BILLINGS, Mont. – Billed as a clash between several of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's high-scoring guards, the Montana State University Billings men's basketball team beat the Alaska Nanooks 73-64 thanks to 28 points from Carrington Wiggins, 15 from Brent Finn and 14 from Damen Thacker on Saturday night.
 
The Yellowjackets (8-9, 4-3 GNAC) led the Nanooks (4-10, 1-7 GNAC) for the majority of the contest and MSUB made 25 field goals off 16 assists. Eight of the 'Jackets who logged minutes scored, and Wiggins tied his collegiate career-high with 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting. Senior guard Brent Finn's 15 points were a MSUB career-high, plus Damen Thacker had his second-straight double-figure night with 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting.
 
MSUB's defense held the GNAC's leading scorer Shadeed Shabazz to nine points on 3-for-10 shooting. Koby Huerta led the way for the Nanooks with 20 points.
 
"It was a great win for us," MSUB head coach Mick Durham said. "It was tied with 2 minutes and 20 seconds to go, but we got a great spurt at the end and a couple defensive stops. Alaska is hard with Shadeed Shabazz and all their shooters. But we did a great job on Shabazz obviously, and we held him scoreless in the second half."
 
Senior guard Damen Thacker, who tied the game-high with three steals, echoed his coach's sentiment.
 
"We focus on our defense and we take pride in it," Thacker said. "We have one of the best defenses in the country, and we pride ourselves in it. Our offense is going to come, but our defense can help us with that by causing turnovers and getting fast breaks. We're hopefully going to ride that."


QUICK HITS

• MSUB held the GNAC's leading scorer Shadeed Shabazz to nine points on 3-for-10 shooting.
• Carrington Wiggins was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game for tying his collegiate career-high with 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting. He also chipped in four rebounds and four assists.
• Bilal Shabazz had a game-high seven rebounds, five assists and four blocks.
• Koby Huerta led the way for the Nanooks with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

 
Thanks to Damen Thacker, Carrington Wiggins and Nicholas Sebastiao, the 'Jackets opened the game hot from beyond the arc. Three of the 'Jackets first four field goals were threes, and they quickly took an 11-7 lead on Wiggins' first field goal of the night.
 
MSUB's bench also provided an early spark: A midrange jumper then back-to-back threes from Brent Finn got the crowd fired up and helped MSUB take a 21-15 lead. Then Jimmy Brown exploited a mismatch on the right block to give MSUB an eight-point lead with 7:30 remaining.
 
Wiggins found his rhythm in the first half, scoring six-straight points for MSUB after knifing through the lane, then making a three in front of the Nanooks' bench. With 3:56 to go in the first, Thacker checked in and quickly scored, then helped provide the highlight of the first half by heaving a pass downcourt to Emmanuel Ajanaku, who gathered the pass and threw down a transition dunk to put MSUB in front, 35-28. That would be the last bucket of the half, as both teams struggled to make shots down the stretch.
 
Leading all scorers with 13 points after the first half, Wiggins stayed hot by opening the second half with a three. Inspired by taking a hard charge on the next play, Thacker retaliated with a personal 5-0 run. First, Thacker nailed a three at the top of the key, then in a savvy move, Thacker got his defender on his hip, curled around a screen and finished a difficult layup to cap off the run.
 
Alaska tried countering with a 10-2 run that was interrupted only by Wiggins second field goal of the half, but MSUB's backcourt provided a response. Bilal Shabazz passed out of the high post to find a wide-open Finn, who sank a three, then Shabazz drew a foul on a floater in the lane and split a pair of free throws. Although Alaska hung around by making threes of its own, baskets from Wiggins and Brown gave MSUB a 56-48 lead with 10:34 to go.
 
Both offenses had trouble making field goals for the next few minutes until Sebastiao's corner three put the 'Jackets ahead 61-53. But the Nanooks had one last gasp and went on a 11-1 run to take a 64-62 lead with 3:09 to play.
 
But MSUB's backcourt delivered the knockout punch: Thacker came up with a steal and found Wiggins, who sprinted ahead of Alaska's defense and drew a foul after making a transition layup. His free throw gave MSUB a 65-64 lead that it wouldn't relinquish.
 
"That was a big momentum swing," Thacker said of Wiggins' and-one. "We pride ourselves on our defense – we've been doing that all year. But a big play like that can change a ballgame, and when it happens late like that, it can really swing things."
 
The 'Jacket defense held Alaska scoreless for the final 2 minutes and 47 seconds, forced a turnover and made the Nanooks pay at the free throw line. In spite of taking a hard foul in front of the MSUB student section, Finn finished 4-for-4 from the free-throw line, then Thacker hit a pair of free throws with 24 seconds to ice the game.
 
"That's just experience and leadership," Thacker said of Finn's late free throws. "You find ways to help your team be successful. Brent has been one of the best players on our team to do that. He finds ways to help us win. You look back at every win we've had, and he's had a hand on every second of them."
 
After Saturday's win, MSUB will go on a six-game road trip. The Yellowjackets' next home game will be against Western Washington on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m.
 
"We had a rough one on Thursday, so it was nice to get a bounce-back win and get us ready for a long road stretch," Thacker said. "We've got to get a little momentum within our group, and hopefully we can take care of business on the road."


KEY STATS

• MSUB's bench outscored Alaska's, 20-7.
• MSUB took better care of the ball, committing 11 turnovers to Alaska's 13. 
• The 'Jackets finished 12-for-14 from the charity stripe – including a perfect 7-for-7 in the final three minutes.

UP NEXT: The 'Jackets kick off a six-game road trip against Saint Martin's next Thursday at 8 p.m. MT. Livestream and live stat links can be found on the men's basketball schedule page at msubsports.com.