Cardinals Fly Past Yellowjackets (1/27/07)
Box Score
Game Photos

BILLINGS, MT – All five starters scored in double figures for Incarnate Word Saturday night, leading the Cardinals to an 82-62 Heartland Conference win against Montana State-Billings at Alterowitz Gym.  Incarnate Word moved above the .500 mark on the season to 10-9 overall and 5-2 in the Heartland Conference.  The Jackets dropped their second-straight home game to fall to 3-15, 3-4.

The lead changed hands five times in the first 11 minutes before the Cardinals used a 13-0 run to break the game open.  After Tom D’Amore (Tucson, AZ) pulled MSUB to within two on a 3-pointer with 8:54 to play in the first half, the Yellowjackets went on a scoreless stretch of almost four minutes. 

Paul Connolly capped the Cards’ run with a lay-up with 5:52 left in the half for a 41-26 lead.  The Yellowjackets never got closer than 10 the rest of the way and trailed by as many as 22 in the second half.

“Tonight they played much better than us,” said Yellowjacket head coach Craig Carse of the Cardinals.  “They were a better basketball team.  They shot the ball well and penetrated well.  Our kids played extremely hard, but we ran into a better basketball team.  We have some young kids that have potential, but we have to get the experience.”

The inside-outside combo of Connolly and Jason Gant was too much for the Yellowjacket defense.  Connolly finished with 20 points, a dozen coming in the second half.  He hit 7-of-10 of his shots from the field.  Gant narrowly missed a 20-20 night, dropping in 22 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.  He was an efficient 7-of-8 from the field and 8-of-9 from the line.  UIW outscored the Yellowjackets 42-14 in the paint.

Just six players scored in the game for the Cardinals.  Antario Williams netted 11 points to go with seven rebounds.  Pierce Caldwell and Mikyl Bradshaw each scored 10.  Chris Smith accounted for all nine of the Cardinals’ bench points.

Jonathan Wiley (Westlake Village, CA) led the Yellowjackets with 17 points and eight rebounds.  He was 5-of-11 from the floor and connected on all seven of his free throw attempts.  Russell Steplight (Olympia, WA) came off the bench to score 10 points in just 16 minutes of action.  He was 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc.  Eric Cunningham (Phoenix, AZ) and D’Amore finished with nine and eight points respectively.

The Jackets and Cardinals will meet again Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. at Alterowitz Gym.  The non-conference game will be the Yellowjackets’ last home game until February 17.