Tigers Hand Jackets First Loss (12/29/05)
Box Score

KINGSVILLE, TX – The Montana State-Billings men’s basketball team dropped its first game of the season Thursday night, falling 85-79 to East Central (Okla.) in the first game of the Texas A&M-Kingsville Holiday Classic.  The Yellowjackets fell to 5-1 overall and 1-1 against teams from the South Central Region.  The Tigers improved to 6-3.

After trailing 46-43 at halftime, the Yellowjackets led for a large portion of the second half.  A Lucas Walker (So., Launceston, Australia) dunk just 1:07 into the second half gave MSU Billings its second lead of the game at 47-46.  The Jackets relinquished the lead just once in the next 14 minutes of action, building it to as large as seven points on a Cameron Munoz (Sr., Chino, CA) 3-pointer with 11:05 to play.

The Tigers slowly trimmed the Jackets’ advantage over the next six minutes, eventually tying the game on an Ian Adams jumper at 4:38.  Three-straight layups from Carlin Hughes (So., Perth, Australia) returned the lead briefly to the Yellowjackets, but back-to-back 3-pointers by the Tigers’ Terrell Carpenter and Jason Thomas knotted the game at 79-79 with 2:32 remaining.  Hughes fouled out 20 seconds later and MSU Billings didn’t make another field goal.  The Jackets’ last points of the game came on Hughes’s final layup at the 3:01 mark.

The Tigers scored their final six points of the game at the free throw line.  East Central was 27-of-43 from the stripe and 24-of-58 from the field in the game.  Foul trouble plagued the Yellowjackets throughout as they were whistled 29 times in the game.  When the Yellowjackets made it to the free throw line on the other end, they were unable to capitalize, hitting just 15-of-27 (56 percent).

Munoz led all players with 25 points and six 3-pointers.  He was also 5-of-7 from the free throw line.  Walker added 19 points after missing the Jackets’ last game because of illness.  He was 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-7 from the line.  Walker also had a dozen rebounds, three blocked shots, and three steals.  Munoz and Walker were the only two Yellowjackets to shoot over 50 percent from the charity stripe in the game.

Hughes finished with 14 points, six of them coming during the run late in the game.  Buddy Windy Boy (Sr., Lodge Grass, MT) added a dozen points and three 3-pointers.  MSU Billings was a combined 12-of-32 from behind the arc.  Moritz Wohlers (Sr., Wolfenbuttel, Germany) scored eight points and pulled down eight rebounds.

The Tigers were led by 20 points from Thomas, 12 of them coming in the second half.  He was 9-of-12 from the free throw line.  Carpenter and Adams each netted 17, combining to go 18-of-20 from the free throw line.  Adams also had 11 rebounds.  Brandon Bingle had a double-double of 10 points and 16 rebounds.  The Tigers out-rebounded the Yellowjackets 50-33 in the game and 18-9 on the offensive end.

The Yellowjackets will wrap up their first road trip of the season on Friday when they take on host Texas A&M-Kingsville.  Tip off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Central.  The game will be aired on AM 970 in Billings at 6:00 p.m. and on the web at www.msubillings.edu/athletics.