Bench Leads Cougars to 101-53 Victory Over Fort Lewis

PROVO -- In a game where every Cougar played and almost every Cougar scored, BYU overpowered Fort Lewis en route to an easy 101-53 victory at the Marriott Center. The Cougars have now won 24 straight home contests.

With the game well in hand, Cougar head coach Steve Cleveland emptied his bench and the reserves took home the win for BYU. Freshman Jimmy Balderson led the Cougars with a career-high 19 points. Backup point guard Shawn Opunui played his best game as a Cougar, finishing the night with 10 assists and six points, both career highs.

"It's nice to see players that practice hard every day get a chance to play in front of the fans," Cleveland said.

Balderson and Opunui weren't the only BYU players to have big nights. Travis Hansen and Mark Bigelow provided their usual one-two punch, scoring 15 and 14 points respectively. Cleveland took the starters out of the game early in the second half.

BYU broke the 100-point barrier for the first time since last season's game against Elon College. In that game, the Cougars beat Elon 100-63. The 48-point margin of victory the largest for BYU since Steve Cleveland took over the program.

The Cougars took a few minutes to find their rhythm, but once they did, they left Fort Lewis behind. Fort Lewis scored the first four points of the game, but then BYU answered with a 13-0 run. BYU continued to pour it on and by halftime had extended the lead to 29 points.

In the first half, BYU shot a blistering 62.1 percent from the floor. But the Cougars shot even better in the second half, 77.8 percent, to finish the game shooting 69.6 percent from the field.

BYU's defense shut down a normally hot-shooting Fort Lewis team. For the game, the Skyhawks shot only 33.3 percent and couldn't get anything going on the offensive end. The Cougars have held their past three opponents to a combined 34.4 percent from the field.

"The good thing about playing a game like this is that BYU always plays tough, no matter what the circumstances are," Fort Lewis head coach Bob Hofman said.

Talented freshman Jesse Pinegar saw his first action as a Cougar, playing the final seven minutes of the game. Pinegar is coming off of shoulder surgery and is still feeling some pain, but finished the game with one rebound and one assist.

"Pinegar is just getting to the point where he can practice regularly, so he is not in game shape yet," Cleveland said.

The Cougars hope to extend the winning streak at home to 25 on Saturday, when they host the University of Idaho at 4 p.m.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Fort Lewis College vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
12/12/01 7:06 at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Fort Lewis College 3-4
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
02 FOUTZ, Ben.......... *  4-10   0-1    0-0    2  3  5   4   8  1  0  0  0  20
22 COLE, Zack.......... *  1-5    1-5    0-0    0  0  0   2   3  1  0  0  1  17
23 PATIK, Kurt......... *  4-10   1-2    2-2    3  1  4   2  11  3  1  0  2  29
33 LORZ, Tervor........ *  4-10   2-5    2-4    0  1  1   1  12  1  4  0  1  31
35 HATCH, Kevin........ *  4-13   2-7    2-6    0  1  1   3  12  4  0  0  2  35
01 YUTZY, Derek........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  1  2  0  0  12
05 SIMINGTON, Dan......    1-2    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   2   3  1  1  0  0  15
11 PIETRACK, Bob.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  1  0  0   4
12 EDSTROM, Tim........    0-2    0-1    0-0    1  1  2   1   0  0  0  0  0  13
24 FAUST, Jason........    0-0    0-0    2-2    0  0  0   0   2  1  1  0  0   4
42 BROOKS, Nick........    1-4    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   3   2  0  2  0  1  13
55 GUNKLEMAN, Rob......    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  1  1  0  0   7
   TEAM................                         1  1  2
   Totals..............   19-57   7-24   8-14   7 10 17  22  53 14 13  0  7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-28 28.6%   2nd Half: 11-29 37.9%   Game: 33.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-11 18.2%   2nd Half:  5-13 38.5%   Game: 29.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-8  37.5%   2nd Half:  5-6  83.3%   Game: 57.1%    3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 5-2
                          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  4-5    1-2    5-5    0  1  1   1  14  1  2  0  1  19
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f  2-3    0-0    0-0    2  2  4   3   4  2  2  0  0  19
52 JENSEN, Jared....... c  5-7    0-0    2-3    0  1  1   0  12  0  0  0  0  16
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  6-8    0-1    3-4    1  6  7   2  15  2  2  0  0  19
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  2-5    1-4    2-2    1  4  5   0   7  4  2  0  1  19
04 PINEGAR, Jesse......    0-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  1  1  0  0   7
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   2   2  3  1  0  0  10
12 OPUNUI, Shawn.......    2-3    1-2    1-3    0  4  4   1   6 10  2  0  3  20
20 BOBIK, Daniel.......    2-3    1-2    2-2    0  1  1   0   7  1  1  0  0  18
22 BALDERSON, Jimmy....    8-10   1-3    2-4    1  6  7   1  19  0  2  0  3  22
32 JEPSEN, Bart........    2-3    0-0    1-1    1  2  3   3   5  2  1  0  0  11
40 HOWARD, Dan.........    2-2    0-0    0-0    2  3  5   1   4  0  0  1  0  13
42 CARLISLE, Jon.......    3-4    0-0    0-0    1  2  3   1   6  0  0  2  0   7
   TEAM................                         3     3
   Totals..............   39-56   5-14  18-24  12 35 47  16 101 26 16  3  8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 18-29 62.1%   2nd Half: 21-27 77.8%   Game: 69.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-9  22.2%   2nd Half:  3-5  60.0%   Game: 35.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-14 85.7%   2nd Half:  6-10 60.0%   Game: 75.0%    2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Terry Christman, Mark McMullen, Roosevelt Brown
Technical fouls: Fort Lewis College-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 3881
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Fort Lewis College............   21   32  -   53
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars.........   50   51  -  101