Yellowjackets Tame Wildcats, 92-85

Box Score

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – A career-high 34 points by DaVell Jackson helped propel the Montana State Billings men’s basketball team to a 92-85 victory at Central Washington Thursday evening.  With the victory, the Yellowjackets improved to 15-9 on the year and 9-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  Central Washington, who entered the game ranked eighth in the latest NCAA Division II West Region poll, fell to 15-10 and 9-6 in league play.

"I thought our guys played with a lot of guts tonight," head coach George Pfeifer said. "We were a player down tonight and I thought everyone contributed. Obviously our guard play was very good. It is a quality win for our program as Central is a quality team."

DeAndre Chambers added 26 points as the guard tandem went a combined 18 of 33 from the field, 6 of 13 from beyond the arc and 18 of 23 from the charity stripe.  Mike McCrary and Lasha Parghalava chipped in 12 points each, while Derrick Wright added eight points.

The Wildcats were led by 23 points from JC Cook, 14 from Riley Sivak and Shane Miller and 10 from Jon Clift. 

This was the first win for the Yellowjackets in school history at Central Washington.  MSUB had been 0-3 previously.  In addition, the Jackets snapped a six game skid in the series as the last win was a 110-81 home victory, Feb. 3, 2001.  CWU bested the Yellowjackets 73-57 Jan. 28, 2010, in Billings.  CWU now leads the series 7-3.

With the game tied at 64 with 5:57 left, the Yellowjackets took over as they went on a decisive 14-2 run over the next three minutes for a 78-66 lead with 2:03 to play.  During the run, Chambers hit a triple as the shot clock was winding down to highlight the run. 

The Wildcats really struggled shooting down the stretch as they went just 5 for 12 from the field during the final 5:57 and, more importantly, the first of the five field goals came with just 1:20 left on a Shane Miller layup.

CWU did hit four 3’s in the closing minute, but the Yellowjackets were able to hit their free throws and make shots to close out the game with a seven-point win.  The largest lead for MSUB came with 46 seconds left at 86-72, prior to the barrage of triples from CWU.

For the game, the Yellowjackets shot 47.3 percent from the floor in 26 of 55.  MSUB was 8 of 20 from deep and 32 of 44 from the line, including 28 of 40 in the second half alone.  After shooting just 38 percent in the first half from the field, the Jackets really heated up to 58 percent in the second on 14 of 24.
CWU struggled from the field this time around as it shot an even 50 percent against the Jackets in the first meeting.  The Wildcats shot just 38 percent for the game on 26 of 68 from the field.  CWU was 12 of 36 from deep and 21 of 30 from the line.

The game began as MSUB took an early nine point advantage through the first 10 minutes of the game for a 26-17 lead on a Parghalava layup.  A triple from Cook and a tip-in from Sprinker gave the Wildcats the lead back as they went on a 14-2 run over the next six minutes for a 31-28 lead with three minutes left in the first half.  CWU led 35-33 at intermission.

MSUB concludes the regular season at Western Washington on Saturday at 7 p.m. local time.