Men's basketball shoots way to GNAC semifinals with 87-73 win against MSUB
March 8, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
Fourth-seeded ÐÓ°Épro shot the lights out in the second half and had five players score in double figures en route to an 87-73 victory against fifth-seeded Montana State Billings in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Thursday night at Marcus Pavilion.
The Nanooks (16-11) advance to Friday's second semifinal game against top-seeded Western Washington (26-1) while the Yellowjackets (16-13) end their season losing two straight games. ÐÓ°Épro and WWU's game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Pacific and can be seen on GNAC TV while being heard on KFAR 660 AM. No. 2 Seattle Pacific (23-3) will play No. 6 Central Washington (15-12) at 5:15 p.m. in the first semifinal.
The 'Nooks shot an impressive 58.2 percent (32-55) on the night, which including a stellar 66.7 percent (16-24) mark in the second half while the 'Jackets were held to 44.8 percent (26-58) shooting. ÐÓ°Épro controlled the board 37-28 and outscored MSUB 48-24 in the paint and 43-9 off the bench.
ÐÓ°Épro's shooting percentage was the second-highest field goal percentage in tournament history, trailing only Northwest Nazarene, which shot 58.5 percent in a Feb. 28, 2011, win at Western Washington.
Junior forward Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Business administration) led five Nanooks in double figures with 17 points in just 18 minutes off the bench. Tica shot 5-of-7 and drained all three of his three-point attempts to give the higher seed its first post-season win in eight years.
Senior guard Dominique Brinson (Juneau, ÐÓ°Épro/Accounting) scored 13 points while cashing in on 7-of-9 free throws and both junior guard Ronnie Baker (Vallejo, Calif./Communication) and junior forward Andrew Kelly (Gilbert, Ariz./Justice) each contributed 11 points. Junior forward Dallen Bills (Inkom, Idaho/Psychology) provided 10 points while junior guard Pat Voeut (Bellingham, Wash./Communication) six points, a team-high six boards and eight assists.
With the score squared at 15-15 midway through the opening stanza, the Nanooks scored 10 of 12 over 2:26 to grab a 25-17 advantage with 7:20 left. The Yellowjackets cut it back to four with under four minutes remaining but ÐÓ°Épro answered back with an 8-0 to lead 35-23 with 1:37 to play and would take a 37-27 lead heading into the break.
Teams traded buckets for much of the early going of the second half but holding a 50-41 lead with 13 minutes to go, a MSUB turnover by Kalob Hatcher, coupled with a Voeut layup seconds later spared a 6-0 run in just over a minute that gave the Nanooks a 56-41 lead with 11:43 remaining. The 'Jackets cut it back to 11 thrice until five in a row by ÐÓ°Épro gave it its largest lead of the ball game at 67-51 with 7:49 on the clock. MSU Billings never got the deficit to single digits again as ÐÓ°Épro led by as many as 17 twice down the stretch.
Jarrell Crayton led the way for MSUB after posting a double-double with game-highs of 23 points on 11-of-14 shooting and 13 rebounds, which ties the tournament single-game rebounding record. Omar McDade contributed 17 points and David Arnold scored all of his 16 in the second half.