Yellowjacket Upset Bid of 12th Ranked Seattle Pacific Falls Short, 79-69

Box Score

SEATTLE – A big second half from No. 12 Seattle Pacific spoiled Montana State Billings’ upset bid, 79-69 at Royal Brougham Pavilion Saturday evening.  With the loss, the Yellowjackets fall to 9-5 on the year and 3-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  Seattle Pacific improves to 14-2 and 5-0 in league play.

The Yellowjackets had four players in double figures led by Derrick Wright and DeAndre Chambers each with 19.  Brad Hodge chipped in 11 and Mike McCrary added 10.  SPU’s Chris Banchero scored a game-high 27 points on 9 of 14 from the field.  He had 11 points at halftime.  Brandon Larrieu had 16 points, while Ryan Sweet chipped in a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. 

The game was basically a tale of two halves as both teams shot below 40 percent from the field in the first half.  In the second half, both teams shot 50 percent or better as MSUB was 13 of 26 from the floor and SPU was 18 of 24 for 75 percent. 

One of the major differences in the game was the tale from beyond the arc.  MSUB was just 4 of 14 for the game (0 of 6 in the first half) for 28 percent.  SPU was 13 of 26 from deep and 9 of 13 from beyond the arc in the second half alone.

In what was a very low scoring first 10 minutes, the Yellowjackets and Falcons basically traded buckets with Jackson tying the game at 11 with 10:36 left in the half.  MSUB then proceeded to on a 17-6 run over the next six minutes to take a 28-17 lead with 4:06 to play.  During the run, the Yellowjackets used two alley-oop dunks to Mike McCrary to highlight the spurt.

The Falcons countered with a 10-2 run to end the half cutting the Yellowjacket lead to 30-27 at intermission.  Jeff Downs drained a triple and Chris Banchero hit a triple to key the run.

Triples from Banchero, Jake Anderson and Adam Wardell put the Falcons up 44-37 with 12:38 left in regulation.  Through the first eight minutes of the second half, the Falcons used a 17-7 run to pull ahead.  Jackson had the answer to stop the bleeding with his 16th point, followed by a quick bucket from the Falcons as the teams began to heat it up. 

SPU swelled the lead to double-digits over the next four minutes to a 57-45 advantage courtesy of a couple of backdoor layups.  An old fashion three point play by Brad Hodge, followed by a Hodge layup brought the Yellowjackets back to 57-48 with just under seven minutes left.

Back-to-back triples from Chambers brought the Yellowjackets to within nine at 63-54 with five minutes left, but a dagger triple moments later by Larrieu put the lead back to double digits for the Falcons. 

Triples from Chambers and Brett Taylor cut the Falcon lead to 73-66 with 1:53 left.  Prior to those triples, the Yellowjackets were 2 of 13 from deep.

MSUB returns home to begin a three game home stand Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. versus Central Washington.  The MSUB women’s team plays Western Washington at 5:15.  The designated game theme is Beach Night as everyone is encouraged to wear beach attire.