The UAA men's basketball team will come back to Alaska bearing the mark of a bad bee sting.
The Seawolves ran into a nest of hot-shooting Yellowjackets and suffered their biggest loss of the season Tuesday, falling 90-71 to Montana State-Billings in Billings.
It was the first loss after two straight road victories for UAA, which doesn't get much of a break before playing again. The Seawolves (18-8 overall, 11-4 conference) return to Anchorage on Wednesday and host UAF on Thursday, a game that will be UAA's fourth in eight days.
The Yellowjackets (9-14, 5-10) couldn't miss in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference game. They shot 63 percent from 3-point range (17 of 27) and for much of the first half they were burying more than 70 percent of all shots.
Preston Beverly, a freshman forward, drained five of eight 3-pointers en route to a team-high 25 points for Billings. Five of the Yellowjackets' six scorers hit double figures.
Suki Wiggs furnished a game-high 27 points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Seawolves. Brian McGill, the GNAC's Player of the Week who was saddled with two early fouls, finished with 14 points and five assists. Corey Hammell chipped in 13 points and six rebounds
Billings raced to an early 11-2 lead, and the Seawolves never recovered. The Yellowjackets led 57-32 at the half and their lead swelled to 32 points a couple of times in the second half.
Billings hit 30 of 56 shots in all (53.6 percent), an effort sparked by an incredible first half of shooting in which the Yellowjackets hit 19 of 30 shots from the field (63.3 percent), including 11 of 16 from 3-point range (68.8. percent).
UAA struggled through 31 percent shooting in the first half (9 of 29) and 39 percent for the game (23 of 59).
The loss was the worst of the season for the Seawolves, who have lost by double digits on three occasions — 79-68 to Cal Baptist in late October and 76-66 to Western Oregon in late January.