BYU wins 78-55 over UC Irvine in NIT First Round

PROVO -- The BYU men's basketball team defeated UC Irvine 78-55 in first-round action of the 2002 National Invitation Tournament at the Marriott Center Thursday night.

"It feels better tonight than it has for the last couple of weeks," said BYU head coach Steve Cleveland. "It's nice to see everybody make a contribution--we had individuals pick it up throughout the night."

The Cougars were led by Travis Hansen's game-high 23 points and career-high 3 steals in 28 minutes of play. Hansen's 23 points are his most since his 30-point effort at Pepperdine on Jan. 5. Forward Mark Bigelow added 15 points, hitting three three-pointers on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.

With 1:02 remaining in the first half, senior guard Matt Montague broke the single-season assist record with his 205th assist of the season, besting previous holder Nate Call's record of 204. Montague now has 212 assists on the year as he finished the game with 12 assists, his most since the Feb. 15 game against Wyoming.

The Cougars found other scoring options from its bench, getting support from Jon Carlisle's season high nine points, Daniel Bobik's eight points, and seven points from Jimmy Balderson. Jesse Pinegar recorded career highs in both points (two) and shooting percentage (1.000).

Bart Jepsen's dunk in the first half helped ignite BYU to a 10-point lead over UC-Irvine as the Cougars kept the nation's longest home-court winning streak alive." (BYU Photo by Mark Philbrick)

Down 21-11 in the first half to the Anteaters, BYU went on an incredible 27-9 run to finish the half with a 10-point lead, 38-28. The Cougars shot 50 percent from three-point range on 5-of-10 shooting in the first half. BYU finished the game shooting 54.9 percent from the field (28-of-51), their best percentage since shooting 55.9 percent against Air Force on Feb. 18.

In the second half, BYU extended its lead to 16, 44-28, as Hansen scored all of the Cougars' first eight points of the half. UC Irvine answered with a 12-2 run of its own, making the score 46-38. The two teams traded baskets until the Cougars went on an 18-4 run to finish out the contest.

"We had a little run in the second half with seven or eight minutes to go, but it just seemed like we would break down and that probably has a lot to do with the Cougars," said UCI head coach Pat Douglass.

The win pushes the Cougars' nation-leading home court winning streak to 36 as BYU went a perfect 16-0 at home this season. BYU has only won 16 games at home in a single season once before in its history, when Ladell Andersen's 1987-88 team went 16-2 at the Marriott Center.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
U.C. Irvine vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
03/14/02 7:05 at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: U.C. Irvine 21-11
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
12 ZUZAK, Stanislav.... f  2-8    1-3    1-2    1  1  2   2   6  1  1  0  1  24
13 HARRIS, Jordan...... f  4-12   1-5    4-5    0  1  1   3  13  2  2  0  2  35
40 OKORO, Matt......... f  3-4    0-0    0-0    5  3  8   2   6  1  1  0  0  24
55 PARADA, Adam........ c  6-12   0-0    1-2    2  3  5   3  13  0  5  0  1  29
05 GREEN, Jerry........ g  6-11   0-1    0-0    1  2  3   3  12  2  5  0  0  27
10 CHRIST, J.R.........    0-3    0-1    2-3    0  3  3   4   2  0  2  0  0  15
20 HOOD, Mike..........    1-2    1-2    0-0    0  0  0   2   3  0  1  0  1  19
22 BASKAUSKAS, Aras....    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2   0  2  1  0  0  19
24 HUFFORD, Jeff.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   2
30 OBRAND, Jesse.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
50 KORFMAN, Dave.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   5
   TEAM................                         1  2  3
   Totals..............   22-53   3-12   8-12  10 16 26  22  55  8 18  0  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-26 46.2%   2nd Half: 10-27 37.0%   Game: 41.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-4  25.0%   2nd Half:  2-8  25.0%   Game: 25.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-5  60.0%   2nd Half:  5-7  71.4%   Game: 66.7%    2
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 18-11
                          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  4-10   3-6    4-6    0  2  2   1  15  3  2  1  0  29
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f  1-3    0-1    0-0    0  3  3   4   2  1  3  1  1  25
43 HOWARD, Dan......... c  1-3    0-0    1-2    1  4  5   4   3  0  2  0  0  22
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  8-13   1-3    6-7    3  2  5   3  23  0  4  0  3  28
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  1-4    0-1    1-1    0  6  6   1   3 12  3  0  1  34
04 PINEGAR, Jesse......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  0  0  0  0   2
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-0    0-0    2-2    0  0  0   0   2  0  0  0  0   2
20 BOBIK, Daniel.......    3-5    1-3    1-2    1  0  1   0   8  0  1  0  1  13
22 BALDERSON, Jimmy....    3-3    1-1    0-1    0  1  1   0   7  1  0  0  0  10
32 JEPSEN, Bart........    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   2  0  0  0  0   8
42 CARLISLE, Jon.......    4-5    0-0    1-1    2  2  4   2   9  0  1  0  1  16
52 JENSEN, Jared.......    1-3    0-0    0-0    3  1  4   1   2  1  1  0  0  12
   TEAM................                         1  1  2
   Totals..............   28-51   6-15  16-22  11 23 34  16  78 18 17  2  7 201
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-28 50.0%   2nd Half: 14-23 60.9%   Game: 54.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-10 50.0%   2nd Half:  1-5  20.0%   Game: 40.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-11 45.5%   2nd Half: 11-11 100 %   Game: 72.7%    2
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Officials: Terry Christman, Bobby McRoy, Don McAllister
Technical fouls: U.C. Irvine-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 6288
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
U.C. Irvine...................   28   27  -   55
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars.........   38   40  -   78
Points in the paint-UCI 28,BY 30. Points off turnovers-UCI 20,BY 30.
2nd chance points-UCI 11,BY 12. Fast break points-UCI 0,BY 0.
Bench points-UCI 5,BY 32. Score tied-2 times. Lead changes-2 times.