Yellowjackets Head to Dixie State for Two Games

BILLINGS, Mont. – After a nine-day break from competition, the Montana State Billings men’s basketball team returns to the hardwood for a pair of games at the Dixie State Tournament beginning Friday in St. George, Utah.  The Yellowjackets enter the week with a 2-1 record, while Dixie State stands at 2-1 and Dominican University (CA) is 2-3 on the year.

The Yellowjackets open the tournament with Dominican University at 5 p.m. on Friday at Burns Arena on the Dixie State College campus.  MSUB then faces host Dixie State Saturday at 7:30 p.m.  Great Northwest Athletic Conference foe, Northwest Nazarene (3-0), is the other team in the tournament.

Entering this week’s action, the Yellowjackets are led by Mike McCrary who leads the team averaging 12.7 points per game.  The Yellowjackets have five players averaging double figures. DeAndre Chambers is second on the team at 11.7 points per game.  Chambers and Brad Hodge lead the team with 13 made field goals, while Chambers leads the team from long range with six triples.  Derrick Wright leads the team in rebounds averaging 5.0 boards per game. 

As a team, MSUB is shooting .474 from the field on 74 of 156.  The Jackets are 16 of 41 from downtown (.390) and are 43 of 67 from the line for .642 percent.  MSUB averages 30.3 rebounds per game and is scoring 69 points per game.  The opponents are shooting just a bit higher at .481 and are just over 40 percent from beyond the arc and are 72 percent from the line.  The opponents are averaging 31.7 rebounds per game and 73.3 points a contest.

The Yellowjackets are coming off of a disappointing performance at Augustana College two days before Thanksgiving.  The Jackets shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half and were down 47-28 at intermission.  MSUB shot considerably better in the second half (13 of 25 for 52 percent), but really struggled from the free throw line (19 of 32 for 59.4 percent) falling 82-63.  Prior to that, MSUB won two close contests to open the season, defeating Colorado Christian (72-70) and the University of Mary (72-68) in Billings.

Dominican University enters with a 2-3 record as it is making the transition to Division II from NAIA.  The Penguins are led by Austin Bryan who is averaging 23 points per game.  He leads the team with 37 made field goals and 12 made 3-pointers.  He is a team-high 29 of 35 from the charity stripe.  Second on the team in scoring is Alex Ward who leads the team in rebounding with 31 boards and a 6.2 average.  Xander McNally leads the team with 33 assists and 20 steals for a 6.1 and 4.0 averages, respectively.

MSUB is the fourth team from the GNAC the Penguins have played this season.  Dominican lost to Seattle Pacific (81-63) and Western Washington (87-72) in the Sodexho Tip Off Classic (Seattle, WA) and defeated Western Oregon 83-69 in the Notre Dame de Namur Classic.  Dominican is a Pacific West Conference member and it is MSUB’s first meeting with the Penguins.

Dixie State enters with a 2-1 record and will play host to Northwest Nazarene prior to facing the Yellowjackets.  Dixie State is led this season by Donovan Plunkett who leads the team averaging 13.7 points per game.  He has a team-high 15 made field goals and a team-high seven 3-pointers.  Tom Whitehead is second on the team in scoring at 12.7 points per game, while Zach Robbins (10.0ppg.) leads the team averaging 8.3 rebounds per game and is 10 of 12 from the free throw line.

Yellowjacket fans can watch the games via webstreaming by logging on to Dixie State’s website at http://www.dixieathletics.com/index.aspx. Also live stats will be provided for each game. 

MSUB returns home to host Northern New Mexico at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 11 at Alterowitz Gymnasium and then hosts Dixie State, Mon., Dec. 21 at 7 p.m., prior to the Christmas holiday.