Yellowjackets Entertain Mary Wednesday

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The Montana State Billings men’s basketball closes out a two game home stand Wednesday evening versus the University of Mary.  The Yellowjackets snapped a 13-game losing skid this past week with a hard-fought 81-76 victory over Montana Western giving first year head coach, George Pfeifer, his first coaching victory as a Yellowjacket.        

The Yellowjackets are led by senior Michael Hall who is averaging a team-high 22 points per game.  He leads the team with 13 made field goals, nine made 3-pointers and is a team-best 9 of 9 from the line.  Juniors Derrick Wright and Mario Burns are second on the team in scoring at 10.5 points.  Burns leads the team with 12 assists and five steals.  Senior Travis Bunker is third in scoring at 9.5 points and leads the team averaging 9.0 rebounds per contest. 

As a team, the Yellowjackets are shooting just north of 40 percent from the field on 45 of 111.  They have drained 13 3-pointers thus far and are 30 of 42 from the charity stripe.  MSUB has done a good job of not allowing its opponents to reach the line holding them to just 21 of 27 from the charity stripe through two games. 

Mary enters the game playing its fourth game against the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  The Marauders went 0-3 this past weekend in Seattle against Saint Martin’s, Seattle Pacific and Western Washington.  The Marauders will play five straight game against GNAC schools t begin the season as they will return home and host MSUB Saturday in their home opener.

Leading the way for Mary this season is Geoff West who is averaging a team-best 20.3 points per game.  He leads the team with 21 field goals (21 of 46) and 13 3-pointers (13 of 28).  West also leads the team with six steals.  Second on the team in scoring is Eric Erdmann who is averaging 11.5 points.  Danny Sandvig leads the team with 15 rebounds at a 5.0 clip.

The then will hit the road and at Chadron State Saturday and then play at Mary on Monday, Dec. 1 in Mary’s home opener.  The Yellowjackets are the fourth GNAC team Mary has played to open the season and will have five games against GNAC schools after Dec. 1. 

A WIN OVER MARY WILL...
• Give the Yellowjackets a 2-1 record
• Be the first time MSUB has been over .500 since the final game of 2005-06
• Give MSUB consecutive wins for the first time since 2005-06

LAST TIME OUT
The Montana State Billings men’s basketball team snapped a 13-game skid with an 81-76 victory over Montana Western this past weekend.  The Yellowjackets got off to a quick 16-6 start and held a 37-30 lead at halftime as UWM played catch-up for most of the first half.  In the second half, the Yellowjackets shot 55 percent, but UWM pulled even and took the lead for a portion of the half.  The tough-minded Yellowjackets dug deep and found a way to get the win.  The Bulldogs stayed in the game due to knocking down 12 3-pointers.  MSUB iced the game with free throw shooting down the stretch and held a 19-8 lead in made free throws for the game.  Travis Bunker tallied the first double-double of the season for the Yellowjackets with 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Mike Hall and Derrick Wright each had 20 points, while Mario Burns had 15 points, eight assists and five steals.  MSUB held the Bulldogs who had played a number of Division I schools very tough, to under 40 percent from the field for the game.

SNAP THE SKID
With an 81-76 victory over Montana Western Saturday, the Yellowjackets snapped a 13-game skid dating back to last season.  The Jackets defeated Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 24, 2008 to snap an 18-game skid to that point.  This is the first time MSUB has been .500 or better since the final game of the 2005-06 season.

RENEWING A RIVALRY WITH MARY
Two teams separated by 415 miles have not played each other since the 1983-84 season and only have played two games in each school’s history.  MSUB won both meetings, the first in Bismarck on Dec. 14, 1979, 83-74 and won in Billings on Jan. 16, 1984, 77-65.  The University of Mary is the closest NCAA Division II school to MSUB in terms of mileage and travel time.  The Yellowjackets and the Marauders will meet twice this week.

IRONMAN BUNKER
Senior Travis Bunker played all 40 minutes last weekend.   Bunker tallied the first double-double for the Yellowjackets this season last Saturday in an 81-76 victory over Montana Western.  He had 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Last season, John Brooks played all 40 minutes at Western Oregon on Jan. 19.

STOUT DEFENSE
MSUB held Montana Western to under 40 percent shooting in both halves this past weekend.  For the game, the Bulldogs were 28 of 71 from the field for 39.4 percent. 

GETTIN’ TO THE LINE
The Yellowjackets got to the free throw line 25 times against Montana Western this past Saturday.  MSUB knocked down 19 free throws, including 9 of 10 in the final five minutes preserve the victory.

STAYIN’ HOME
The Yellowjackets have just five road games between the beginning of the season at Feb. 5.  MSUB started the year at No. 10 Gonzaga and plays at Mary and Chadron State this weekend.  From there, the Jackets have six-straight home games prior to the beginning of conference play.    For the season, the Jackets only have 11 road games and 16 home games. 

BURNS DOES THE DISHES
Junior Mario Burns leads the team with 12 assists this season for a 6.0 average.  He had eight assists and five steals, both game highs against Montana Western last weekend.  His final steal came in the final minute of the game as he stripped the ball and scored a layup to help put the Jackets up 81-73 and won 81-76.

PAINTING THE PAINT
The Yellowjackets dominated the points in the paint against Montana Western Saturday.  MSUB scored 34 points in the paint compared to 18 for the Bulldogs.

QUICK OUT OF THE GATES
The Yellowjackets have started quick out of the gates at home this season.  Against Dickinson State (Nov. 11) MSUB raced to a 16-5 lead before the game was six minutes old.  Then, on Saturday, the Jackets raced to a 16-6 lead through the first seven minutes.

HALL NAMED CO-GNAC POW
Senior Michael Hall earned co-GNAC Player of the Week honors for his 24-point outing against No. 10 Gonzaga in the season opener Nov. 15. Hall scored a game-high in points and was 8 of 17 from the field and 5 of 12 from beyond the arc.  He scored the final 14 points of the first half to bring the Yellowjackets within five at intermission.  Hall shares the first GNAC Player of the Week honor since MSUB joined the league last year with Blake Poole of Saint Martin’s.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Last season, the Yellowjackets didn’t have a senior on the team, in fact, MSUB had probably one of the youngest teams in the country with six freshmen and four sophomores.  This season, two senior transfers and six junior transfers highlight the team.

FRESH FACES
As the 2007-08 roster featured six freshmen, the 2008-09 roster features nine new players, including two Division I senior transfers, six transfer juniors and one freshman. 

JUCO INFUSION
MSUB has a number of junior college transfers this season.  In fact, five of the nine new players all came from junior college.  Derrick Wright and Mario Burns came from Western Oklahoma State College, while Lance Anderson and Brad Hodge transferred from Grays Harbor College and Adam Weisz came to MSUB from Dawson County Community College.

JACKETS PICKED EIGHTH
The Yellowjackets were picked preseason eighth by the conference coaches.  The Jackets tallied 22 points, three ahead of ninth-place Alaska Fairbanks.

LISTEN TO PFEIFER
Fans can listen to the weekly Coach Pfeifer Show on the internet each Tuesday.  Log on to www.msubillings.edu/athletics to listen to Pfeifer’s thoughts on the previous week and the coming weeks throughout the season.

WATCH/LISTEN TO HOME GAMES
Fans can listen to all MSUB men’s basketball home games by logging on to www.musbillings.edu/athletics and click on live broadcasts.  Ken Adelblue provides the play-by-play for each home game.