Poor Second Half Shooting Dooms Yellowjackets in 71-52 Loss to Saint Martin’s

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BILLINGS, Mont. – Frigid second half shooting doomed the Montana State Billings men’s basketball team Saturday evening in a 71-52 loss to Saint Martin’s on Hall of Fame Weekend.  With the loss, MSUB falls to 9-14 on the year and 4-8 in conference play.  SMU improves to 20-7 and 8-5 in conference play.  It was MSUB’s fifth consecutive defeat.

Derrick Wright led all scorers with 18 points as he was 8 of 15 from the field.  Michael Hall had 13 points and Travis Bunker had a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.  SMU had three players in double figures led by 16 points from Bill Richardson and Blake Poole.  Jake Linton chipped in 12 points.

For the game, MSUB shot 35.7 percent on 20 of 56 from the field.  The Jackets were 4 of 17 from downtown and 8 of 16 from the line. In the second half, MSUB was just 6 of 27 from the field for 22.2 percent and 6 of 13 from the line for 46.2 percent.

SMU shot 56 percent in the second half and 50 percent for the game on 27 of 54 from the field.  The Saints were 6 of 17 from deep and 11 of 17 from the line.  SMU scored 30 points in the paint to MSUB’s 24 as the specialty stats were pretty even.  

Through the first 10 minutes, both teams traded buckets as SMU held a 16-12 lead.  The Yellowjackets shot 50 percent to open the game on 6 of 12 from the field, while SMU was 7 of 18 for 39 percent.  The Saints missed a lot of easy buckets inside early on.  Derrick Wright had six early points for the Yellowjackets, while Bill Richardson had the same for the Saints.

A hoop and harm foul on Jake Linton pushed the Saints’ lead to 20-14 with 8:23 left, however Brett Taylor knocked down MSUB’s first triple of the game on the ensuing possession.  Travis Bunker buried a 3-pointer moments later pulling the Yellowjackets to within 23-20 with under eight minutes left in the first half.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Michael Hall and Kyle Palmer bailed the Yellowjackets out of trouble as the shot clock was winding down to one second on each possession.  However, 3-pointers at the other end by Saint Martin’s kept the Saints’ lead at five points, 31-26, with four minutes left in the half.

Two free throws by Hall pulled MSUB within 31-30 with 2:25 left.  After a turnover by SMU, Wright put the Yellowjackets up 32-32 for the first time since the opening two minutes of the game. 
SMU held a 36-34 lead at intermission.

At halftime, MSUB introduced its 2009 Class to the MSUB Hilton Garden Inn Hall of Fame and Distinction.  The 20th annual class included Greg Anderson (Gymnastics, ’86), Michael Conroy (Coach of the Year, ’68), Gina Langer (Volleyball, ’00), Roy McPipe (’74) and the 1998-1999 Elite Eight women’s basketball team all were inducted into the Hall of Fame last night at the Hilton Garden Inn in Billings.

For the half, the Yellowjackets were led by 13 points from Hall and 10 points from Wright as the team shot 48 percent on 14 of 29 from the floor.  The ‘Jackets were 4 of 10 from deep an 2 of 3 from the line.

Bill Richardson led the way for the Saints in the first half with 11 points on 5 of 9 from the field.  The Saints shot 44 percent in the half on 13 of 29.  SMU was 3 of 9 from deep and 7 of 10 from the line.  Both teams had 17 rebounds in the opening stanza.

SMU equaled its largest lead at 47-41 with 14:09 left, courtesy of a 3-pointer by Jake Linton. Out of a timeout by MSUB, Wright got a nice put back in the lane, but Justin Alexander answered at the other end with a triple for a 50-43 lead. 

Two charity misses by Palmer off a nice drive to the bucket kept the Yellowjackets from cutting into the deficit.  MSUB opened the half shooting just 1 of 7 from the line with 11:53 left.  An emphatic dunk by Jeremy Green pushed the SMU lead to 52-43 moments later.

The Saints kept the lead between 8-12 points much of the next eight minutes as MSUB continued to fight, but the visitors had the answer each time the Jackets tried to get something going. 

The Saints used a 13-2 run to close the game over the final 5:25 and pull away from what was a 8-10 point game for much of the second half.

The Yellowjackets host Seattle Pacific and Western Washington in the final two home games of the season next week at Alterowitz Gymnasium.