Yellowjackets Fall at Augustana, 82-63

Box Score

SIOUX FALLS, SD – A cold shooting first half doomed the Montana State Billings men’s basketball team in its first road contest of the season Tuesday evening at Augustana College.  The Vikings posted an 82-63 victory over the Yellowjackets dropping them to 2-1 on the year, while AC improved to 3-0.

MSUB had four players in double figures led by 11 points from Mike McCrary, Brad Hodge and DeAndre Chambers, while Derrick  Wright added 10 points.  Chambers led the team with five made field goals, while McCrary had four and Lasha Parghalava also had four made field goals. 

The Vikings were led by 17 points off the bench from Kenny Brown, while David Foster added 16 points and Jordan Dalton chipped in 11 points and six assists.

The Yellowjackets really struggled shooting the ball in the first half as they were just 7 of 24  from the field for 29 percent and 1 of 4 from downtown and were down 47 28 at intermission.  Augustana was red hot in the opening half as it shot 57.7 percent on 15 of 26 from the field and 5 of 9 from long range.  MSUB was 13 of 17 from the charity stripe in the first half.

In the second half, things heated up for the Yellowjackets as they shot 53.6 percent on 15 of 28 from the field, but were just 2 of 6 from beyond the arc and went to the line just five times in the second half which didn’t help in cutting into the deficit.  The Vikings cooled down to 52 percent for the half on 13 of 25 from the field and 2 of 6 from range.  AC was just 7 of 15 from the line for the half.

MSUB scored the first point of the game on a free throw by Hodge, but Foster came right back with a triple seconds later.  The game saw five ties through the first nine minutes, but a 20-4 spurt by the Vikings over the next four minutes set the tone for the half.  MSUB made just two free throws and one field goal during that span.

Field goals by Wright and Chambers along with two charity tosses from DaVell Jackson cut the deficit to 11 with 3:38 left, but the Vikings swelled the lead to 19 with under a minute left in the first half courtesy of another run (10-2) to close the half for a 47-28 advantage.  In the final 11 minutes of the half, Augustana went on a 30-11 run.

Augustana, a NCAA Tournament team from a year ago, swelled the lead to as many as 25 in the early parts of the second half, but the Yellowjackets continued to fight and cut the deficit to 19 on two occasions including the final bucket of the game by Jason Tanascu.

The Yellowjackets return home for Thanksgiving and have a nine-day break before heading to Dixie State for the Dixie State Tournament Dec. 4-5 in St. George, Utah.  MSUB opens the tournament with Dominican (CA), Dec. 4, at 5 p.m. and will play host Dixie State Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.  MSUB returns home Dec. 11 versus Northern New Mexico College and Dixie State Dec. 21 before the Christmas break.