Posted on: Sunday, March 14, 2004
BYUH ousted from D-II hoops regional
Advertiser Staff
A day after recording one of its biggest postseason wins, the Brigham Young-Hawai'i men's basketball team lost its shooting touch in a 71-61 loss to Humboldt State (Calif.) in the NCAA Division II West Regional semifinals yesterday at San Bernardino, Calif.
The 25th-ranked Seasiders (23-6) led by as many as nine points in the first half, but could not hold the lead against the ninth-ranked Lumberjacks (26-5).
The No. 2 seed Seasiders shot just 5 percent from 3-point territory (1 of 20) and 40 percent from the field (24 of 60). Entering the tournament, BYUH, the Pacific West Conference champions, led the nation in field-goal accuracy at 53 percent.
"The shots looked good," said BYUH's Ken Wagner, the PacWest Coach of the Year. "Sometimes I guess they just don't fall."
BYUH's Jake Chrisman scored a game-high 34 points and Shawn Opunui added 11 points. Humboldt State's Austin Nichols scored 17 points and Fred Hooks scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
On Friday, BYUH won its first NCAA Tournament game in school history, rallying to defeat Alaska-Anchorage, 67-61.
Yesterday, the Seasiders nearly pulled off another comeback by cutting a 13-point, second-half deficit to 57-52, but that's as close as they would get.
"I thought we would go on a little run and catch them," Wagner said. "But we never did."
Third-seeded Humboldt State, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion, will play fifth-seeded Alaska-Fairbanks tomorrow for the regional title. Fairbanks upset top-seeded Cal State San Bernardino, 82-78, last night.
"That's a very nice team we beat out there," Humboldt State coach Tom Wood told the NCAA Web site. "We're very proud of that. We like the idea of pressing and playing into our athleticism."
Humboldt State started the second half with an 11-2 run for a 48-37 lead. During the surge, the Lumberjacks sank three 3-pointers, including two by Mark White.
BYUH closed to 57-52 on C.J. Fellars' basket, but Humboldt State went on a 10-0 run to grab its largest lead of the game at 67-52.
"I think the thing that really hurt us was (12) turnovers," Wagner said. "We felt we had to come out strong (in the second half) and I think we did."
Chrisman scored eight of BYUH's first 11 points and the Seasiders had leads of 11-2 and 13-4 in the first half.
Humboldt State rallied to take a 24-21 lead on White's 3-pointer, and increased its lead to 37-29 on Austin Nichols' 3-pointer. BYUH finished the half with a 6-0 run and trailed 37-35 at intermission.
Earlier this season, BYUH upset then-No. 1-ranked Humboldt State, 108-97, in La'ie.
BYUH finished the season with its first 20-win season since attaining NCAA Division II status in 1998-99. Next season, the Seasiders will return four of five starters and will vie for their fourth consecutive PacWest title.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.
