Jackets Drop Conference Road Game (2/2/07)
Box Score

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – The Montana State-Billings men’s basketball team dropped its third-straight conference game Friday night, falling to Lincoln University 80-71.  The Yellowjackets fell to 3-17 overall and 3-5 in the Heartland Conference.  Lincoln pulled away from a halftime tie to pick up its second-straight conference win to improve to 2-5 in the league.  The Blue Tigers are 5-13 overall.

“In the second half we weren’t able to put things together,” said Yellowjacket head coach Craig Carse.  “We weren’t quite as smooth execution-wise tonight as we have been.  Lincoln is vastly improved.  They did a wonderful job.”

The Yellowjackets downed the Blue Tigers 95-84 just two weeks ago in Billings.  Friday’s game was played at a different tempo, although the Yellowjackets still held the lead for large portions of the game.  A 3-pointer from Jeff Miner (Gresham, OR) with 12:24 to play in the first half gave MSUB a 14-5 lead.

The Blue Tigers outscored the Jackets 8-2 in a span of about four and a half minutes to close the gap late in the first half.  After Lincoln took a late lead just before halftime, Troy Ruff (Custer, MT) scored in the final seconds to tie the game 37-37 at the break.

MSUB took the initiative to start the second half, building its lead to as many as eight.  A Miner 3-pointer with 16:16 to play gave the Jackets a 50-42 advantage.  Lincoln slowly chipped away at the lead as the Yellowjacket offense went cold.  A traditional 3-point play by James Edwards finally tied the game at 58-58 with exactly eight minutes remaining.  That was part of a 14-0 Blue Tigers run that put Lincoln ahead 69-58 with just four and a half minutes left.  A scoreless spell of almost five minutes doomed the Jackets’ chances down the stretch.

“I’m proud of our kids and the way they battled,” Carse said.  “We’re just not doing the things we need to do right now.  We have seven games to go, and we want to finish strong.  Our purpose all along has been to be the best we can be.  We’re in some growing stages, there’s not doubt about that.  But these young kids are getting some valuable experience.”

Miner led the Yellowjackets with 17 points, hitting 4-of-14 from 3-point range.  As a team the Yellowjackets were 11-of-36 from behind the arc.  Jonathan Wiley (Westlake Village, CA) added 13 points, hitting 4-of-8 from the field.  He also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.  Cody Samuelson (Broadus, MT) finished with a dozen points with 10 coming in the first half.  Tom D’Amore (Tucson, AZ) and Ammar Harknell (Stockholm, Sweden) each chipped in with nine points.

The Blue Tigers were paced by 22 points from Edwards, who was 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc.  Marcus Warren finished with 14 points, Brandon Harris had 13, and Ralph Mata and Jordan Rush each netted 11.  Lincoln out-rebounded the Yellowjackets 47-31 and scored 22 points off 18 MSUB turnovers.

The Yellowjackets and Blue Tigers will meet again on Saturday in a non-conference game in Jefferson City.  The game will be broadcast live on AM 970 KBUL in Billings and on the internet at www.msubillings.edu/athletics. Tip off is scheduled for approximately 6:30 p.m. MST following the women’s game.