by By Hayden Foltz
BILLINGS, Mont.- Highlighting the Montana State University Yellowjacket men’s basketball team (3-3) matching up against the South Dakota School of Mines (1-4). The Yellowjackets dominate 71-46 at home behind and impressive offensive effort across the board. The Yellowjackets ended the game shooting 49.2 percent from the field, 43.5 percent from three, 41 team rebounds, and 24 team assists. “Loved our defensive effort today, the Tot twins did a fantastic job on Alejandro Rama who’s averaging around 20 points per game,” said head coach Luke Fennelly. “As a team we did a great job at not giving Mines any clean looks, and they just played hard and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Daniel Moody opened up the game with a defensive rebound and then hit Zharon Richmond in the paint to put the ‘Jackets on the board. The Yellowjackets would then go on an incredible 12-0 run behind Famous Lefthand with six of the 10 points, and Jalen Tot with four of them. After a Hardrocker bucket, Ky Kouba came out of the first timeout witting a corner three to put the ‘Jackets up 15-2 at the 14:37 mark. Halfway through the first half MSUB had a comfortable 11-point lead after another Kouba field goal from a Richmond assist. The Hardrockers were able to bring their deficit to eight, until Famous Lefthand hit his third triple in as many shot attempts. The ‘Jackets shooting an impressive 50 percent from three and 45 percent from the field continued to extend their lead to 13 after another Richmond bucket at the 6:28 mark. From there the next four minutes was a combination of turnovers and missed shots by both squats until Kouba hit back-to-back field goals to give him nine points on the night off the bench. Going into the half the Yellowjackets were up 39-20 behind Ky Kouba who had 12 points in the half and was shooting 100 percent from the field and from beyond the arch. Beni Fungula also made his first appearance of the season, coming off an injury adding a rebound and an assist.
Daniel Moody opened up the second half with a bang, hitting back-to-back triples for his first three pointers of the night and putting the ‘Jackets up 47-25. At this point in the game MSUB was leading South Dakota Mines in all offensive categories, outrebounding the Hardrockers 23-16, and leading in assists 17-4. At the 14:24 mark, Emmanuel Ajanaku went to work in the paint making a highly contested field goal followed by an alley-oop from Bryce Whitaker to give Ajanaku eight points on the night. Just before the first media timeout of the second half, Jajuan Tot made his seventh point on the night from a deep triple, increasing the lead to 26. The Yellowjackets dominance continued at the 8:56 mark where Ajanaku added his 12th point of the game and increasing the lead to 62-30. The ‘Jackets offense looked impossible to stop, moving the ball across the court efficiently with seven players having at least two assists at this point in the game. There were also six players with at least four rebounds and the team was shooting over 50 percent from the field and just under 50 percent from beyond the arch. Just before the second media timeout of the half at the 4:56 mark, Daniel Moody added his 11th point on the night and was sitting just one rebound shy of his second double-double of the season. With a dominant redemption win in sight, the Jackets were up by 33 points with under four minutes to play. With just over a minute left in the game, freshman Jamil Khan hit a step-back three pointer to add the first point of his career. The Yellowjackets were able to close out the game, winning it 71-46 over the Hardrockers and improving to
3-3 on the season.
