BILLINGS — Brandon Tchouya hit the game-winning layup for Montana State Billings with just over seven seconds left and completed a three-point play to lift the Yellowjacket men to a thrilling 99-96 victory on Monday at Rocky Mountain College.
The Jackets (10-2, 1-0 GNAC) battled back from an 11-point deficit to sweep the Rimrock Rivalry season series.
Tchouya finished with 18 points as one of four Yellowjackets to hit double-digit scoring. Mason Landdeck led everyone with 26 followed by Miles Gurske with 21 and Jonas La Tour with 14.
Rocky's men (8-2, 5-2 Frontier) put five players in double-digits with a balanced attack. Omari Nesbit had 21 while Drew Bowman closed with 20 points. Royce Robinson and Sherman Royal each poured in 13 while Kyle Jones added 12.
MSUB's women (6-7, 0-2 GNAC) also clinched a season sweep opening Monday's doubleheader with a 60-41 win inside the Fortin Center.
Watch highlights of both games including the men's nail-biting finish:
Following a 73-45 win last month against the Battlin’ Bears (7-3, 5-2 Frontier), the Yellowjacket women outscored Rocky 37-19 in the second half to ice it. Rocky mostly rested its starters for conference play after the opening quarter while the Yellowjackets also emptied their young bench.
Allison Kunze led the way for MSUB with 16 points, shooting 7-9 from the field. Kyla Momberg added 11 and Kaitlin Grossman posted a stat line of nine points, ten rebounds, two steals and a block.
“This was a nice win for us,” said MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin in MSUB's media release. “Rocky played really hard, they didn’t play their key players as many minutes, so they came at us with some different looks, but I thought we adjusted to that, and both teams got to play a lot of players. Defensively I thought our team switched defenses well tonight, which is something we’re starting to do better. Our players followed the scout really well with that.”
Brenna Linse led Rocky with eight points followed by Paige Wasson with seven. Lexy Burnham led the Battlin' Bears in rebounding with seven.
Both games counted as regular season wins for MSUB while both were exhibition games for Rocky.
