Three-point Shooting Lifts Cougars Past EA Sports In Final Exhibition Game

PROVO -- Led by junior Todd Christensen, the BYU men's basketball team defeated EA Sports 87-59 in its last exhibition game of the season.

Christensen led the Cougars with 20 points and was five-of-six from three-point range. He finished the night shooting over 87 percent (seven for eight) off the bench for the Cougars. The Cougars finished the night shooting 17 three-pointers and hitting nearly 65 percent.

"They sagged and packed it in tonight and that's why you saw as many threes as you saw tonight," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "I don't want to take 20 threes a game. I'd like to take 10 or 12 threes, but when they give them to you, you take them."

Juniors Nathan Cooper and Terrell Lyday as well as sophomore Michael Vranes each added two three-pointers to Christensen's outpouring to give the Cougars the perimeter strength they needed to win the game.

The Cougars shot 60 percent from the floor and held EA Sports to under 43 percent shooting while outrebounding EA Sports 35-27. Despite the good rebounding effort, Cleveland is worried that his small team will have problems with rebounding throughout the regular season, which starts Saturday when the Cougars host UC-Riverside at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center.

"That's (rebounding) going to be my concern for the entire season. No question," Cleveland said. "That's going to be an issue at times, but we'll get better at it. It's the number one thing."

The Cougars defeated the Nunawading Spectres from Australia 93-47 in their other exhibition game on Nov. 10.