BILLINGS, Mont. – A good shooting night and a balanced offensive were almost enough for the University of Providence men's basketball to beat Montana State University Billings, but 19 Argo turnovers cost UP in an 85-74 loss. UP's 52 percent shooting from the field was the team's  second highest  total of the season and its 57 percent shooting from three was a season high.
 
UP got off to a great start. Led by early buckets from seniors DuShaun Rice and Steven Daho-Clark, and bolstered but more points from junior forward Deontae Woodbridge off the bench, the team held an 8 point lead after as many minutes of play.
 
Despite that lead, UP turned the ball over on four of its next five possessions with that fifth possession being a missed shot. A layup from Daho-Clark, briefly broke the cycle, bringing the Argo's advantage to 16-12 but 2 more turnovers on the next two trips down the court allowed the Yellowjackets to take a 19-16 lead.  
 
In the last 7 minutes of the first half, UP cleaned up its act, only committing 1 more turnover. That wasn't enough, however, as MSUB outshot UP down the stretch to bring the score to 37-30 Yellowjackets heading into halftime.
 
After shooting 50 percent in the first half, the Argos were even better in the second, making 18 of 33 attempts and 4-5 from behind the 3-point line. All of those threes came from senior guard Jared Schultz who scored all 14 of his points in the final 20 minutes.
 
Schultz hit 2 of those threes early in the half and sparked an early Argo run that had the score tied at 40-40.
 
While UP shot extremely well in the half, so did MSUB. The Yellowjackets hit 55.56 percent of their attempts and did a much better job of getting to the free-throw line than the Argos in the second half.
 
After going 12-13 from the charity stripe in the first half, UP went to the line only 7 times in the second half and only made 4 of them. MSUB, on the other hand, went 11-15 in from the line in the final 20 minutes.
 
Woodbridge led the team in points and set a career high with 18 points on 8-11 shooting with 7 rebounds. He, Schultz, and seniors DuShaun Rice and Steven Daho-Clark combined to score 58 of the team's 74 points.
 
Schultz and Rice both had 14 points and Daho-Clark had 12. Rice also continued to do a little of everything, finishing with 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. He currently leads the team in assists, steals, and blocks.
 
The game was not an exhibition for UP and so the loss brings the Argo's record to 7-5 (1-1). The team's next game will be an exhibition with the Argos taking on NCAA Division I school Eastern Washington in Cheney, Washington on December 20, 6 p.m.