BILLINGS, Mont. - Montana State Billings knocked down 11 free throws in the final minute to stave off the Saints' late second half comeback, 92-83, inside the Alterowitz Gym.

Saint Martin's (15-11, 9-9 GNAC) cut the Yellowjackets (14-12, 9-9) lead to within one possession on five different occasions in the final five minutes; however, MSUB managed to hang on by going 11-14 at the free throw line in final 54 seconds.

The Saints jumped out to an early 10-6 lead behind back-to-back 3-Pointers from Rhett Baerlocher with 15:35 left in the half. Tyler Copp started an 14-5 run for SMU on a lay-up, followed by a basket from Trey Ingram and a deep ball by Brandon Kenilvort. Cole Preston capped off the run with a bucket in the paint and extended the Saints' lead to 24-12, their largest of the game, with 8:22 remaining in the half.

The Yellowjackets responded back with a 9-0 run to trim the score to 24-21 with 6:04 left in the first half. Both sides traded baskets down the stretch as the Saints managed to hang on to the 37-36 lead going into halftime.

After closing out the first half on a 5-0 run, Montana State Billings picked-up where they left off, scoring the first 10 points of the second half. For the next six minutes, neither side gave an inch, with MSUB leading 62-51 with 10:54 left in the game.

Three free throws by Baerlocher led to a lay-up by Kenilvort and a pair of Ingram free throws as the Saints cut the lead to 62-58 with 9:26 remaining. Four minutes later, Fred Jorg sank two at the charity stripe to get the Saints within one possession with 5:15 left in the ballgame.

Over the course of the final minutes, SMU managed five opportunities to tie or take the lead; however, the Yellowjackets answered every time and survived for a 92-83 victory.

"Tough one tonight. Credit Billings, they came out with a chip on their shoulder and played well" said head coach Alex Pribble. "The parity in this league is incredible, and it's always going to take our best effort to win a conference game. Unfortunately I felt like we were outworked tonight".

Off the bench, Ingram led all Saint scorers with 17 points on 4-7 shooting and 3-5 from beyond the arc, along with five rebounds. Baerlocher and Kenilvort both finished with 16 points and five rebounds. Preston missed his second double-double of the season by one assist after totaling 14 points and nine assists.

As a team, SMU shot efficient from the floor, 26-52 (.500), 9-19 (.474) beyond the arc and 22-27 (.815) at the line. The Saints tallied 34 rebounds with 13 assists on 14 turnovers and four steals.

"The race for playoff positions is only going to get tougher, but we need to keep the focus on ourselves" said Pribble. "We need to take a step in the right direction this coming week".

Up Next: The Saints remain on the road with a trip to Canada to face Simon Fraser before heading to Western Washington to close the 2017 regular season.