• Final Statistics

BILLINGS, Mont. – Robert Mayes scored four of his 13 points during the final 26 seconds Saturday, helping Montana State Billings turn away a late rally by 24th-ranked Seattle Pacific to claim an 86-77 men's basketball win at Alterowitz Gymnasium.
 
SPU (14-4) had a five-game winning streak stopped and its Great Northwest Athletic Conference record fell to 6-3. The Yellowjackets (10-7) improved to 5-4 in league play.
 
The Falcons faced their largest deficit of the season, trailing by 15 points on three occasions in the second half. But they scored nine straight points, all on 3-pointers, to draw within 73-68.
 
Billings stopped that surge when David Arnold drained a difficult turnaround jump shot in the key at the end of the shot clock, stretching the lead to 75-68 with 2:12 showing on the game clock.
 
The visitors came even closer when sophomore Riley Carel (Enumclaw, Wash./Enumclaw HS) followed his own layup with a trey that brought his team within 80-77 with 44 seconds left to play.
 
Billings scored the game's final six points, including a put-back by Mayes with 26 seconds remaining, two Arnold free throws at 0:14 and two charity shots by Mayes at 0:03.
 
Both of SPU's double-digit scorers tallied all of their points during the second half. Jobi Wall (Arvada, Colo.) scored 14 points and Cory Hutsen (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline HS) had 13.
 
Five Yellowjackets reached double-figures led by Arnold's 16 points. Antoine Proctor scored 14 while Jaxon Myaer and Emery Henning had 11 apiece.

The 86 points were the highest total amassed this season against SPU, which entered the game ranked No. 2 nationally in scoring defense at 55.9 points per game. The previous opponent high was turned in by Western Washington on Dec. 3 in a 79-71 win in Seattle.

Billings utilized 14 steals to force the Falcons into a season-high 24 turnovers. That proved to be the difference as SPU had the edge in shooting 47 percent (26 of 55) to 46 percent (26 of 56) and won the rebounding battle by a 36-29 margin.
 
The Falcons played the majority of the second half without their two season scoring leaders, Andy Poling (15.9 ppg) and David Downs (15.2 ppg). Coach Ryan Looney felt those two were ineffective and played reserves instead.
 
A 6-foot-11 junior post player, Poling (Portland, Ore.) led SPU with eight first-half points. He played the opening 2:23 of the second half before sitting out the rest of the game.
 
Downs (Kirkland, Wash./Bellevue Christian HS), a sophomore point guard, scored seven points before departing for good at 13:26.
 
SPU trailed by 12 points when Carel entered to direct the team for the rest of the game.
 
“We played Riley Carel at the point and he was able to run the team and get the ball to the right spots,” Looney explained.
 
“We got it all the way to the point where we were down three with about 30 seconds to go and they actually took a terrible shot. But we didn't block out, they got an offensive rebound and put-back to end the game. If we would have just blocked out we could have had the board and a chance to tie it up.”
 
The Falcons committed 15 turnovers and shot just 35 percent (7 of 20) in the first half to fall behind 34-26 at halftime.
 
“We played an entire half without being able to get into any type of offense,” Looney said of his team's first-period struggles. “That led to 20 straight minutes of turnovers and bad shots.”
 
The visitors missed their first four shots, helping MSUB begin to build a 13-6 advantage. SPU chipped away at the deficit, drawing within 22-20 on two free throws by Poling with 4:47 left in the half.
 
The Yellowjackets scored the next 10 points, four of them from Henning whose layup at 2:07 capped the surge with his team ahead 32-20.
 
The SPU men return home to play five of their next seven games at Brougham Pavilion. They entertain Saint Martin's on Thursday at 7 p.m. before hosting Western Oregon on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the annual Homecoming game.

 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Alterowitz Gymnasium/Billings, Mont.
 
at Montana State Billings 86, (#24) Seattle Pacific 77
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC  (14-4, 6-3 GNAC)
Wall 5-10 1-1 14, Anderson 3-10 2-3 9, Poling 2-6 4-4 8, Downs 1-3 4-4 7, Dorman 2-4 0-0 5, Hutsen 5-8 3-6 13, Carel 3-6 0-0 7, Stockton 2-4 0-1 6, Morse 2-3 0-0 6, Niang 1-1 0-0 2, Moll 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 14-19 77.
 
MONTANA STATE BILLINGS (10-7, 5-4 GNAC)
Cusworth 3-5 0-0 8, Henning 5-8 1-2 11, Richards 1-4 2-2 5, Proctor 3-10 7-10 14, Myaer 4-8 0-0 11, Mayes 3-5 7-7 13, Arnold 4-6 8-8 16, Stevens 3-8 0-0 8, Trabing 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 25-29 86.
 
Seattle Pacific..........   26   51  -  77
Montana State Billings...   34   52  -  86
 
3-point goals--SPU 11-26 (Wall 3-5, Morse 2-2, Stockton 2-3, Dorman 1-2, Carel 1-4, Downs 1-3, Anderson 1-7), MSUB 9-22 (Myaer 3-5, Cusworth 2-4, Stevens 2-6, Richards 1-1, Proctor 1-4, Trabing 0-1, Arnold 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-Hutsen, MSUB-None. Rebounds--SPU 36 (Hutsen 7), MSUB 29 (Proctor 6). Assists--SPU 20 (Morse, Wall 4), MSUB 18 (Myaer, Proctor 5). Total fouls--SPU 21, MSUB 20. Technical fouls--SPU-None, MSUB-None. A-715.
 
 
Next game
Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Jan. 26, 7:00 p.m. PST
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.