Lobos Deal Cougars First Conference Loss

ALBUQUERQUE -- The BYU men's basketball team fell 73-58 to the University of New Mexico at The Pit, ending a three-game winning streak against the Lobos. The Cougars took a one-point lead into the locker room at the half but were outscored42-26 to lose the game by 15, their worst loss of the season.

BYU (12-4, 2-1) fell victim to a hot-shooting New Mexico team that made 53 percent from the field for the game.

"They made shots tonight, even when they were contested," said BYU head coach Steve Cleveland. "Offensively, they had good balance."

The Lobos (12-4, 2-0) got solid contributions from their guards, with Ruben Douglas, Eric Chatfield and Tim Lightfoot each scoring 13 points in the contest.

A bright spot for the Cougars continues to be Jared Jensen, who had a game-high 15 points in 24 minutes of play. Jensen got little help from the outside, however, as BYU struggled from the floor.

"I thought we were going to win," said UNM head coach Fran Fraschilla. "The catch was the defense -- we did a good job on their shooters."

Brigham Young was 24-for-54 from the floor and made only 3-of-13 three-pointers. Mark Bigelow failed to extend his BYU record of 22 consecutive games with a three-pointer.

Bigelow also ended his string of 14 straight games in double figures. He was 2-7 with four points, a season low.

"It was tough," said Jensen. "Obviously, we're disappointed a little bit but we still have unity, we're still going to go out and compete. We've got to keep this thing rolling."

The Cougars came out aggressive and sharp in the first half, going toe-to-toe with the sharp-shooting Lobos. Cougar forward Eric Nielsen was 2-2 from beyond the arc, a career and season-high for the senior. He finished the game with 10 points.

Travis Hansen had six early points, including an authoritative one-handed dunk over Lobo center Chad Bell. But Hansen -- like the rest of the Cougars -- cooled off in the second half, not scoring again until 6:47 remained in the game.

"We competed with a lot more energy in the first half than in the second," Cleveland said. "Part of making plays is making shots when the game is on the line."

New Mexico went on a 12-2 run to start the second half, going up 43-34 and never looking back. The hot-shooting Lobos shot nearly 60 percent in the second half, compared to BYU's 41 percent.

Free throws also plagued the Cougars as they only shot 58 percent from the line on 7-for-12 shooting, their worst effort since Jan. 13, 2001, when they shot 50 percent against SDSU. BYU guard Daniel Bobik, however, pushed his free throw streak to 24 on 2-for-2 shooting, passing Hansen's previous season high of 23.

Senior guard Matt Montague dished out 11 assists, second this season only to the 15 assists he had against the University of Idaho. He also grabbed six boards, leading the team in rebounding for the second straight game.

BYU continues its road trip with a game at Air Force on Monday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast by SportsWest (KSL, channel 5).

"There is a shortage of time to prepare, especially against a team that runs as much motion as Air Force does," Cleveland said.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs New Mexico
01/19/02 1:05 PM MST at The Pit/Bob King Court
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: BYU 12-4, 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  4-11   2-2    0-0    1  3  4   1  10  0  3  0  1  37
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f  6-7    0-0    3-5    3  0  3   3  15  0  2  0  1  24
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  4-13   0-3    0-0    0  3  3   2   8  1  2  0  0  29
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... g  2-7    0-3    0-1    0  2  2   3   4  0  0  0  0  23
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  2-5    0-1    0-0    1  5  6   1   4 11  3  0  1  40
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
20 BOBIK, Daniel.......    4-6    1-3    2-2    0  2  2   5  11  0  3  0  2  24
22 BALDERSON, Jimmy....    1-3    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   1   2  0  0  0  0   7
32 JEPSEN, Bart........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
42 CARLISLE, Jon.......    1-2    0-0    2-4    1  3  4   2   4  0  0  3  0  13
   TEAM................                         1  3  4
   Totals..............   24-54   3-13   7-12   7 22 29  18  58 12 13  3  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-27 48.1%   2nd Half: 11-27 40.7%   Game: 44.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-4  50.0%   2nd Half:  1-9  11.1%   Game: 23.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-6  66.7%   2nd Half:  3-6  50.0%   Game: 58.3%    2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: New Mexico 12-4, 2-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
33 DENNEHY, Patrick.... f  5-8    0-0    1-4    1  7  8   2  11  0  2  1  1  30
01 BELL, Chad.......... c  1-1    0-0    0-1    0  1  1   3   2  0  0  1  0  22
03 CAREY, Senque....... g  1-4    0-1    2-2    0  3  3   2   4  5  2  0  0  28
05 DOUGLAS, Ruben...... g  5-10   1-5    2-2    1  3  4   1  13  0  1  1  1  19
42 CHATFIELD, Eric..... g  2-6    0-1    4-5    0  2  2   1   8  4  0  0  1  28
02 PARMER, Marlon......    6-10   1-2    0-0    1  3  4   0  13  6  4  0  2  27
10 LIGHTFOOT, Tim......    6-8    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   2  13  1  0  0  0  23
24 WILLIAMS, Jamaal....    3-6    0-0    0-0    1  3  4   3   6  0  1  0  0  16
40 PAYNE, Cody.........    1-3    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   1   3  0  0  0  0   7
   TEAM................                         3  2  5
   Totals..............   30-56   4-13   9-14   7 26 33  15  73 16 10  3  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-28 50.0%   2nd Half: 16-28 57.1%   Game: 53.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-8  25.0%   2nd Half:  2-5  40.0%   Game: 30.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-2  50.0%   2nd Half:  8-12 66.7%   Game: 64.3%    2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Stanley Reynolds, Randy McCall, Tim Gabutero
Technical fouls: BYU-None. New Mexico-None.
Attendance: 17046
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   32   26  -   58
New Mexico....................   31   42  -   73