The Retort

Yellowjackets Drop Heartbreaker at Dixie State, 78-75

December 11th, 2009 by MSUB Athletics For The Retort

The Montana State University Billings men’s basketball team came up just short in the final game of the Dixie Classic as it dropped a heartbreaking 78-75 decision to host Dixie State (DSC) Saturday evening, December 5. With the loss the Yellowjackets fell to 3-2 on the year, while the Red Storm improved to 4-1. The Yellowjackets were led by 19 points each from Lasha Parghalava and DeAndre Chambers.

“I was extremely proud of our effort tonight,” head coach George Pfeifer said. “I thought we competed for the whole 40 minutes. We made a heck of a lot of plays. We had shot opportunities down the stretch and made stops and had an opportunity to win the game at the end and it just didn’t go in.”

Dixie State, picked second in the preseason poll in the Pacific West Conference, was led by four players in double figures including a team-high 17 points from Tom Whitehead. MSUB’s Brad Hodge, who had a double-double last night, scored 11 points and five rebounds to be the third Yellowjacket in double figures.

Whitehead hit his team-high third triple of the game with 1:21 left in the game putting the Red Storm up for good. He then tallied a crucial rebound off a missed Chambers’s shot with four seconds left and then hit two free throws for the 78-75 lead.

The Yellowjackets had led by as many as seven twice in the second half, but Dixie took the lead with 8:18 left on a layup by Jeremiah Barns and DSC built the lead to as many as four in the latter portion of the second half.

MSUB continued to fight hard and a bucket and two free throws from Chambers put the Yellowjackets up 73-72 with 3:18 left. Parghalava gave MSUB a 75-73 lead with 1:39 left, which was the final lead for MSUB in the game as Whitehead hit the decisive triple seconds later.

Both teams came out of the gates blazing hot from the field as MSUB shot 57.7-percent in the first half on 15 of 26 and were 5 of 8 from beyond the arc and 10 of 12 from the line. Dixie State countered blistering the nets, too, as it shot 67-percent on 14 of 21 from the field in the opening half. The Red Storm was 7 of 13 from downtown and 5 of 10 from the line.

MSUB held a 45-40 lead at half after being down by as many as eight in the early going. The Yellowjackets closed the final nine minutes of the half on a 23-12 run and used a 17-4 run over the final 4:54 to take the lead at intermission.

For the game, MSUB shot 48 percent from the floor on 26 of 54. The Yellowjackets cooled off from the field in the second half (11 of 28 for 39 percent) and were just 2 of 11 from downtown and 6 of 11 from the charity stripe in the second half. Dixie State went 9 of 20 for the second half from the field and 3 of 6 from the three-point line.

One key statistic in the second half was free throw shooting as Dixie went to the line 23 times and made 17, while MSUB went just 11 times making six.

“There was a lot of adversity with foul trouble for us tonight,” Pfeifer added. “There was a one-minute stretch in there where we were whistled for five fouls that put most of our front line on the bench, but we didn’t let that affect us and we continued to fight.”

MSUB returns home to host Northern New Mexico, December 11 at 6:30 pm in Alterowitz Gymnasium. The Yellowjackets then entertain Dixie State December 21 at 7 pm prior to the Christmas holiday.

“We are a lot better basketball team now than we were two weeks ago and I am really proud of this team and how they fought tonight.”