Home Win Streak Reaches 21 with 82-70 Win Over Arizona State

PROVO -- Led by a 31-point assault from Mark Bigelow, BYU pushed its home winning streak to 21 games with an 82-70 win over Arizona State in the Marriott Center Saturday.

Leading the defensive charge for the Cougars was Travis Hansen, who gathered in a career-high 15 rebounds on the night. He helped BYU to a 42-26 rebounding edge, the largest rebounding margin against Arizona State since Rob Evans took over as the Sun Devils head coach in 1998 and the third-largest margin in Evans career.

"This was one of the best rebounding games we have had since I have been in this program," head coach Steve Cleveland said. "Travis Hansen played with so much energy and did the hustle plays. He had 15 rebounds and as a two-guard, that is pretty incredible. It was a great effort on his part."

Hansen had the first double-double of his career with 18 points and 15 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 guard/forward also had the best performance of his BYU career at the free-throw line, going 6-for-6 at the stripe.

Eric Nielsen also had several career bests at the offensive end, scoring a career-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, all career highs, to round out the Cougars double-figure scoring.

After falling behind 2-0 early, BYU rattled off 12 consecutive points to take a 12-2 lead. Arizona State came storming back with a 15-2 run of their own to retake the lead at 17-14 with 13:11 to go in the first half.

With just four seconds to go in the first half, Mark Bigelow hit a three-pointer from the right corner to send the Cougars into the locker room with the momentum and an eight-point advantage, 37-29.

BYU never trailed in the second half, opening up an 18-point lead with 14:59 left in the game on a Mark Bigelow free throw to complete a three-point play.

The Sun Devils closed the margin to 73-70 with just over two minutes left in the game but BYU picked up the defensive pressure to shut down the Arizona State offense. BYU closed the game with 9-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line to put Arizona State away and give the Cougars the 82-70 win.

"Teams like this are going to make runs on us but I was proud of the way we competed," Cleveland said. "This is a good win for us but I am not going to make anything more of it than what it is."

Freshman forward/center Jared Jensen got the first start of his BYU career against Arizona State, finishing with four points and two rebounds in 15 minutes for the game.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Arizona State vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
11/24/12 4:07 at Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Arizona State 1-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
04 SMITH, Tommy........ f  5-12   0-1    9-11   2  7  9   5  19  0  3  0  3  27
52 PREWITT, Chad....... c  7-10   2-3    4-6    3  1  4   4  20  2  3  0  0  29
03 DODD, Kyle.......... g  1-1    0-0    0-1    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  0  0  17
14 MILLAGE, Curtis..... g  6-14   0-3    0-0    1  0  1   3  12  3  0  0  3  32
15 SHELL, Tanner....... g  0-1    0-1    1-2    0  1  1   2   1  1  2  0  0  16
01 BRAXTON, Jason......    2-5    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   3   4  1  4  1  2  22
02 KNIGHT, Donnell.....    1-2    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   2   2  0  1  0  1  10
11 STOREY, Awvee.......    0-2    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   0   0  0  0  0  0  11
12 CRANDALL, Kenny.....    2-4    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   4   5  0  1  0  0  13
20 NAHRA, Brad.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   1
22 JOHNSTON, Tyson.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
23 HOWARD, Jonathan....    1-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   2  4  0  0  0   9
24 ALLEN, Justin.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
42 REDHAGE, Shawn......    1-3    1-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   3  0  2  1  0  10
   TEAM................                         1  1  2
   Totals..............   26-56   4-11  14-20   7 19 26  26  70 11 16  2  9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-21 47.6%   2nd Half: 16-35 45.7%   Game: 46.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-3  33.3%   2nd Half:  3-8  37.5%   Game: 36.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-12 66.7%   2nd Half:  6-8  75.0%   Game: 70.0%    1
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 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
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f  9-17   4-8    9-10   1  2  3   2  31  4  2  0  0  37
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f  8-11   0-0    3-5    4  2  6   3  19  1  2  0  2  38
52 JENSEN, Jared....... c  2-3    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   3   4  1  0  0  0  15
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  5-16   2-6    6-6    5 10 15   4  18  0  5  0  0  31
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  0-2    0-1    2-2    0  4  4   2   2  6  5  0  0  40
20 BOBIK, Daniel.......    1-2    1-2    4-6    0  2  2   2   7  1  2  1  1  19
32 JEPSEN, Bart........    0-4    0-0    1-2    1  5  6   5   1  0  3  0  0  20
   TEAM................                         4     4
   Totals..............   25-55   7-17  25-31  15 27 42  21  82 13 19  1  3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7%   2nd Half: 13-24 54.2%   Game: 45.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-12 41.7%   2nd Half:  2-5  40.0%   Game: 41.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-11 72.7%   2nd Half: 17-20 85.0%   Game: 80.6%    3
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Officials: Bill Gracey, Stanley Reynolds, Mark Whitehead
Technical fouls: Arizona State-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 6228
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Arizona State.................   29   41  -   70
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars.........   37   45  -   82