BYU Battles Back to Defeat UNM 68-62
PROVO -- BYU came out on top over New Mexico 68-62 at the Marriott Center Saturday afternoon in a seesaw battle that saw the Cougars repeatedly battle back from behind to win their 33rd straight home game. The last team to beat BYU at home was the Lobos, who did so almost two years ago to the day when New Mexico won 78-74 on Feb. 17, 2000
Down 51-39 with 13 minutes remaining in the game, BYU went on a tear outscoring the Lobos 29-11 to come away with the victory. Before today's victory, BYU had never come back to win a game when trailing with five minutes left (0-6 for the season before today). New Mexico led 57-53 with five minutes remaining today.
"This game said something about the character of the team," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. "I told our players after the game that this may be the most gratifying win of the season."
"We knew they would make a run on us and they did," said New Mexico head coach Fran Fraschilla. "It's a game where we knew we wouldn't be able to blow them out."
Cougar Travis Hansen led the comeback, scoring 14 in the second half to finish with a game-high 20 points. This is his sixth 20-point game this season but it is the first time he has scored 20 or more points since the Utah game Jan. 28 in Salt Lake. Hansen also spurred his teammates on with four assists, one shy of his career high of five that he set last year against UNLV.
Mark Bigelow also came around in the second half as he scored 10 points in the last period. He finished with 14 points, marking his fifth consecutive game in double figures.
"I was really pleased with the way Travis and Mark made big baskets toward the end. We played really, really intelligent ball in the last minutes of the game," Cleveland said.
In contrast to Hansen and Bigelow, Eric Nielsen led all scorers at the half with 10 points but didn't score at all in the second and only took one shot. The Cougars as a team shot 49 percent from the field but only 20 percent from three-point range for the game.
Matt Montague led all players with eight assists as he continues to be a national leader in assists per game (apg). He averages 7. 5 apg which is good for third nationally.
Cougar center Dan Howard again provided solid play off the bench, scoring three points and grabbing two rebounds in 12 minutes of play. Against SDSU, Howard had eight points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes, making this back-to-back performance the most impressive of his career.
The outcome of the game was never clear as each team scored in spurts. Down 7-4, BYU went on a 10-3 run to go up 14-10 with 12:27 left in the first half. New Mexico then went on an 11-4 run to make the score 21-18 at the 6:31 mark of the first half. Another Cougar run, 7-4, brought them into the lead, 25-24, before the teams ultimately ended the half in a tie, 34-34.
New Mexico started the second half with a 17-5 run of their own to make the score 51-39 with 13 minutes left in the game. From there, BYU battled back with their impressive run of 29-11 to defeat the Lobos for the fifth time in six meetings. The win gives the Cougars a split with New Mexico for the season as BYU lost 73-58 down at The Pit in Albuquerque Jan. 19.
The Cougars host the Air Force Academy Monday at 8:30 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The game will be broadcast by SportsWest on a tape-delay aired on KUWB starting at 9 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICSNew Mexico vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
02/16/02 1:05 at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: New Mexico 14-9, 4-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 DENNEHY, Patrick.... f 6-12 0-1 4-7 1 7 8 3 16 1 1 2 0 35
55 DIAGNE, Moustapha... c 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 13
03 CAREY, Senque....... g 2-7 1-4 1-2 0 4 4 1 6 3 3 0 2 36
05 DOUGLAS, Ruben...... g 4-11 1-5 3-3 0 2 2 5 12 2 4 0 0 32
42 CHATFIELD, Eric..... g 3-10 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 2 7 5 3 0 0 38
01 BELL, Chad.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 6
10 LIGHTFOOT, Tim...... 3-5 2-3 0-0 1 2 3 0 8 0 3 0 0 15
12 ASHCRAFT, Ryan...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
40 PAYNE, Cody......... 5-7 0-1 1-3 4 4 8 3 11 0 3 0 0 25
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 24-53 5-17 9-15 8 24 32 19 62 11 17 3 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-27 48.1% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 45.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 29.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 60.0% 4
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 15-8, 5-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f 5-10 0-4 4-6 0 1 1 2 14 2 1 0 1 33
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 4-8 1-1 1-1 0 5 5 4 10 1 0 1 0 38
52 JENSEN, Jared....... c 2-4 0-0 3-4 0 2 2 0 7 0 0 1 0 17
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g 7-13 0-1 6-6 0 5 5 1 20 4 2 1 1 35
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g 1-5 1-3 2-2 0 1 1 0 5 8 3 0 1 39
20 BOBIK, Daniel....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 8
22 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 6
32 JEPSEN, Bart........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 4
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 1-1 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 12
42 CARLISLE, Jon....... 2-4 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 2 5 0 2 1 1 8
TEAM................ 5 5
Totals.............. 24-49 2-10 18-23 2 23 25 15 68 16 9 4 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-26 53.8% 2nd Half: 10-23 43.5% Game: 49.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 0-4 0.0% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 14-18 77.8% Game: 78.3% 4
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Officials: Lonnie Dixon, Randy McCall, Eddie Jackson
Technical fouls: New Mexico-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 7103
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
New Mexico.................... 34 28 - 62
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars......... 34 34 - 68
Points in the paint-NM 26,BY 34. Points off turnovers-NM 7,BY 23.
2nd chance points-NM 11,BY 2. Fast break points-NM 2,BY 6.
Bench points-NM 19,BY 12. Score tied-9 times. Lead changes-9 times.
