By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

LACEY, Wash. – Jajuan Tot drained a half-court shot as time expired at Marcus Pavilion on Thursday afternoon, sending the No. 5 seed Montana State Billings Yellowjackets to a shocking 79-78 win over No. 4 seed Western Washington in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championships.
 
“Two seconds on the clock – we practice it all the time in shoot around. I just got it up there,” Tot reflected on the winning moment. “It felt good coming off my hand.”
 
WWU’s Tijan Saine made a mid-range floater to put the Vikings up by two points with just 2.2 seconds left on the clock. Without a timeout, Tot snagged an inbounds pass from Cooper Dewitt, dribbled once, and sank perhaps the biggest shot of his life to prompt an uproar from the Yellowjacket bench.
 
The Yellowjackets improved to 21-11 with the win and advance to Friday’s semifinals where they’ll face No. 1 seed Central Washington at 2:15 p.m. (Pacific). Jalen Tot did the bulk of the lifting with 24 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the arc and watched as his brother knocked down the surreal game-winner. “There was a game earlier this season where Jalen hit one of these, and there is no one we trust more than these two,” MSUB head coach Luke Fennelly said of the twins. “We were out of timeouts and all I could do was just look at the clock and watch. We have seniors who are winners, and they make everybody else look good.”
 
First-team all-GNAC selection Kael Robinson scored 20 points on 8-for-13 and Dewitt also reached double figures with 11 points. The Yellowjackets shot 49.2% (32-for-65) overall and 44.0% (11-for-25) from three, and held a narrow 33-31 edge over the Vikings in rebounding. WWU also shot well at 50.0% (31-for-62) overall and 38.5% (10-for-26) from the arc.
 
Saine finished with 21 points, four assists, four steals and four rebounds, making 8 of 13 shots and 3 of 6 threes. Freshman Aidan Rice had a season-high 22 points and made a team-high five 3-pointers, and Will Wilson finished with 13 points, six boards and four assists. WWU’s season came to a close with a record of 19-10 overall.
 
The game could have been over after the Vikings went on a 10-0 run at the outset of the second half. Instead, the Yellowjackets went on a 17-2 run of their own to force their way back into the game and set up a dramatic finish. Jalen Tot poured in seven points in the span of 90 seconds, burying a pair of treys and relying on his brother Jajuan Tot for a steal and an assist on a breakaway layup that put the Yellowjackets in front 55-50. “It’s March, and we talk about this (moment) from the jump,” Jalen Tot said on the back-and-forth game. “It’s just the GNAC man. All you have to do is get in and you have a chance, and I’m just grateful for this team.”
 
A pair of tough takes in the paint by Saine helped cap another 13-0 run by the Vikings however, as they wrestled back command at 69-59 to force the Yellowjackets to take a timeout with 7:12 to go in the game. The ‘Jackets trailed by as much as 10 points with 3:31 to go but forced four WWU turnovers to muscle their way back into it at the end. “Whether we are up 10 or down 10, we are relentless and we just stay together,” Fennelly said on facing multiple double-figure deficits in the second half. “It is a game of runs, especially against Western, and that is the best offense in the league for a reason. We had to adjust, and this is a senior-level group that just stays in it.”
 
Saine and Jalen Tot traded layups inside of a minute to go and a free throw by Robinson evened the score at 76-76. Keeping calm under pressure, Saine created space for a shot and knocked down what seemed to be the winning blow with a tough 10-footer. But it was Jajuan Tot who had the final say and emerged as the improbable hero to keep his team’s season alive.
 
GAME NOTES: The Yellowjackets secured their first win of the season over the Vikings…Thursday was the second meeting between the teams at the conference tournament, with the Yellowjackets winning the only other encounter…the Vikings competed in the GNAC Championships for the 12th time…the Yellowjackets are competing in the GNAC Championships for the 11th time and are looking for their second title…the team’s lone tournament crown came in 2012.
 
NEXT UP: The Yellowjackets advance to Friday’s semifinals to take on No. 1 seed and GNAC regular-season champion Central Washington at 2:15 p.m. (Pacific). MSUB split its regular-season games against CWU, and it will be the fourth time the teams meet in the conference tournament with the Wildcats holding a perfect 3-0 record. The most recent encounter was in last year’s semifinals, when eventual GNAC Championships MVP Samaad Hector nailed an unforgettable buzzer beater to devastate the Yellowjackets 81-80.