Two Montana Basketball Standouts Commit to Yellowjacket Men’s Basketball

BILLINGS, Mont. – Montana State Billings head men’s basketball coach, George Pfeifer, announced Tuesday that Tyler Tabbert and Jason Tanascu have committed to play for the Yellowjackets this season, brining the 2009 class to a total of seven.

Tabbert, a former Billings West High School standout, returns home after playing the past two seasons at Miles Community College where he played baseball.  He is a 6-4 guard who was a two-time letterwinner for West averaging 14 points per game and six rebounds per game.  He helped lead West to the state title in 2007, which was its first state title since 1981.  Tabbert earned all-state accolades that season.

“Tyler had numerous opportunities to play either baseball or basketball coming out of West High School,” Pfeifer said.  “We are very excited to have him in our program.  He is a big guard who was very well coached in high school.  I believe he is really focused and committed to basketball and we really like his upside and what he can bring to the program.”

Tanascu, a 6-1 guard from Gardner, Mont., was a three-time all-conference selection and an all-state selection in high school averaging 15 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game.  He played a key role in the Bruins’ state runner-up championship run in 2006.  He also was named to the Montana Class C all-state team.

He is transferring to MSUB from Carroll College and will have two years of eligibility for the Yellowjackets.  At Carroll, he helped lead the Saints to a 20-7 record this past season.  As a redshirt freshman in 2007-2008, he had a knack for putting the ball in the basket as he shot 61 percent from the field and 66 percent from beyond the arc in 18 games.

“We learned that Jason was available from Coach Pat Hansen at Laurel High School, who coached Jason until his junior year at Gardiner,” Pfeifer said.  “Coach Hansen was passionate when talking about the energy and effort he played with on top of his skill level.  The benefit for us and Jason is he is a combo guard and can play both the off guard and point guard positions.  We see Jason primarily as the off guard, but the fact he has had worn the hat of point guard maximizes his ability on the court.”

Tabbert and Tanasu join Joel Barndt of Billings Central High School, Tyrone Williams of Miles Community College, DeAndre Chambers of Western Oklahoma State, Lasha Parghalava from the University of Hawaii and Andrew Hickman of Woodward, Okla.