Shorthanded Jackets Win Road Thriller (2/3/07)
Box Score

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Montana State-Billings survived three shots in the final seconds to hold on for a 68-67 win at Lincoln University Saturday night.  Playing without starting guards Jeff Miner (Gresham, OR) and Eric Cunningham (Phoenix, AZ), who sat out with injuries, the Yellowjackets snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 4-17.  Lincoln fell to 5-14.  The Blue Tigers downed the Jackets by nine on Friday.

“Jonathan Wiley moved to the point tonight and was phenomenal,” said Yellowjacket head coach Craig Carse.  “He hasn’t played the point in a long time, and he did a great job.  All the guys did.  It was our night.  The attitude and effort has not changed.  All of them battled.  It feels good.  These guys are the future of our program; I’m just very proud of these guys.”

In Friday’s loss, the Yellowjackets fell behind early and were unable to recover.  They held the Tigers at bay Saturday, never trailing by more than six in the early going.  Troy Ruff’s (Custer, MT) 3-pointer with 12:38 left in the first half gave MSUB its first lead of the game at 17-15.  The teams traded leads four times over the remainder of the half before the Yellowjackets broke open a 37-31 lead by intermission.

The Yellowjackets led wire-to-wire in the second half, although the final minutes were dicey.  MSUB’s largest lead of the game came on a pair of Wiley (Westlake Village, CA) free throws with 12:59 to play, putting the Jackets ahead 54-43.  The Yellowjackets led by eight with a little over six minutes remaining when the Tigers started their comeback.

A 9-2 run between 5:29 and 1:01 pulled the Tigers to within 66-65.  The Jackets’ only points during that four and a half minute span came on a Tom D’Amore (Tucson, AZ) jumper.  With less than a minute to play, Russell Steplight (Olympia, WA) made his biggest play of the night on a drive to the basket, giving the Yellowjackets a three-point cushion.

With 30 seconds left, the Tigers’ James Edwards again cut the lead to one.  The Tigers immediately fouled, sending Ammar Harknell (Stockholm, Sweden) to the line.  Harknell missed the front end of a 1-and-1, giving the Tigers a last gasp.  It was probably the longest 13 seconds of the Jackets’ season as two offensive rebounds gave Lincoln three cracks at the game winning basket.  All three shots missed the mark, and Steplight finally came down with the ball as time expired.

Wiley finished with 22 points and five assists.  He was 6-of-9 from the field and 9-of-13 from the line for his second-highest scoring night of the season.  Ruff filled the offensive void left by the absence of Miner and Cunningham, scoring a career-high 16 points.  He was 6-of-10 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range. 

Senior Cody Samuelson (Broadus, MT) scored 13 points with nine coming in the second half.  D’Amore added eight points, and Harknell and Steplight each finished with four.  The Jackets shot 40 percent from the floor and were 7-of-18 from behind the arc. 

The Blue Tigers were paced by Marcus Warren’s 18 points and 14 rebounds.  Ralph Mata also posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards.  The Tigers out-rebounded MSUB 49-31 and scored 25 second chance points.  Edwards added 10 points.  The Blue Tigers also shot 40 percent from the field, but were just 3-of-15 from long range.

The Yellowjackets return to conference action with a pair of games in San Antonio next weekend.  They play at St. Mary’s University (11-9, 4-3) on Thursday, February 8, and at University of the Incarnate Word (12-9, 6-2) on Saturday.  The Jackets’ next home game will be a non-conference game against Texas-Permian Basin on February 17.