Defense Gives BYU 61-52 Win Over Creighton

PROVO -- On a brisk night in Provo, BYU turned on the defensive heat to burn the Creighton Bluejays 61-52 and warm a Marriott Center crowd of 6,072 with its 23rd straight home victory.

The Cougar defense kept the pressure on Bluejay shooters all night, holding a team that came in averaging 86.2 points a game to just 52 points on 19-of-55 shooting from the field. The Cougars, led by a career-high 10 boards from true freshman Jared Jensen and a career-high eight rebounds by Daniel Bobik, outrebounded Creighton 36-29.

"I was really proud of our defensive effort tonight," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. "Creighton is a team that lives off of execution and we were able to take them out of their game tonight."

Creighton's leading scorer, Kyle Korver, came in averaging over 19 points a game but was limited to just four points on one-for-10 shooting from the field (one-of-three from the line). The effort marks the first time Korver has been held below double digits this season.

The Cougar offense was led by Travis Hansen, who finished five-of-seven from the field with 18 points and Mark Bigelow, who shot 5-of-11 on the night for 17 points. Either Hansen or Bigelow has been the top scorer for BYU in every game this season.

The game was won for BYU at the free-throw line, where the Cougars went 20-for-25, marking the third straight game the team has shot over 80 percent from the charity stripe and the fourth time they have shot 80 percent or higher this season.

In the past two games, the BYU defense has held opponents to an average of 49.5 points and just under 35 percent shooting from the field. The Cougars have averaged 63 points and shot 46.6 percent from the field during that same stretch.

With their 26-23 lead at the half, the Cougars have gone to the locker room on top in each of their first six games.

The victory pushes BYU's record to 4-2 on the season and drops Creighton's record to 3-2 on the year. The Cougars next game is against Fort Lewis this Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center.

-- BYU --

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
CREIGHTON vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
12/8/01 8:07 at Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: CREIGHTON 3-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
20 HOUSE, Larry........ f  3-5    0-1    2-4    1  3  4   2   8  2  1  0  3  23
22 LINDEMAN, Michael... f  2-4    0-0    0-1    0  2  2   4   4  0  2  0  0  26
25 KORVER, Kyle........ f  1-10   1-8    1-3    2  3  5   3   4  2  1  0  1  34
21 DABBERT, Joe........ c  3-6    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   3   6  0  0  1  2  11
03 BOWDEN, DeAnthony... g  4-8    1-3    2-2    1  0  1   0  11  0  2  0  2  28
12 CARO, Ismael........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  0  0  0   4
23 TAYLOR, Terrell.....    3-14   1-4    4-4    2  1  3   3  11  2  1  0  0  16
24 McKINNEY, Tyler.....    2-2    1-1    0-0    1  1  2   2   5  1  0  0  1  22
34 GRIMES, Mike........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
43 DEREN, Brody........    1-5    0-0    1-2    1  5  6   1   3  0  4  3  1  29
44 COLLIER, Austin.....    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   1   0  0  0  0  0   6
   TEAM................                         2  2  4
   Totals..............   19-55   4-17  10-16  10 19 29  21  52  7 11  4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-28 32.1%   2nd Half: 10-27 37.0%   Game: 34.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-6  16.7%   2nd Half:  3-11 27.3%   Game: 23.5%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-6  66.7%   2nd Half:  6-10 60.0%   Game: 62.5%   1,1
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 4-2
                          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  5-11   2-4    5-6    0  0  0   3  17  1  3  3  2  35
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f  4-8    0-0    1-3    1  4  5   1   9  2  2  0  0  36
52 JENSEN, Jared....... c  2-4    0-0    0-0    1  9 10   4   4  2  0  1  0  18
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  5-7    1-1    7-9    1  4  5   1  18  1  4  1  0  34
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  0-4    0-2    4-4    1  3  4   0   4  5  5  0  4  40
20 BOBIK, Daniel.......    2-4    0-0    3-3    0  8  8   2   7  1  1  0  0  25
32 JEPSEN, Bart........    1-2    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   4   2  0  1  0  0  11
40 HOWARD, Dan.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   1
   TEAM................                            2  2
   Totals..............   19-40   3-7   20-25   5 31 36  16  61 12 16  5  6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-20 40.0%   2nd Half: 11-20 55.0%   Game: 47.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-4  50.0%   2nd Half:  1-3  33.3%   Game: 42.9%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-8  100 %   2nd Half: 12-17 70.6%   Game: 80.0%    1
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Officials: Scott Thornley, Lonnie Dixon, Greg Burks
Technical fouls: CREIGHTON-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 6072
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
CREIGHTON.....................   23   29  -   52
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars.........   26   35  -   61