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Saturday, March 4, 2000
Evans lifts BYU-Hawaii
By Tim Booth
into PacWest title contest
Special to the Star-BulletinELLENSBURG, Wash. -- Nicholson Pavilion is a place where the home team very rarely loses. In the last two-plus seasons, Central Washington has gone 27-2 at home, one of the best marks in the nation.
Make that 27-3.
Led by a game-high 32 points from David Evans and the 19 off the bench by Brian Skinner, the Brigham Young University at Hawaii Seasiders stunned Central Washington, 95-88, last night in the PacWest Conference semifinals on the Wildcats' home court.
"This is really hard to swallow," Central head coach Greg Sparling said. "We had a really bad case of overlooking somebody."
The victory puts BYUH into this tonight's (5 p.m. HST) PacWest championship game against top-seeded Seattle Pacific. The Seasiders are all but assured of a spot in next week's NCAA Division II West Regional; the top six teams from the region are invited and the Seasiders are rated No. 4.
"I felt like before tonight we were probably in," BYUH head coach Ken Wagner said. "I feel like we've earned it."
Central Washington had ample opportunity to put its road-weary opponents away early on.
After falling behind 19-17, the Wildcats went on a 13-0 run to take a 11-point lead. The margin was still 11 with five minutes left in the first half, but the Seasiders pulled to within five at halftime, 48-43.
"We felt like we had to play better defense after the half," Wagner said. "We knew that if we could hang around long enough we'd have a chance."
In the first half, Evans and Thomas Joyce kept the Seasiders in the game, scoring 16 and 11 points, respectively. In the second half, it was the play of Skinner which turned out to be the difference.
"They stepped up and made the big plays," Sparling said.
Skinner scored 12 of his 19 points after the break, hitting two critical 3-pointers. The second trey put BYUH up for good at 82-80.
BYUH over Central Washington 95-88
BYU-HAWAII
Kahi Villa 1-1 2-2 4, Brad Barton 1-3 0-0 2, Thomas Joyce 4-12 8-8 18, David Evans 10-18 11-13 32, Isaac Turley 3-3 0-2 6, Nathan Fripp 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer Lynn 0-0 0-0 0, Dean Daley 0-0 0-0 0, Brian Skinner 6-10 4-4 19, Jeff Isom 1-1 0-0 2, Jason Stilson 3-5 4-6 11, Robert Baldwin 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 29-54 30-37 95.
CENTRAL WASHINGTON
Corby Schuh 6-17 0-0 18, Carson Payne 13-18 3-3 30, Reggie Ball 3-13 0-0 6, Marty DeLange 4-5 0-0 8, Brandon Rinta 4-5 0-0 9, Justin Bursch 0-1 0-0 0, Damian Chapman 1-6 1-2 4, David Stone 1-3 2-4 4, Bryan Streleski 1-2 2-2 4, Jason Littleton 2-5 1-1 5. Totals 35-75 9-12 88.Halftime: Central Washington 48, BYU-Hawaii 43.
3-point goals-BYUH 7 (Skinner 3, Joyce 2, Evans, Stilson); CW 9 (Schuh 6). Rebounds-BYUH 34 (Evans, Joyce 6); CW 37 (Payne 7, Littleton 6). Assists-BYUH 19 (Barton 9); CW 20 (Ball 9). Personal fouls-BYUH 16; CW 23.
BYU-Hawaii
