PORTLAND, Ore. – For the first time in Montana State University Billings men's basketball program history, five players made the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's All-Academic Men's Basketball team, which was announced by the conference office on Wednesday.
 
Senior forward Sam Elliott, sophomore forward Jimmy Brown and second-year freshmen Anders Epperly, Tyler Neary and Grant Tully were MSUB's honorees. In order to earn academic all-conference status, players needed to have a cumulative grade-point-average of 3.20 or higher, compete in the season and be in at least their second year in the program.
 
"All of those guys do a great job of taking pride in their classwork," MSUB head coach Mick Durham said. "I'm excited for them to get the very deserving recognition for not only themselves, but also our program."
 
Elliott was MSUB's only repeat all-academic winner this season; he earned Academic All-GNAC honors during the 2020-21 season as well. The senior from Kalispell, Mont. has a 3.98 GPA and will graduate with a degree in business administration with a focus in finance this spring. This season, Elliott has averaged 10.5 minutes per game and has seen time in 13 contests. His season-high eight points came during the second-half of MSUB's game against Rocky Mountain College on Dec. 11.
 
Brown, a management major from Chandler, Ariz., has started in 12 of the 20 games in which he has played this season. He grabbed a MSUB-career-high seven rebounds in the Yellowjackets' win over Holy Names on Nov. 13, 2021, plus he has averaged 1.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per game.
 
Playing most of his minutes as MSUB's backup point guard, Epperly has appeared in 10 games this season, averaging 6.3 minutes per game. The Bigfork, Mont. native is majoring in Health and Human Performance and has a 3.56 GPA. Epperly most recently set career-highs with five points, two assists and a steal in 15 minutes at Alaska Fairbanks on Feb. 7.
 
Neary is a Health and Human Performance major with a 3.69 GPA who has seen time in six games this season, whereas Tully is a business administration major with a 3.85 GPA.
 
MSUB will play its final two home games this week against Western Washington on Thursday, then Simon Fraser on Saturday. Both games will start at 7 p.m.