Late Turnovers Sink Jackets in Title Game (3/4/06)
Box Score

AUSTIN, TX – Five-straight Montana State-Billings turnovers in the final two minutes helped St. Edward’s University claim the Heartland Conference men’s basketball championship Saturday night, 83-77.  The Hilltoppers (21-8) will receive the Heartland’s automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament next week.  The Yellowjackets finish the season at 20-8 overall.

“I’m very proud of our guys,” said Yellowjacket head coach Craig Carse after the game.  “I thought they played very hard and very intelligently.  Congratulations to St. Edward’s.  They did the things they needed to do to win.”

In a see-saw first half, the Yellowjackets used a late surge to stake a 39-32 lead at intermission.  There were eight lead changes and five ties in the half, but a Moritz Wohlers lay-up with 5:12 remaining gave the Jackets a 28-27 lead and they extended it to seven over the final five minutes.  Five different Yellowjackets scored during that span.

The Yellowjackets led by as many as 10 midway through the second half after a Cody Samuelson lay-up gave MSU Billings a 53-43 advantage.  MSU Billings weathered several St. Edward’s runs in the second half, leading for over 18 minutes between the end of the first half and when SEU tied the game at 68-68 with 6:34 left. 

MSU Billings survived that Hilltoppers run as well, building its lead back to four.  The Hilltoppers’ first lead of the second half came with 2:01 to play when Shawn Weinstein knocked down 1-of-2 free throws.  St. Ed’s had tied the game the previous possession on a Jeff Obersteller basket.

Following Weinstein’s free throw that gave St. Ed’s a 76-75 lead, the Yellowjackets turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions.  MSU Billings was forced to send the Hilltoppers to the line to stop the clock over the final 1:41, and St. Edward’s converted on 7-of-8 free throws during that span. 

The Yellowjackets’ only points in the final 3:50 of the game came on a Buddy Windy Boy lay-up with 9.9 seconds remaining.  Windy Boy’s lay-in came courtesy of a full-court pass from Samuelson, breaking the Hilltoppers’ press.  The Jackets’ last basket before Windy Boy’s lay-up was a Cameron Munoz 3-pointer with 3:51 to play.

Windy Boy scored a team-high 19 points in his final game as a Yellowjacket.  He was 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range.  Windy Boy finished his career with 305 career 3-pointers at MSU Billings, third all-time in school history.

Wohlers also finished with 19 points for the Jackets.  He was 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line.  Carlin Hughes added 17 points but had eight turnovers to go with his two assists.  Hughes broke the MSU Billings single season assist record with 269.

Munoz scored a dozen points, knocking down three 3-pointers.  The senior finished his MSU Billings career as the second leading scorer in school history with 1,879 points.  During the conference playoffs this week Munoz became the NCAA Division II career leader in made 3-pointers with 451.

“We’ll miss Cameron, Buddy and Moritz,” said Carse.  “They played hard tonight, and I’m just very proud of them.  They did a wonderful job of representing this university during their careers.”

Samuelson finished with six points and three steals for the Yellowjackets.  He also shared team-high assists honors with Jonathan Wiley with three apiece.  Wiley scored four points.

The Hilltoppers were led by Weinstein’s 27 points.  He was 9-of-12 from the field, 4-of-5 from behind the arc, and 5-of-6 from the line.  David Lunn scored 18 points, and Chavon Farmer had nine points and eight assists.

The Yellowjackets shot 52 percent from the field in the game, including 11-of-29 from 3-point range.  They were 10-of-15 from the free throw line.  The Hilltoppers out-rebounded the Jackets 38-28 and out-scoring MSUB 14-9 on second chance points.  SEU shot 46 percent from the field and was 7-of-18 from 3-point range and 18-of-25 from the line.  Six of the Hilltoppers 3-pointers came in the second half.