Lyday's Big Second Half Helps BYU Defeat UC Irvine

PROVO -- Led by Terrell Lyday's 22 points, BYU recovered from a 14-1 deficit against UC Irvine Wednesday to claim its 10th win of the year, 77-66.

The Cougars were led by junior Terrell Lyday's 22 points, 19 coming in the second half. Mekeli Wesley added 18, Nathan Cooper 14 and Michael Vranes 11.

"Irvine is a good team and we had to scratch and claw for everything we got," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "The thing I'm most proud of is that after we got down 14-1 our guys didn't quit. Some of our guys have had the flua and we didn't have a lot of energy but we played really well in the second half."

BYU trailed the Anteaters at the half by only two points, 31-29, after starting the game in the hole 14-1. Lyday led a second half charge that gave the Cougars control of the game. Lyday was able to get to the foul line and hit 10-13 free throw attempts. He also went 2-4 from three-pointer range, extending the number of consecutive games he has made a three-pointer to 12.

Vranes and Cooper were praised by Cleveland for their play. Cooper played a season-high 31 minutes and Vranes was forced to play some point guard because of ailing starting point guard Matt Montague, who played only 10 minutes and didn't record an assist for the first time this year.

The Cougars out rebounded UC Irvine 29-27 and also out shot the Anteaters, 53 percent to 43 percent. Marek Ondera and Jerry Green led UCI with 20 and 16 points.

BYU improves to 10-2 with the win while UC Irvine falls to 6-4.

Box Score (Final)
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                           UC Irvine vs BYU (1/5/00)
VISITORS: UC Irvine
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player                 FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21 ONDERA, Marek....... f  6 11   1  3   7  7   1  4  5   1  20  1  3  0  0  35
24 JACKSON, Sean....... f  3  6   3  6   3  4   0  2  2   4  12  0  1  0  1  23
04 CHRIST, J.R......... c  2  4   0  0   1  4   1  6  7   3   5  1  2  0  2  24
05 GREEN, Jerry........ g  4 12   2  6   6  6   0  0  0   0  16  5  4  0  2  35
14 BENNEM, Zamiro...... g  3  7   1  2   0  0   0  3  3   3   7  0  2  0  0  26
03 ETHINGTON, Greg.....    1  2   0  0   2  2   1  1  2   3   4  0  1  0  0  14
11 EDMOND, Malachi.....    0  1   0  1   0  0   0  1  1   5   0  1  2  0  0  22
40 OKORO, Matt.........    1  1   0  0   0  0   2  0  2   0   2  0  1  0  0   6
45 JONES, Ben..........    0  3   0  3   0  0   0  2  2   3   0  0  1  0  0  15
TM TEAM................                         2  1  3                        
   Totals..............   20 47   7 21  19 23   7 20 27  22  66  8 17  0  5 200
TOTAL FG%:  .426   DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG%:  .333   REBOUNDS
F Throw %:  .826      1
HOME TEAM: BYU
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player                 FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... f  6 12   1  1   5  6   3  3  6   4  18  2  1  1  0  28
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f  2  3   0  0   0  0   1  2  3   2   4  3  2  0  1  21
13 VRANES, Michael..... g  3  7   0  1   5  8   2  3  5   3  11  5  3  0  3  34
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g  5  9   2  4  10 13   0  3  3   1  22  0  3  0  2  33
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g  0  0   0  0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  2  0  0  10
02 RIVERS, Silester....    2  2   0  0   1  2   0  6  6   3   5  0  1  0  0  11
04 CHRISTENSEN, Todd...    1  4   1  3   0  0   0  0  0   3   3  2  0  0  0  30
05 ROBERTS, Marc.......    0  0   0  0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
42 COOPER, Nathan......    6 10   0  2   2  2   0  4  4   3  14  2  1  0  1  31
TM TEAM................                            2  2                        
   Totals..............   25 47   4 11  23 31   6 23 29  19  77 14 13  1  7 200
TOTAL FG%:  .532   DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG%:  .364   REBOUNDS
F Throw %:  .742      4
Date: 1/5/00        Site: Provo, Utah  Attendance: 9574
Officials:
Technical fouls: UC Irvine-None. BYU-None. 
Score by Periods      1  2   Total
UC Irvine........... 31 35  - 66
BYU................. 29 48  - 77