Springfield, MA—The Brigham Young
University Hawaii men’s basketball team out-ran and out-shot the
nation’s number one team tonight as they defeated West Liberty 110-101
in the NCAA II national semifinals to advance to the national
championship game for the first time in school history. The Seasiders,
now 22-8 for the season, will play second-ranked Bellarmine (KY) (32-2)
on Saturday at 1:00 pm EDT on CBS television for the NCAA II title.
Junior Jet Chang torched the
Hilltoppers for 43 points as he put on an incredible display of
shooting. Chang, who scored 26 points in the first half to spark the
Seasiders to a 58-47 lead at the break, hit 14-17 from the field
including 7-9 from three-point range and hit 8-9 from the free throw
line. As a team the Seasiders shot 56.3 percent from the field for the
game and 41.4 percent from beyond the arc. However, in the second half
the Seasiders shot a sizzling 60.7 percent from the field (17-28) and
54.5 percent (6-11) from long range. BYU-Hawaii also committed just 14
turnovers in the game against the full-court press of the Hilltoppers
compared to 16 for West Liberty. West Liberty had entered the game
leading the nation in turnover margin with a +9.2 margin but the
Seasiders took care of the ball throughout the game.
The Seasiders took an early lead to
open the game but West Liberty came back to take a 16-15 lead with
nearly seven minutes played in the first half. The Seasiders regained
the lead but led just 26-24 at the ten minute mark before going on a
15-2 run over the next five minutes to lead 41-26. The lead grew to 17
at 47-30 before the Hilltoppers came back again as the Seasiders settled
for the 11-point halftime margin.
The Hilltoppers, who finish the
season 33-1, hit seven of their first eight shots of the second half and
11 of their first 13 to take a one-point, 73-72 lead at the 12:43 mark
of the first half, but Jake Dastrup scored eight points and Marques
Whippy six in a 15-4 BYU-Hawaii run that put the Seasiders back on top
87-77. Once again West Liberty came back and tied the game 97-97 with
just 2:40 to play in the game. The Hilltoppers had a chance to take the
lead after a steal but Heath Gameren hustled back defensively for the
Seasiders to contest a layup by Hilltopper All-American Corey Pelle.
Pelle missed the shot and Gary Satterwhite grabbed the rebound for the
Seasiders. Whippy then scored on a layup and, after a missed
three-pointer by the Hilltoppers, snatched a rebound and passed the ball
ahead to Chang for another layup to give the Seasiders a 101-97 lead
with 1:33 to play. BYU-Hawaii then hit nine of ten free throws down the
stretch, including 7-8 by Satterwhite to seal the win.
In addition to Chang’s 43 points, he
handed out a team-high three assists. Whippy notched another
double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds while Dastrup finished with
18 points. Satterwhite, who netted a career-high 12 points in last
night’s win over Bloomfield, bettered that with a new career-best 14
points that included 10-12 from the free throw line. Gameren added ten
points for the Seasiders.
Chang’s 43 points shattered the
BYU-Hawaii record for points scored in an NCAA II tournament game. The
previous high was 34 by Jake Chrisman on March 13, 2004 against Humboldt
State in a West Regional game. Chang’s total also ties the second-best
single game mark for any game in BYU-Hawaii history. Wayne Keys also
scored 43 points against Central State on December 17, 1988. The
all-time BYU-Hawaii record for points in a game is 48 by David Evans
against Montana State-Billings on January 15, 2000. Chang also just
missed the modern Pacific West Conference record of 44 points scored by
William Overton, Jr. of Academy of Art this past December.
BYU-Hawaii Head Coach Ken Wagner
said, “Jet was absolutely fantastic.” He also praised all the Seasider
backcourt. “I thought if we could keep the turnovers down we would have
a good chance against West Liberty. Our guards did a great job of
handling the ball tonight.”
Wagner says he is delighted to be
playing for the national championship on Saturday. “It’s really a great
feeling,” he said. “I am really proud of our team. They have come
together at the right time and are playing really great basketball.”
Box Score
3/24/11