half off a layup from Wiggins, but then the 'Jacket offense went cold as the Nighthawks reclaimed a 37-31 lead.
 
Nicholas Sebastiao answered the call not once, but twice, dialing up corner jumpers to pull MSUB within one with 15:23 to go. The Nighthawks threatened to run away with it, but MSUB clawed back every time. Wiggins' lone three of the night tied the game at 43, then the 'Jackets took a 48-45 lead when Akpan muscled his way in the paint, grabbed his own miss out of a NNU defender's hands, then went back up for a left-handed put-back with 12:04 to go.
 
Both offenses stalled. NNU tied the game at 48 two minutes later, then inched ahead 50-48 with 8:38 left. But with both teams in the bonus, Thacker took advantage and brought MSUB within one, 51-50, before the penultimate media timeout. Thacker's crafty eurostep split two defenders, Wiggins and Thacker made layups, then Malik Brikat cleaned up the offensive glass and finished through contact to put MSUB up 58-56 with 3:45 to go.
 
NNU had one more answer in regulation, scoring its final four points of the half in 58 seconds to take a 60-58 lead with 2:14 left. But the Yellowjacket defense put the clamps down on the Nighthawks, who went 0-for-2 with one turnover from that point forward. Threatening to put the dagger into the Yellowjackets, the Nighthawks took a three with 14 seconds left, but it was deflected out of bounds by Akpan. Two seconds remained on the shot clock, but Ajanaku forced a turnover, sending Thacker off to the races for his game-tying layup with five seconds left. NNU couldn't get a shot off on its final possession, which brought the game to overtime.
 
On the first possession of overtime, Wiggins drew contact on a three, then sank all three free throws to give MSUB an early advantage. NNU, meanwhile, came up empty on its first two possessions, but the 'Jackets did so too. The Nighthawks would tie the game at 63 with a corner three from Christian Rose, then took a 66-63 lead on Gabriel Murphy's fourth three of the night with 2:25 to go.
 
Wiggins drove to the lane, drew contact and made both free throws to pull the 'Jackets within one, but Rose responded on the other end, putting MSUB down three once more. With 1:25 left, Wiggins took a midrange corner jumper, but Shabazz skied in for the putback layup to make things 68-67, Nighthawks. But MSUB needed a stop.
 
Just like they did at the end of regulation, the Yellowjackets' half-court defense tightened up on the next possession. This time, Akpan was the hero, blocking George Reidy's jumper and nearly saving it inbounds. The Nighthawks tried finding Reidy again, but his jumper was short, leaving the Yellowjackets with five seconds left to go the length of the court on the final possession. Yet MSUB's attempt at the game-winner was offline as time expired.
 
KEY STATS

• MSUB held NNU to 1-for-17 three-point shooting in the second half.
• Once again, MSUB out-rebounded NNU by a 46 to 37 margin.
• MSUB was more accurate from the free-throw line, outshooting NNU 90.9% to 58.8%.
• This was the first overtime meeting between the two teams since MSUB lost an 90-89 home game on Dec. 21, 2006.

UP NEXT: MSUB hosts Central Washington on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Livestream and live stat links can be found at the men's basketball schedule page on msubsports.com.