Box Score BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Joey Schreiber scored 19 points in the first half and finished with a career-high 38 to propel host Western Washington to an 88-68 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball victory over Montana State University Billings Thursday evening at Sam Carver Gym.
 
Momir Gataric converted 10 of 14 field goals for the Yellowjackets, and scored a season-high 25 points, and Antoine Hosley chipped in 17 off of the bench for MSUB.
 
For WWU (8-6, 1-3 GNAC), Schreiber's 38 points were a new program record for a player coming off of the bench and he was one of four players to score in double figures. Jeffrey Parker finished with 17, Mac Johnson had 15 and nine rebounds, and Anye Turner had 11. Schreiber completed a double-double as he also grabbed a dozen rebounds.
 
"Not only did Western make shots, but they played really hard tonight," said MSUB head coach Jamie Stevens. "It's tough to beat a team when they play like that."
 
After trading the lead back-and-forth early on in the game, Western Washington went on an 11-5 run including three 3-pointers to open the second half and never looked back. The Vikings connected on 11 of 23 shots from long distance in the game (47.8 percent) and 34 of 69 overall from the field (49.3 percent).
 
WWU also held a 48-25 advantage in rebounding, and 19 of the team's 48 came on the offensive side of the ball.
 
"We needed to compete a little bit better at the defensive end and we just didn't," Stevens said. When we did get stops, we didn't get rebounds."
 
The Yellowjackets (2-13, 0-5 GNAC) tied a season-best with only eight turnovers in the game, and shot 43.8 percent overall from the field (28-for-64). Gataric had half of his team's 3-pointers, finishing 3-for-5 from long range for nine of his points. From the foul line, MSUB converted 6 of 9 shots, while WWU made 9 of 11.
 
Into the game on an early sub, Marc Matthews got the scoring started for MSUB with a short jumper in the midst of traffic. A turnover on WWU's ensuing possession led to a fast-break chance for the 'Jackets, and Matthews slammed home two more points with a dunk for an early 4-3 lead.
 
After another Matthews bucket, the Vikings responded with a 6-0 stretch, and Johnson started the game 4-for-4 from the field to help extend WWU's lead to 11-6.
 
A pair of buckets by Hosley capped off a 6-0 run by the Yellowjackets, as MSUB regained a 12-11 lead midway through the first.
 
Schreiber heated up with less than 10 minutes until halftime, knocking down a trey to simultaneously give him 10 points and give his team a 10-point lead. The sophomore didn't quit there, posting nine more points before intermission en route to his standout performance.
 
The Vikings carried a 44-29 advantage into halftime, and came out of the break firing to quickly push their edge past 20 points.
 
WWU controlled the pace moving into the late part of the second half, using a 7-1 run to maintain a spread of 20 points.
 
With inside of five minutes to play, the 'Jackets cut the deficit to 13 points, as Gataric finished a lay-in on a fast-break. The Vikings responded with a 10-0 run however, capping off their first conference victory of the season.
 
The 'Jackets were able to generate 15 points off of 15 turnovers and created seven steals compared to just four by WWU. The Vikings finished with 26 assists however, and limited the Yellowjackets to just three second-chance points while scoring 13.
 
Tyler Nelson was the leading rebounder for MSUB with six, and Matthews finished with 10 points after his early surge in the first half.
 
"We are excited to get back to work tomorrow and start preparing for Simon Fraser on Saturday," Stevens said.
 
NEXT UP: MSUB enters Canada to challenge the top scoring team in the NCAA Division II in Simon Fraser on Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Mountain time at the West Gym on the SFU campus, and live video and statistics will be available online at www.msubsports.com.