MSUB Falls at Western Washington in Regular Season Finale

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Montana State Billings men’s basketball upset bid of nationally ranked Western Washington fell short Saturday evening in both teams’ regular season finales as WWU posted an 87-67 victory.  The Yellowjackets were led by a game-high 27 points from senior Derrick Wright.  Morris Anderson paced WWU with 20 points and a game-high eight assists.

“I thought WWU played really, really well tonight,” head coach George Pfeifer said.  “We were probably a little off tonight as a group and we didn’t quite have our edge. I thought when we went ahead midway through the first half we were going to capture that edge and we didn’t.  I thought Derrick Wright played phenomenal at both ends of the floor.”

The Yellowjackets complete the regular season with a 15-10 record overall and a 9-7 record in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  It is the first winning season for MSUB since the 2005-06 season and the first time MSUB has had a winning record in the GNAC since joining the league in 2007. 

WWU, ranked No. 21 in the latest NCAA Division II top 25 poll, finishes the regular season with a 24-5 record and an 11-4 mark in league play.

The Vikings jumped out to an early seven point lead with 12:22 left in the first half at 17-10.  The upset-minded Yellowjackets roared back, going on a 10-0 run for a 20-17 with 9:11 left in the half as the momentum began to swing towards the visitors.

An Anderson triple with 7:53 left in the half put WWU up for good as it built a seven point advantage on three separate occasions down the stretch in the half and settled for a 43-38 lead at intermission.  MSUB shot 53 percent for the half on 16 of 30 from the field.  The Jackets nailed three triples and were 3 of 4 from the line. 

WWU shot 58 percent in the half on a blistering 18 of 31 from the field and it knocked down five triples.

A decisive 10-0 run by WWU with 17 minutes left swelled a four point lead to 14 at 60-46 with 13:38 to play as it led by double digits the rest of the way and led by as many as 23 with 4:31 left.

The Jackets struggled shooting in the second half, while the Vikings got even hotter.  MSUB shot just 11 of 28 from the field in the half and were 4 of 8 from deep and 3 of 6 from the line.  Conversely, WWU
shot 61 percent in the half on 16 of 26 from the field.  Despite struggling from range (1-8), the Vikings went 11 of 11 from the charity stripe to help open the game.

DaVell Jackson scored 12 points, while Lasha Parghalava added 11 and Mike McCrary chipped in 10.  MSUB leading scorer, DeAndre Chambers, was held to a season-low four points on 2 of 11 from the field and 0 of 4 from beyond the arc.

In addition to Anderson, the Vikings had 18 points from Zach Bruce, 15 points off the bench from Rory Blanche and 12 points from Dave Vanderjagt.