SAN -- BYU suffered its first loss of the year Thursday as the University of San Francisco Dons handed the Cougars an 80-70 defeat at War Memorial Gym.
Entering the game with two home wins that resulted in part from the team's 56.6 percent field goal percentage and 46.7 percent three-point percentage, the Cougars found it tougher to find the mark in their first road game of the year. Shooting 38.9 percent from the floor, BYU made only 3 of 19 (.158) three-point attempts, including a 1-9 night from BYU's top shooter Terrell Lyday.
The Cougars trailed at halftime 38-34 and maintained a close deficit with the Dons until the closing moments but were never able to take the advantage. BYU got within a single point on three occasions but the Dons always had an answer, usually delivered by guard Ali Thomas who went 4-5 on threes while equaling his career high of 25 points. In all five Don players scored in double figures, contributing to a team field goal percentage of 51.2 percent and a three-point clip of 66.7.
"San Francisco made big shots at critical times - give them credit," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "They dictated the flow of the game and we were in foul trouble early. We had a lot of wide open threes but we didn't hit them. It's hard to win on the road when you miss that many shots."
BYU was led by Mekeli Wesley with a season-high 20 points, followed by Lyday with 16 and Matt Montague with a personal season-best 12 points. Montague hit his firs two three-pointers before finally missing his first shot of the season. He is now 10-12 overall and 5-6 on threes this year.
BYU fell to 2-1 with the loss while USF improved to 3-3. BYU will play at Arizona State Saturday.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICSBrigham Young vs Univ. of San Francisco
11/30/00 7:00 PM at San Francisco, CA - War Memorial Gym
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 2-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 5 4 0 0 0 0 8
42 COOPER, Nathan...... f 2-3 0-0 0-2 3 2 5 3 4 3 0 0 1 31
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... c 4-11 0-3 12-12 5 0 5 4 20 2 2 0 1 32
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 4-17 1-9 7-7 0 0 0 0 16 1 2 1 0 39
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g 4-6 2-3 2-2 1 1 2 3 12 6 2 0 0 34
02 HANSEN, Travis...... 0-6 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 1 0 0 1 11
20 BOBIK, Daniel....... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 2 1 0 0 12
34 CHRISMAN, Jacob..... 3-6 0-1 1-2 3 1 4 5 7 0 3 0 1 15
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 5 4 0 0 1 0 12
43 DAWES, Derek........ 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 21-54 3-19 25-29 15 12 27 29 70 15 10 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-25 .400 2nd Half: 11-29 .379 Game: .389 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-10 .200 2nd Half: 1-9 .111 Game: .158 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-14 .857 2nd Half: 13-15 .867 Game: .862 2
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HOME TEAM: Univ. of San Francisco 3-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 TUCKER, Darrell..... f 5-11 0-0 6-6 3 6 9 2 16 1 5 0 0 33
30 LEE, James.......... f 3-8 0-1 8-11 3 2 5 3 14 4 3 0 2 38
35 BREWER, Hondre...... c 3-5 0-0 5-8 1 4 5 5 11 1 1 3 1 30
13 STALLWORTH, Shamell. g 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 3 1 1 2 1 1 26
32 THOMAS, Ali......... g 7-12 4-5 7-7 0 1 1 3 25 2 2 0 2 39
01 AKINSETE, Tayo...... 3-3 2-2 2-2 2 3 5 5 10 0 1 0 0 14
44 TARBAT, Nick........ 0-1 0-1 3-4 0 1 1 1 3 1 0 0 0 16
52 BROWN, Eugene....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................
Totals.............. 21-41 6-9 32-40 10 20 30 23 80 10 14 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-24 .417 2nd Half: 11-17 .647 Game: .512 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-6 .667 2nd Half: 2-3 .667 Game: .667 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 14-18 .778 2nd Half: 18-22 .818 Game: .800 6
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Officials: Rich Ballesteros, Mark Reischling, Mike Eggers
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-None. Univ. of San Francisco-None.
Attendance: 3312
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 34 36 - 70
Univ. of San Francisco........ 38 42 - 80
