Long Ball Lifts Jackets over Hawaii-Hilo for Second Straight (Jan. 22, 2004)
Box Score

BILLINGS, MT – Thirteen first half 3-pointers delivered an early knockout punch Thursday night, helping Montana State-Billings defeat Hawaii-Hilo, 100-79, in PacWest Conference play.  The Yellowjackets improved to 3-2 in the conference and 11-4 overall.  The Vulcans lost their third straight PacWest game to fall to 3-3 in league play and 11-5 overall.

Buddy Windy Boy matched his career high with 21 points, hitting a career-best six 3-pointers in the game.  Five of Windy Boy’s threes came in the first half as the Yellowjackets ran to a 56-32 lead.  MSU Billings made 13-of-20 from beyond the arc in the opening stanza, one of the Jackets’ top shooting halves of the past couple years.

After a physical slugfest Tuesday night which the Yellowjackets won by ten, Thursday night’s game began as a track meet for which the Vulcans were unprepared.  Windy Boy, Cameron Munoz and Trae Fortier each hit 3-pointers in the first five minutes, giving MSU Billings an 11-6 lead at the first media timeout.  After UH-Hilo’s Ryan Hogue hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 11-8 at the 13:28 mark, the nets caught fire on the Yellowjackets’ end of the floor.

Between 12:55 and 10:30, the Yellowjackets made five 3-pointers.  Munoz started the string, and Dave Carse finished it, but Windy Boy filled the middle with three triples in a span of a minute and a half.  Carse’s 3-pointer at 10:30 gave MSU Billings a 26-11 lead. 

Two Bill Day dunks punctuated a 19-2 run which ballooned the Yellowjackets’ lead to 27 with 4:17 to play in the half.  Windy Boy, Carse and Munoz all connected from behind the arc during the stretch that knocked the Vulcans out of the game.

The Yellowjackets came out cold to start the second half, not scoring until a Munoz 3-pointer at the 18:15 mark.  Still, they were able to keep the lead over 20 points until a 9-0 Vulcans run cut the margin to 66-49 with just under fourteen minutes to play.  Each team was able to put together short scoring spurts the remainder of the way, but UH-Hilo never got closer than 14 points.

Munoz finished the game with five 3-pointers and 19 points.  He leads the nation in 3-point shooting, averaging 4.60 threes a game.  Carse added 18 points with four 3-pointers and also handed out a game-high six assists.  Jerett Skrifvars was 7-of-10 from the field for 20 points.  He needs just eleven more points to reach 1,000 for his career.  Trae Fortier chipped in 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds despite getting into early foul trouble. 

The Vulcans were led by 16 points from Joe Travis.  Ryan Abrahams added 15 points before he was ejected in the final two minutes for a flagrant technical foul.  The Vulcans had outscored the Yellowjackets at the free throw line until UH-Hilo racked up three technical fouls in a row.

The Yellowjackets host Chaminade Saturday night to wrap up their first week of PacWest home games.  The Silverswords have won three straight, including a pair of conference wins at Western New Mexico.