Jackets Down Western Oregon, 84-76

Box Score

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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings men’s basketball team used balanced scoring as it downed visiting Western Oregon Thursday evening, 84-76, for the season sweep.  The Yellowjackets improved to 13-9 on the year and 7-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while WOU fell to 11-14 on the year and 4-10 in league play.

The Jackets were led by 18 points from Derrick Wright as he was 6 of 11 from the field and 5 of 7 from the charity stripe, while pulling down seven rebounds.  Mike McCrary tallied a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while DaVell Jackson scored 17 points. Jackson’s points mostly from the free throw line as he was 10 of 12.  Brad Hodge scored 16 points on 7 of 9 from the field and Brett Taylor scored 15 points on 4 of 7 from beyond the arc and 3 of 4 from the line.

WOU was led by 27 points from Blair Wheadon as he was 9 of 21 from the field, including 6 of 11 from deep.  Rico Myles scored 16 points on 8 of 13 from the field, while Matt Schmidt chipped in 15 points and Kyle Long added 11 points.

MSUB shot over 50 percent for the game on 28 of 53 from the field.  The Jackets were 8 of 21 from range and 20 of 28 from the charity stripe.  Conversely, WOU shot 46 percent for the game on 29 of 63 from the field.  The Wolves were 11 of 26 from downtown and were just 7 of 12 from the charity stripe.  The Wolves didn’t make a free throw until the final five minutes of the game – they had been 0 for 5 prior to that. 

The Yellowjackets held a 36-28 lead at intermission as the game was back-and-forth for the first 10 minutes.  MSUB took at 20-18 lead on a Jackson triple with 8:28 left and didn’t trail the rest of the half as it built the lead to as many as nine on a Brett Taylor triple with less than three minutes remaining in the half.

The first eight minutes of the second half, proved to be the turning point in the game as MSUB opened the half with a 16-9 run for a 52-37 lead.  However, the pesky Wolves wouldn’t go down quietly as they cut the deficit back to seven with eight minutes left courtesy a couple of deep 3s from Wheadon.

WOU would cut double-digit deficits back to seven points on two more occasions during the middle portion of the second half, but MSUB found a way to swell the lead each time and settled for the eight point victory.

The Yellowjackets will close out the 2009-2010 home season Saturday at 7 p.m. versus arch rival Alaska Anchorage.  MSUB will honor seven seniors who will be playing their final home games.  Tyler Hentzen, Brad Hodge, DaVell Jackson, Mike McCrary, Lasha Parghalava, Adam Weisz and Derrick Wright complete the 2009-10 senior class.