Shorthanded Jackets Fall at Home to No. 17 BYU-Hawaii (Feb. 12, 2004)
Box Score
BILLINGS, MT – Despite a career-high 31
points from senior Jerett Skrifvars, Montana State-Billings lost
at home for the first time in over a year on Thursday, 93-82 to 17th-ranked
BYU-Hawaii. The Yellowjackets entered the game with a 23-game
home winning streak—the fourth-longest current streak in the
nation—with their last home loss coming against Hawaii Pacific on
January 14 of last year.
Sophomore guard Cameron Munoz missed the game
with an injury sustained in the waning seconds of Tuesday’s win
over the Seasiders. Munoz currently leads the conference and the
nation in 3-point shooting and is averaging 20.3 points per game.
Skrifvars and the Seasiders’ Jake Chrisman
each carried their respective teams on their shoulders for much of
the night. Chrisman scored a career-high 42 points and pulled
down 12 rebounds. He scored 80 points in the two games in
Billings this week. Skrifvars scored ten of his points in the
final 5:07, keeping the Yellowjackets in the game until the final
minute.
BYU-Hawaii led by as many as seven in the
first half and didn’t trail until a Dave Carse 3-pointer gave the
Yellowjackets their first lead of the game at the 12:33 mark. A
Chrisman jumper on the next possession tied the game at 17-17,
starting a 19-7 Seasiders run. Chrisman’s 3-pointer with 5:08
left in the half gave BYUH a 34-24 advantage.
Sparked by a Buddy Windy Boy steal and fast
break dunk, the Yellowjackets finished the final 1:31 of the first
half with a 7-2 run to cut the Seasiders’ lead to 43-39 at the
break. Skrifvars scored five of the Jackets’ seven points during
that stretch.
After a Michael Stowell layup gave the
Seasiders a six point lead to open the second half, the
Yellowjackets ran off nine unanswered points to take a 48-45 lead
with 17:06 to play. Junior forward Trae Fortier scored all nine
of those points and finished the game with 15 points before
fouling out.
The teams traded leads over the next four
minutes before a 12-1 BYU-Hawaii run gave the Seasiders a
double-digit lead with 8:29 to play. The Seasiders extended the
lead to as many as 13 points by the five minute mark. Skrifvars
helped trim the lead to six on two occasions in the final five
minutes, but the Jackets could get no closer.
Along with Skrifvars and Fortier, Windy Boy
and Carse also scored in double figures with 15 and 11 points
respectively. The Seasiders got 15 points and 12 rebounds from
Austin Smylie and 19 points from Stowell.
The Seasiders improved to 8-2 in the PacWest
and 18-4 overall. Ranked No. 2 in the West Region, BYU-Hawaii’s
magic number for clinching at least a share of its second-straight
PacWest title is now two games. The Yellowjackets, who are still
in second place in the conference, fell to 5-5 in the PacWest and
14-7 overall. MSUB is ranked No. 9 in the West Region this week.
The top eight teams qualify for the tournament.
The Yellowjackets host Hawaii Pacific on
Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The Sea Warriors split two games at Western
New Mexico this week and bring an 8-14 overall record and 5-6
PacWest mark to Billings.
Click HERE for photos to the Yellowjacket vs. Brigham
Young University Hawaii |
