Thursday, March 3, 2022

LACEY, Wash. – No. 5 seeded Central Washington used a 19-point night from senior guard Xavier Smith to advance to the GNAC Men’s Basketball Championships semifinals for the first time in eight years Thursday, scoring a 74-67 victory over No. 4 seed Montana State Billings in the tournament quarterfinals at Marcus Pavilion.

Smith connected on 8 of 15 from the field in the victory, leading a night that saw the Wildcats shoot 51.3 percent from the field for the game. Senior guard David Thompson added 19 points while senior forward Marqus Gilson scored 16 points on 6 of 9 from the field and had a team-high six rebounds.

Montana State Billings was led by senior guard Damen Thacker, who led all scorers with 23 points on 8 of 17 from the field and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line. Junior forward Bilal Shabazz added 13 points as MSUB shot 43.1 percent from the field and was a perfect 15 of 15 from the free-throw line.

With the win, Central Washington (16-8) advances to the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2013 and will face the winner of tonight’s quarterfinal between No. 1 Saint Martin’s and No. 9 Western Oregon. Montana State Billings ends its season with a 13-15 record.

The Yellowjackets jumped out of the gate fast, taking a 7-0 lead on freshman center Emmanuel Ajanaku’s lay-in a minute-and-a-half in. Once the Wildcats got on the board they went on an 11-7 run to make it a 12-11 game on junior forward Matt Poquette’s lay-in. Montana State Billings went right back up six, 18-12 on Thacker’s jumper but CWU came right back and tied it at 20-20 on a pair of Isaiah Banks free throws midway through the period.

The Wildcats went on to score the next six points, building the 26-20 lead on Thompson’s lay-up with 7:07 left. Montana State Billings stayed close, though, using a pair of Thacker free throws to come within one with 3:04 left, but Smith’s pull-up jumper with 1:20 left was the only made shot in a close spell that ended the period as the Wildcats took a 31-28 lead into the locker room.

Central Washington never trailed in the second half but did not pull away until later in the contest. The Wildcats went up 46-38 on Smith’s fastbreak lay-in with 12:29 to go but watched the Yellowjackets score on their next two possessions to come back within four.

Montana State Billings was within 60-56 with 4:32 left when Smith and Thompson connected on back-to-back three-pointers put the Wildcats back up by nine, 65-56, with 3:28 to go. The Yellowjackets came back within four points on three different occasions and cut the lead to three, 68-65, on Thacker’s basket with 1:14 left. Central Washington got the job done at the line, hitting 4 of 4 in the final minute to ice the game.