Great Comeback Not Enough For BYU

San Francisco, Calif. (Dec. 23, 2002) -- A great comeback by BYU was not enough as the Cougars dropped a tough game on the road against the University of San Francisco 84-72 Monday night.

"We have got to put two halves together on order to be a good team," said BYU head coach Steve Cleveland. "We just did not get the stops we needed late in the game to get over the hump."

BYU (8-2) put on a strong run in the second half while attempting to overcome a 19-point halftime deficit but stumbled in the last few minutes, losing to the now 3-6 Dons.

USF went on a 16-0 run to build a first-half lead that balooned to a high of 20 points before taking a 46-27 lead into the break. BYU shot just 30 percent in the first half compared to 60 percent for the Dons.

To open the second half, BYU increased the defensive intensity, forcing the Dons into five turnovers in the first few minutes, which helped the Cougars score easy baskets on the other end. The Dons did not score a field goal in the first seven minutes of the second half, managing just one free throw during that stretch.

BYU looked to center Rafael Araujo, who scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds. He also helped ignite BYU's second-half run with three steals.

BYU enjoyed a 21-3 run to open the half, most coming with Hansen on the bench in foul trouble. Woodberry connected on three treys in the second half to lead the Cougars back to within a bucket of the lead before USF senior Shamell Stallworth took over and almost single-handedly stretched the Dons lead back to 71-60 with 4:42 left. Stallworth led the Dons with a career night of his own, scoring a game-high 37 points on 12-of-16 shooting.

Following an Araujo layup, Hansen stole the in-bounds pass with under a minute to go and passed to Woodberry, who missed the easy basket that would have cut the lead to two points. That's as close as BYU would get as USF hit free throws to increase the lead and win by 12.

"I had a great game, but I just want to win and that's what is important," Araujo said.

For BYU, Hansen scored 13 points in limited action and Woodberry added 10. Jake Shoff chipped in nine points off the bench.

The Cougars came into the game shooting 75 percent from the stripe but struggled from the free throw line all game, shooting 66 percent, their second worst effort of the season. BYU had its worst shooting night from the floor, making below 40 percent for the first time at 37 percent and was just 3-17 from three-point range, its second worst three-point percentage of the year.

The Dons shot 51 percent from the field and 78 from the free throw line. The Dons, who are now 2-1 since two starters became eligible at the semester break, became the first team to out shoot BYU this year and the first to top 42 percent from the floor.

BYU will now face Southern Utah University Saturday at 7 p.m.in the Marriott Center, where the Cougars own the nation's longest homecourt victory streak of 40 games.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs Univ. of San Francisco
12/23/02 7:00 PM at San Francisco, CA
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 8-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
02 HANSEN, Travis...... f  4-13   0-2    5-6    2  3  5   5  13  2  2  0  2  29
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f  1-2    0-0    2-4    2  0  2   5   4  0  2  0  0  19
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 11-20   0-0    2-7    8  9 17   3  24  0  5  1  3  28
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... g  1-9    0-4    6-8    2  2  4   4   8  2  2  0  1  34
24 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g  3-10   3-9    1-3    0  2  2   2  10  3  0  0  0  31
05 SHOFF, Jake.........    2-3    0-0    5-5    2  1  3   4   9  0  0  0  1  10
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2   0  0  0  0  0   5
14 BOWER, Ricky........    1-5    0-2    2-2    1  2  3   2   4  3  0  0  2  27
15 ALLEN, John.........    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  1  10
40 HOWARD, Dan.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   7
   TEAM................                            3  3
   Totals..............   23-63   3-17  23-35  17 23 40  28  72 10 12  1 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-30 30.0%   2nd Half: 14-33 42.4%   Game: 36.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  0-6   0.0%   2nd Half:  3-11 27.3%   Game: 17.6%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  9-16 56.3%   2nd Half: 14-19 73.7%   Game: 65.7%    5
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HOME TEAM: Univ. of San Francisco 3-6
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
03 TUCKER, Darrell..... f  4-13   1-6    1-2    0  5  5   5  10  0  4  1  0  26
44 BROUSSARD, Alvin.... f  3-4    0-0    2-4    1  3  4   5   8  2  2  0  0  16
00 BAYLESS, James...... c  4-7    0-0    0-0    2  2  4   3   8  2  0  3  0  27
05 GAINES, Jason....... g  1-1    0-0    3-3    1  1  2   4   5  5  3  0  1  26
13 STALLWORTH, Shamell. g 12-16   3-4   10-11   2  5  7   4  37  2  4  0  2  36
01 QUEEN, Brandon......    0-1    0-1    3-4    1  3  4   3   3  1  2  0  0  16
15 CHAMBERS, Michael...    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
33 COX, John...........    4-12   1-4    2-2    0  4  4   2  11  1  1  0  1  29
35 HARRIS, Jovan.......    1-3    0-2    0-1    0  3  3   1   2  1  2  0  0  20
50 CISSE, Mamadou......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
   TEAM................                         2  3  5
   Totals..............   29-57   5-17  21-27   9 29 38  27  84 14 18  4  4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-28 60.7%   2nd Half: 12-29 41.4%   Game: 50.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-10 40.0%   2nd Half:  1-7  14.3%   Game: 29.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-11 72.7%   2nd Half: 13-16 81.3%   Game: 77.8%    3
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Officials: Charles Range, Michael Eggers, Chris Rastatter
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-HANSEN, Travis. Univ. of San Francisco-None.
Attendance: 3979
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Brigham Young.................   27   45  -   72
Univ. of San Francisco........   46   38  -   84
Points in the paint-BY 32,USF 32. Points off turnovers-BY 14,USF 14.
2nd chance points-BY 13,USF 12. Fast break points-BY 0,USF 0.
Bench points-BY 13,USF 16. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-2 times.