FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team earned their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory of the season on Saturday night, defeating the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets 88-80 at the Alaska Airlines Court. The victory improves Alaska's overall record to 3-5 and 1-1 in conference play, while the Yellowjackets fall to 5-2 on the season and 0-2 in GNAC matchups.

"It seems like whenever play one another, we always have a hard-fought, up-tempo game," head coach Mick Durham said on Saturday. "We didn't start out very good tonight, found ourselves down at half but I thought we played a really good second half to hold them off and we did. We made a couple really clutch shots and I thought Lendway's low-post goal late officially gave us the momentum we wanted. It's nice to final get on the GNAC scoreboard with that win."

Montana State Billings gave up 19 turnovers to the Nanooks, allowing Alaska's offense to convert on those mistakes for 23 point on the night. The Nooks were a force around the net, tallying 18 offensive rebounds, which translated to 18 second-chance points.

The Yellowjackets came out firing on all cylinders at the Alaska Airlines Court, collecting three three-point shots and one dunk to give MSUB an 11-2 advantage within the first three minutes of the half. In front of a crowd of 446, the Nanooks weren't backing down on their home court, responding with a 13-0 run to take a 15-11 lead over the Yellowjackets. After some back-and-forth play, the Nanooks broke open the game with another run to take a 29-15 lead.

MSUB responded once again, heading on a 23-7 run with the help of some timely three-pointers to take a 45-40 lead in to intermission.

Within the first 50 seconds of the second half, the Nanooks erased MSUB's lead and continued on a 14-4 run within the first five minutes of the half. Junior guard Davis Kimble delivered for the Nanooks in the second half, scoring 16 points and grabbing two steals in the final 20 minutes to help the Nooks seal the victory. In the final 1:24 of regulation, Kimble tallied two points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist.

Kimble's career night included a game-high 24-point effort, as the Hayward, California native shot 11-for-16 from the floor, including 1-for-2 from behind the arc and 1-for-3 from the free throw line. At the end of the night, Kimble tallied four rebounds, four assists and two steals in 32 minutes on the court.

Not to be overshadowed, junior forward Alex Baham shot 6-for-11 from the floor, including 4-for-7 from three-point range and 7-for-8 from the free throw line to produce a career-best 23 points on the night.

Sophomore forward Michael Kluting earned his second double-double of the season, tallying 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds while sophomore forward Joe Lendway was the only other Nanook to score double-digit figures, totaling 11 on the night.

As a team, the Nooks shot 49.3 percent from the floor (33-of-67), 47.6 percent from behind the arc (1-for-21) and 63.2 percent from the free throw line (12-for-19). The Nanooks outdid their opponents in assists (16-11), steals (10-9) and blocks (4-1).

The Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team returns to the Alaska Airlines Court next Saturday, Dec. 9 for an exhibition matchup against Cal Miramar at 5:15pm AKST.

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks men's basketball team, follow @NanooksMBB on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks page on Facebook.