Hot Shooting Lifts Cougars over Lobos

PROVO -- Shooting over 50 percent from the field and over 80 percent from three-point range, the BYU men's basketball team beat the New Mexico Lobos 83-66 on Saturday in the Marriott Center. BYU improved its Mountain West Conference record to 4-1 (15-5 overall), while New Mexico fell to 3-3 in conference play (16-5 overall).

"We did a really good job of taking good shots and sharing the ball," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "Our players hit their shots and executed our defensive game plan early, which was good. Our concentration and execution was excellent today."

Four of BYU's starters reached double figures in the game -- Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari, Trent Plaisted and Sam Burgess. This happened for the eight time this season for the Cougars. Cummard finished with a game-high 20 points, and Tavernari was not far behind with 19.

Tavernari and Cummard split the spotlight as each scored double figures in one of the two halves against the Lobos. Tavernari had a season high in first-half points with 16, while Cummard tied his season high in second-half points with 13.

On BYU's first possession of the game, Tavernari hit a short baseline jumper which proved to be the first of a very productive half for the sophomore forward. Tavernari continued his success as he went on to hit his first five shots from the field.

Things were going the Cougars' way from early on as they started the game on a 10-5 run in the first 4:17 of the game. This early run was capped off with Burgess completing a three-point play after he connected on a reverse lay-up and was fouled.

At the 12:46 mark, New Mexico called a 30-second timeout in hopes of slowing the game down after Tavernari hit a three-pointer, which extended the Cougar lead to 20-9. With just under 10 minutes into the game, BYU was a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc.

BYU not only excelled on the offensive end early in the game, but the Cougars also held the Lobos to just 24 percent shooting up to the 7:57 point of the first half, allowing BYU to extend its lead to 27-13.

The Cougars found themselves on the positive end of a 16-13 run over a length of 8:41 as BYU was up 36-22 with 4:05 left in the half. Another impressive BYU first-half performance came from Plaisted, who was one shy of recording double-digit rebounds in the first stanza.

At the break, BYU went into the locker room up by 20, 44-24. This was on 51 percent shooting from the field and 72 percent from the three-point line.

The Cougars' hot shooting continued in the second half as they were up 59-34 with 14:44 left in the game -- a run of 15-10 for BYU. This came off of sharp shooting from Cummard, who scored eight quick second-half points to improve his total to 15 points on the game to that point.

Plaisted had a dunk with 11:30 left in the game that ignited the season-high crowd of 19,932 as the Cougars went ahead 69-38. Then shortly after that BYU widened its lead to the largest of the game at 34 points as Plaisted hit two free throws to make the score 79-45.

BYU cruised from there to the game's final score of 83-66. The Cougars tied their season high with 13 three-pointers made. The previous season-high three-point percentage was 59 percent, and the 81 percent game total for the Cougars was the sixth-highest in BYU history.

A couple other notable performances for BYU came from Plaisted and Jimmer Fredette. Plaisted recorded his sixth double-double of the season against the Lobos as he had 13 rebounds to go along with his 13 points, while Fredette finished with a career-high six assists.

The BYU men's basketball team will next be in action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. as the Cougars travel to take on the Air Force Academy (11-7, 3-2 MWC).

CLICK HERE for postgame notes and quotes.

Official Basketball Box Score
New Mexico vs BYU Cougars
01/26/08 4:05 p.m. at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: New Mexico 16-5, 3-3 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
30 MARTINEZ, Roman..... f  1-4    1-2    2-4    0  2  2   2   5  1  0  0  1  20
53 FARIS, Daniel....... f  5-8    0-0    2-2    3  5  8   4  12  0  2  0  0  22
05 GARY, Dairese....... g  6-13   1-1    4-4    2  3  5   1  17  1  0  0  3  31
15 GIDDENS, J.R........ g  2-8    0-1    0-1    0  6  6   0   4  2  0  1  0  25
33 TOPPERT, Chad....... g  2-5    2-4    0-0    0  2  2   3   6  1  1  1  1  24
02 WILLS, Jonathan.....    1-7    1-4    0-0    0  1  1   0   3  0  0  0  1  15
04 HARRIS, Johnnie.....    1-1    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   4   2  0  1  0  0  15
10 SMITH, Jamaal.......    1-4    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   5   2  0  0  0  0  12
22 PEGUES, Monquel.....    2-5    0-0    1-2    0  2  2   1   5  0  0  0  0  13
24 PRENTICE, Darren....    1-9    1-5    7-8    2  0  2   1  10  2  2  0  3  23
   TEAM................                         3  1  4
   Totals..............   22-64   6-18  16-21  11 23 34  21  66  7  6  2  9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-33 27.3%   2nd Half: 13-31 41.9%   Game: 34.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-5  20.0%   2nd Half:  5-13 38.5%   Game: 33.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-6  83.3%   2nd Half: 11-15 73.3%   Game: 76.2%    4
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 15-5, 4-1 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f  6-9    3-4    5-7    3  2  5   1  20  5  2  0  0  31
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f  7-9    5-6    0-0    1  3  4   3  19  1  1  0  1  23
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c  4-11   0-0    5-9    1 12 13   2  13  3  1  1  1  28
20 BURGESS, Sam........ g  4-6    3-3    4-4    0  2  2   2  15  1  0  1  0  22
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ g  0-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  5  1  0  0  21
01 LOYD, JR., Michael..    0-2    0-0    1-2    1  1  2   4   1  2  1  0  0  14
05 ROSE, Archie........    0-1    0-0    0-2    0  3  3   0   0  1  1  1  0   8
14 MARTINEAU, Nick.....    0-0    0-0    0-2    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  1   5
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer....    2-5    2-3    0-0    0  1  1   1   6  6  2  1  0  19
41 COLLINSWORTH, Chris.    2-5    0-0    0-0    2  2  4   0   4  0  0  0  0  17
54 MILES, Chris........    2-4    0-0    1-3    2  1  3   4   5  1  4  0  0  12
   TEAM................                            3  3
   Totals..............   27-53  13-16  16-29  10 32 42  19  83 25 13  4  3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-29 51.7%   2nd Half: 12-24 50.0%   Game: 50.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  8-11 72.7%   2nd Half:  5-5  100 %   Game: 81.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-11 54.5%   2nd Half: 10-18 55.6%   Game: 55.2%    6
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Officials: Dick Cartmell, Stanley Reynolds, Larry Spaulding
Technical fouls: New Mexico-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 19932
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
New Mexico....................   24   42  -   66
BYU Cougars...................   44   39  -   83
Season High for attendance.
Points in the paint-NM 26,BY 20. Points off turnovers-NM 15,BY 6.
2nd chance points-NM 15,BY 8. Fast break points-NM 0,BY 2.
Bench points-NM 22,BY 16. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-NM 2nd-00:21, BY 2nd-04:01.
Largest lead-NM None, BY by 34 2nd-08:00.