Jacket Men Rally for Conference Win (1/11/06)
Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, TX – Just enough was good enough Wednesday night for the Montana State-Billings men’s basketball team.  The Yellowjackets rallied from a late second half deficit to defeat Incarnate Word 72-64 in a Heartland Conference road game.  The Jackets improved to 9-2 overall and 3-0 in the conference, dropping the Cardinals to 7-7, 0-1.

The Yellowjackets entered the game leading the nation in scoring.  The Cardinals came in ranked fifth in the nation for scoring defense.  For much of the night the tempo favored the Cardinals, who were effective in turning the game into a half court affair.  The Yellowjackets, who were averaging 100 points per game, led 30-27 at halftime.

The Cardinals took the lead three and a half minutes into the second half on a Garrett Bell 3-pointer.  The Yellowjackets were able to tie the game four times over the next ten minutes, but could never pull ahead.  Lucas Walker (So., Launceston, Australia) changed that almost instantly with about six minutes to play. 

Walker started with a flying dunk on the fast break after guard Carlin Hughes (So., Perth, Australia) blocked a shot on the defensive end and found Walker on the wing in transition.  That dunk pulled the Yellowjackets to within two with six and a half minutes left.  On the Jackets’ next possession Walker knocked down his only 3-pointer of the night to give MSU Billings a 54-53 lead.

The Yellowjackets never trailed again, building their lead to as many as seven on a pair of Buddy Windy Boy (Sr., Lodge Grass, MT) free throws with 3:19 remaining.  Cameron Munoz (Sr., Chino, CA) hit four-straight free throws in the final 21 seconds to seal the victory.

Walker finished the night with 15 points off the bench before fouling out in the final minutes.  He was 6-of-9 from the field and grabbed six rebounds in 27 minutes.

Munoz had another solid offensive game with 21 points.  He made five 3-pointers, four in the first half.  His final 3-pointer of the game tied him for the school career 3-point record with Markus Hallgrimson.  Munoz now has 371 career 3-pointers at MSU Billings, and his first make on Thursday will give him the school record outright.

Moritz Wohlers (Sr., Wolfenbuttel, Germany) led all scorers with 23 points.  He was 8-of-11 from the field and 7-of-10 from the free throw line.  He also had nine rebounds.  Hughes just missed recording his fourth-straight double-double, scoring nine points to go with 13 assists.

Windy Boy led the Yellowjackets with a career-high 10 rebounds.  Even though he played the point of the Yellowjackets’ zone defense, he also had a career-high three blocked shots.  Both Munoz and Windy Boy played the entire 40 minutes.

The Cardinals were led by Paul Connolly’s 18 points.  He was 4-of-9 from behind the arc.  Mikyl Bradshaw added 14 points, and Juan Valdez had a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds.

The same teams will meet again Thursday at 8:00 p.m. CST.  The game will be carried live in Billings on AM 970 beginning at approximately 7:00 p.m. MST following the Lady Yellowjackets 5:00 p.m. MST game against the Cardinals.