BYU Defeats Wagner in First Game of Vegas Classic

PROVO -- BYU stayed perfect at home on the season after defeating the Wagner Seahawks at the Marriott Center, 77-61, on Thursday night.

Freshman Tyler Haws led the Cougars with 16 points on the night, adding five rebounds while senior Jonathan Tavernari finished off the night with 14 points and four rebounds for BYU (9-1).

It was a career night for Cougar assists with Michael Loyd, Jr. and Noah Hartsock, both of whom posted career highs with four assists each. Hartsock led BYU with eight rebounds and added 12 points.

Three Cougars had five rebounds each including Haws, Charles Abouo and James Anderson, who grabbed his five rebounds in only six minutes of play.

After trading baskets, the Cougars posted a 20-2 run, including a 14-0 streak, with scores from Tavernari, Miles, Jimmer Fredette, Haws and Abouo. Tavernari had back-to-back-to-back baskets, the first coming from a reverse layup on a fast break. Cutting down into the lane after another BYU steal, Tavernari posted the 24th point of the game off a layup, bringing the score to 24-9.

Both teams continued to trade baskets for the remainder of the half, with BYU's Lamont Morgan, Jr. and Haws each hitting a three pointer for the Cougars, sending the game into halftime at 41-23.

Tavernari led BYU with 10 points at the half, hitting 5-of-7 from the field. Haws followed with nine points, making 3-of-4 field goals and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Emery’s unselfish play earned him five assists out of 13 for BYU in the first half. Hartsock led the team on the boards with four rebounds, also adding four points.

BYU came out of the locker room trading points with Wagner. Haws tallied a three-point play at the 16:37 mark to bring the score to 48-27. The Seahawks tried to gradually chip away at the score, but couldn’t match the unselfish play BYU as the Cougars had ten players score and all thirteen players see minutes.

The Cougars finished off the game with a dunk by Anderson with 19 seconds left, leading the Seahawks by 16 with a final score of 77-61.

The team will be back in the Marriott Center Saturday at 7 p.m. to take on Eastern Washington.

CLICK HERE for game notes and quotes.

Official Basketball Box Score
Wagner vs BYU COUGARS
12/17/09 7:05 pm at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Wagner 1-8, 0-2 NEC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
05 CONSTANCE, Garrett.. f  0-2    0-1    0-0    2  1  3   2   0  0  0  0  0   9
13 ELWELL, Doug........ f  1-4    0-3    0-0    0  2  2   0   2  0  1  0  0  14
22 SPILLER, Clifton.... c  1-2    0-0    2-4    3  4  7   1   4  1  1  1  0  16
11 MARTIN, Chris....... g  3-11   1-4    0-0    0  1  1   3   7  0  3  0  2  19
24 CONRAD, Ryan........ g  5-13   2-8    2-3    0  2  2   3  14  2  2  0  2  24
01 MUNDWEILER, Danny...    1-5    1-3    2-2    0  0  0   4   5  2  3  0  0  19
03 MURRAY, Tyler.......    3-5    1-3    3-7    0  3  3   1  10  1  0  1  1  30
10 CZESKI, T.J.........    1-8    0-2    0-0    0  3  3   3   2  2  0  0  0  18
25 THOMPSON, Josh......    1-6    0-0    3-4    3  2  5   1   5  1  3  0  2  27
42 SCHROTENBOER, Ryan..    2-4    0-0    0-0    2  0  2   0   4  1  0  0  0   4
55 OROCK, Michael......    4-10   0-0    0-0    3  3  6   4   8  0  1  1  0  20
   TEAM................                         6  5 11
   Totals..............   22-70   5-24  12-20  19 26 45  22  61 10 14  3  7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-34 26.5%   2nd Half: 13-36 36.1%   Game: 31.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-15 13.3%   2nd Half:  3-9  33.3%   Game: 20.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-4  75.0%   2nd Half:  9-16 56.3%   Game: 60.0%    3
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HOME TEAM: BYU COUGARS 9-1, 0-0 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
23 HAWS, Tyler......... f  6-12   1-3    3-3    1  4  5   2  16  1  1  0  0  22
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f  5-8    0-0    2-3    3  5  8   4  12  4  0  3  1  24
54 MILES, Chris........ c  3-6    0-0    0-2    0  2  2   0   6  0  0  1  0  13
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g  1-4    0-3    0-0    0  3  3   3   2  5  2  2  0  16
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g  2-5    0-1    5-6    0  1  1   0   9  2  3  0  2  28
00 DAVIES, Brandon.....    0-3    0-0    0-2    1  2  3   1   0  1  2  1  0  15
01 ABOUO, Charles......    1-4    0-1    0-2    3  2  5   3   2  3  3  0  1  19
02 MORGAN, JR., Lamont.    1-1    1-1    2-2    0  2  2   0   5  2  2  0  1  18
10 LOYD, JR., Michael..    0-1    0-0    4-6    0  2  2   0   4  4  0  0  2  12
12 MAGNUSSON, Logan....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   4
13 ZYLSTRA, Brock......    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  1  0   4
15 ANDERSON, James.....    2-2    0-0    3-4    1  4  5   2   7  0  0  0  0   6
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan.    7-12   0-2    0-0    0  4  4   1  14  0  0  0  1  19
   TEAM................                         2  3  5
   Totals..............   28-59   2-12  19-30  11 34 45  17  77 22 13  8  8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6%   2nd Half: 13-31 41.9%   Game: 47.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-6  33.3%   2nd Half:  0-6   0.0%   Game: 16.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  9-10 90.0%   2nd Half: 10-20 50.0%   Game: 63.3%    5
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Officials: Verne Harris, Mark Whitehead, Kelly Self
Technical fouls: Wagner-None. BYU COUGARS-None.
Attendance: 8031
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Wagner........................   23   38  -   61
BYU COUGARS...................   41   36  -   77
Points in the paint-WAGNER 28,BY 36. Points off turnovers-WAGNER 12,BY 11.
2nd chance points-WAGNER 18,BY 12. Fast break points-WAGNER 2,BY 12.
Bench points-WAGNER 34,BY 32. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-WAGNER 2nd-01:44, BY 2nd-00:19.
Largest lead-WAGNER None, BY by 22 2nd-11:25.