Hansen Helps Cougars Edge Aztecs

PROVO -- Senior Travis Hansen led BYU with 19 points and eight rebounds and deflected San Diego State's last second shot to give the Cougars a 66-64 Mountain West Conference win over the Aztecs Monday night in the Marriott Center. With the win, the Cougars improve to 18-6 overall and 7-2 in conference play, while the Aztecs fall 12-10 overall and 3-6 in the MWC.

"We were very fortunate in the last few minutes. We had difficulty getting the ball where it needed to be," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. "If it had not been for Travis's three-pointer, I don't know where we would have been."

After BYU had a 14-point second-half lead dwindle to one, Hansen ended a five-minute offensive dry spell for the Cougars by hitting his second three of the game to put the Cougars up four,66-64, with 1:33 to go. Although Hansen lost the ball on BYU's possession, he came back to get a finger on San Diego State's put-back attempt at the buzzer to help BYU escape with the victory.

"In the first five minutes of the game we had difficulty getting started," Cleveland said. "But the 25 minutes that followed, I thought we played well. We had good execution, and we defended well."

The Cougars scored the first points in the game on a Hansen field goal, but the Aztecs went on a 15-3 run in the next six minutes to take a 15-5 lead with 13:39 to go, led by Deandre Moore with five points. Moore finished the first half with 13 points on his way to a 16-point outing.

Jared Jensen started the BYU comeback with two points with 13:27 remaining in the first half, and two minutes later, Bigelow came in with a three-pointer to bring the score within three at 16-19 and start the offensive momentum. Trailing 28-23, Jensen and Hansen combined for six consecutive points to give the Cougars the lead at 29-28. BYU had its largest lead of the half at 35-28 with 2:20 left, but the got to within one at 37-36 with less than four seconds in the half before Hansen connected on a three at the buzzer to give the Cougars a 40-36 lead going into halftime.

After intermission BYU went on a 20-10 run, capped by an Araujo dunk, that gave the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 60-46 with 9:33 remaining. But the Aztecs were not ready to go fold, answered back with an 8-0 run of their own until Kevin Woodberry hit a trey at the 6:44 mark.

San Diego State held BYU scoreless for the next five minutes, racking up eight more points to pull within one at 63-62 before Hansen's three.

"Jensen was solid in the post, and Shoff gave us some good play inside, too," Cleveland said. "Late in the game you just have to be able to execute, and I believe that contributed to us losing the 12-point lead."

The Aztecs last second shot went wide left, and a follow-up attempt also missed thanks to Hansen's deflection, as the Cougars escaped with the victory.

The Cougars continue conference play next Monday at in-state rival Utah in the MWC featured Big Monday game on ESPN. Game time is slated for 10 p.m. MST in Salt Lake City.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
San Diego State vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
02/17/03 9:00 PM at Brigham Young University
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VISITORS: San Diego State 12-10, 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
34 SANDERS, Aerick..... f  3-5    0-0    4-4    2  3  5   4  10  0  0  0  0  21
30 MACKELL, Mike....... c  5-9    0-0    4-6    0  2  2   1  14  1  5  0  0  34
00 JOHNSON, Tommy...... g  3-8    2-4    0-0    2  1  3   1   8  2  3  0  1  29
01 MOORE, Deandre...... g  5-8    4-6    2-3    1  2  3   2  16  3  0  0  1  34
04 BLAND, Tony......... g  2-7    0-0    3-5    2  5  7   4   7  4  2  0  2  34
05 HANOUR, Travis......    0-2    0-1    0-0    2  2  4   3   0  1  0  0  0  10
11 SIR, Steve..........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   3
15 SHARPER, John.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1   3
21 BURNS, Evan.........    2-4    0-1    2-3    1  5  6   3   6  1  1  0  0  24
22 MANKER, Chris.......    1-5    1-3    0-0    0  0  0   1   3  0  0  0  0   8
   TEAM................                         2  1  3
   Totals..............   21-48   7-15  15-21  12 21 33  19  64 12 12  0  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 52.0%   2nd Half:  8-23 34.8%   Game: 43.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-7  71.4%   2nd Half:  2-8  25.0%   Game: 46.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-8  62.5%   2nd Half: 10-13 76.9%   Game: 71.4%    2
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 18-6, 7-2
                          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  5-10   3-7    3-5    1  3  4   1  16  2  2  1  0  36
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f  4-5    0-0    2-2    1  2  3   3  10  1  1  0  1  26
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c  1-3    0-0    0-0    2  3  5   5   2  2  3  0  0  17
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  7-17   2-4    3-4    2  6  8   2  19  3  2  0  0  38
24 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g  3-7    2-4    0-1    0  2  2   1   8  2  1  0  2  31
05 SHOFF, Jake.........    1-1    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   3   2  0  0  0  0   7
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-2    0-2    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  1  1  0  0  10
14 BOWER, Ricky........    3-5    2-4    1-1    0  1  1   0   9  3  0  0  1  31
15 ALLEN, John.........    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  1  0  0  0   4
   TEAM................                         2  1  3
   Totals..............   24-51   9-21   9-13   9 19 28  19  66 15 10  1  4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-25 56.0%   2nd Half: 10-26 38.5%   Game: 47.1%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-10 50.0%   2nd Half:  4-11 36.4%   Game: 42.9%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-9  77.8%   2nd Half:  2-4  50.0%   Game: 69.2%    1
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Officials: Mike Giarrandano, Jim Danner, Lonnie Dixon
Technical fouls: San Diego State-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-ARAUJO, Rafael.
Attendance: 10665
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
San Diego State...............   36   28  -   64
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars.........   40   26  -   66
Points in the paint-SD 14,BY 18. Points off turnovers-SD 8,BY 17.
2nd chance points-SD 11,BY 9. Fast break points-SD 4,BY 2.
Bench points-SD 9,BY 11. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-2 times.