The Retort

Yellowjackets Earn Historic Victory at Alaska Fairbanks, 82-68

January 29th, 2010 by MSUB Athletics For The Retort

RetortWeb: There was an error 303 processing this article. The article may look strange. [photo historic] [pp] The theme heading into the 2009-2010 Montana State Billings men’s basketball season was a Tradition of Excellence and that tradition continued with a historic victory as the Yellowjackets won at Alaska Fairbanks 82-68 for the thousandth win in school history in both teams Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener. MSUB now is 1000-890 and becomes the sixty-eighth school in Division II to achieve 1000 or more victories in school history. “Pardon the pun, being in Alaska and with the weather Billings is having, we are a small snowball in a field of snow,” MSUB head coach George Pfeifer said. “The only thing significant is that we happen to be the team that got to 1000. What it really speaks to is all the great players and coaches in front of us that created this moment. I also think it speaks volumes to the quality of men’s basketball over time at this fine university. That is what makes it historic.” “We had a lot of adversity coming into the game,” head coach George Pfeifer said. “We had some early foul trouble, but in the end the guys made plays. “I thought DeAndre in the first half was huge. He has done a really good job for us coming off the bench at either 1,2, or 3. He can get rebounds and can shoot and is really good in transition. I also thought (Tyler) Henzten and (Brad) Hodge played really well and DaVell (Jackson) played 40 minutes and had seven assists.” The Yellowjackets had some travel issues in getting to Fairbanks because a passenger on their plane from Billings had a health problem and the team missed their connection in Seattle. MSUB practiced at Seattle Pacific the night before and then spent the night in Seattle, taking the 6 am flight to Anchorage and arrived in Fairbanks at around noon, seven hours before game time. For the game, the Yellowjackets (7-3, 1-0 GNAC) had four players in double figures led by 18 points from DeAndre Chambers as he was 8 of 16 from the field and pulled down six rebounds. DaVell Jackson tallied 15 points with seven assists. Brad Hodge had 14 points with a team-high eight rebounds, while Lasha Parghalava chipped in 10 points. The Nanooks (5-5, 0-1 GNAC) were led by 20 points from Parrish West on 9 of 17 from the field and six rebounds. Maynard had 17 points and Emmanuel Jenkins chipped in 12 points. The first half saw a back-and-forth affair as neither team garnered much of a lead. The Yellowjackets took an early 14-7 lead courtesy of a couple of buckets from Jackson and Wright. McCrary chipped in a triple in the early going as did Parghalava. The Nanooks went on a 13-2 run for a 20-16 lead with triples from Jon Moe and Emmanuel Jenkins to spur the rally. The Jackets stopped the bleeding with two free throws from Brad Hodge and a bucket from Chambers for a 20-20 score. The teams basically traded buckets for the majority of the rest of the half as MSUB held a 46-43 lead at intermission. For the half, the Yellowjackets shot 53 percent from the field on 17 of 32 from the floor. MSUB was just 2 of 8 from downtown and 10 of 16 from the free throw line. Conversely, the Nanooks shot 44 percent on 16 of 36 from the field, 3 of 8 from beyond the arc and a perfect 8 of 8 from the charity stripe. Chambers led the way at intermission with 14 points on 6 of 12 from the field for his tenth double figure scoring game. Jackson had nine points and Hodge had eight for the Yellowjackets. Nashorn Maynard had 12 points to lead UAF, while Jenkins chipped in 10 points with two triples. The Yellowjackets opened the game through the first nine minutes of the second half, making 10 of their first 18 field goals for a 69-55 lead with 10 minutes left. MSUB opened the second half scoring 23 points in 10 minutes and outscoring the Nanooks 23-12 during that span. UAF opened the half making just four field goals on 13 attempts. MSUB continued to pour it on as it built a 14 point lead, but the Nanooks cut to back to 10 at 70-60. A quick 6-2 run by the Yellowjackets pushed the lead back to 14 with five minutes left. MSUB dominated much of the second half and outscored the Nanooks 36-25 to pull away. The Jackets shot 55.6 percent in the second half alone on 15 of 27 from the field. The defense stepped up in a big way as it held UAF to just 10 of 26 from the field for 38 percent in the decisive half and the Nanooks were 0 of 5 from beyond the arc in the second half. Not only did the Yellowjackets dominate the shooting in the second half, MSUB also dominated the points in the paint to the tune of 44-22. MSUB pulled down 39 rebounds to 29 for the Nanooks. The Jackets won just their second conference road game since MSUB joined the GNAC three years ago and won its first road game of the season. MSUB avenged a heartbreaking 80-79 loss in Fairbanks from a season ago. It was the Yellowjackets’ first win in Fairbanks since a 103-84 win on February 8, 1997. MSUB snapped a six-game skid in Fairbanks with their win on January 7. The Yellowjackets then travelled to Anchorage to close the road trip at Alaska Anchorage. MSUB returned home for the conference home opener on January 16 versus Saint Martin’s. [/pp]