Munoz’s Nine Threes Lead Yellowjackets over Vulcans (February 15, 2003)

BILLINGS, MT – Even though his college career is only 20 games old, Cameron Munoz has found his favorite opponent.  The freshman shooting guard buried nine three-pointers for 29 points Saturday night to lead the MSU Billings Yellowjackets over the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans 93-78. 

Munoz’s offensive outburst wasn’t his biggest of the season, but it was sufficient to improve the Jackets to 14-6 overall and 7-4 in the PacWest.  UH-Hilo fell to 15-7, 7-3.  Munoz lit up the Vulcans for ten threes and 39 points in Hilo on January 6.  He followed that with six triples the next night against the Vulcans.  In the three games against UH-Hilo this year, Munoz made 25 three-pointers.

The first half couldn’t have been tighter with 12 ties and 23 lead changes.  After Skip Esene’s put-back gave Hilo a 25-24 lead, Munoz hit his second three-pointer of the game to start a 7-0 Yellowjacket run.  A basket by Kyle Stirmlinger and a pair of free throws from Dan Thompson gave the Yellowjackets their largest lead of the half at 31-25 with 7:31 remaining.

The Vulcans answered quickly with two baskets by Ryan Abrahams and a Derek Mgbeke score on the break to tie the game at 31 with 6:30 remaining.  Abrahams had 16 first-half points and 22 in the game.  Bartholomew finished with 17.

UH-Hilo was then able to build its largest lead of the half after Kyle Bartholomew connected on two free throws with 26 seconds remaining.  The Yellowjackets played for the final shot of the half and Thompson’s arcing three-pointer from the left wing found nothing but net as time expired to tie the game at 44.

Munoz took over the second half from the Yellowjackets’ second possession.  After the Vulcans built a quick four-point lead on baskets by Bartholomew and Abrahams, Justin Hassell found Munoz open for his first three of the half at 19:12.  He followed that with threes on the next two possessions to give MSUB a 53-50 lead at the 18:18 mark.

The Yellowjackets extended that lead to 11 when Stirmlinger kicked the ball out from the post to Willy Davison for a three pointer of his own.  MSUB made 15 from behind the arc in the game.  The Yellowjackets’ momentum peaked when Munoz stole the ball from Esene, passed to Davison and then trailed the break for his ninth three of the game.  That gave MSUB a 76-62 lead.  The Vulcans were able to trim the lead below double-digits twice, but couldn’t make a serious run.

Thompson and Stirmlinger each finished with 18 points.  Thompson was 4-of-9 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the line.  Justin Hassell notched his second double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds.  His other double-double also came at Hawaii-Hilo in January.  Davison also notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists.  It was the third time in the last eight games that he has handed out at least ten assists.  He is now third in the PacWest at 5.42 assists per game.

The Yellowjackets will take their eight-game winning streak on the road next week when they play at Western New Mexico on February 20 and 22.  They will then have their chance to make a run at the PacWest title with games at first-place BYU-Hawaii on February 25 and 27 and at Hawaii Pacific on March 1.  Their final home stand will be March 7 and 8 when they host Nova Southeastern from Florida.