Araujo Carries Cougars to Victory at Boise State

BOISE -- Rafael Araujo carried the load and Mark Bigelow delivered in the clutch as BYU downed Boise State 75-69 Tuesday to earn its first road victory of the season.

The Cougars overcame a lead the Broncos held for much of the game to improve their record to 3-1 while previously unbeaten Boise State fell to 3-1 with the loss.

The Broncos had no answer to Araujo. The 6-foot-11, 280-pound Cougar center was nearly unstoppable inside while equaling a career-high 31 points and pulling down a season-best 14 rebounds. Araujo made 10-of-13 attempts from the floor and earned 14 trips to the free throw line, knocking down 11 shots from the charity stripe.

"Rafael was a man among boys tonight," Bigelow said. "He was getting good position and every time we got the ball to him he did something with it."

When Araujo wasn't getting good position inside he was showing his finesse and athletic ability on the perimeter. The biggest player on the court took one of his game-high three steals coast-to-coast and drove through the BSU defense from 20 feet out to score another goal. Araujo's performance was his second consecutive double-double effort after 24 points and 12 rebounds against UVSC.

"We did a good job of getting the ball into the post consistently," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "I really like the way Rafael kept himself composed. He also made some good passes out of the post, which allowed us to establish the inside first and then go outside."

On the outside was Bigelow, who like Araujo is a preseason All-MWC pick. After a poor-shooting first half had compounded his slow start over the first three games, the Cougar captain and four-year starter scored 10 points in the final seven minutes to allow BYU to take control of a tight game.

After an Araujo bucket gave BYU the lead at 57-55 -- the Cougars' first advantage since 6-5 -- Bigelow made two key plays to help BYU take a 68-60 lead with less than five minutes remaining. On the first, Bigelow got BSU's Coby Karl in the air with a pump fake and then hit a leaner while drawing the foul. After converting at the free throw line, Bigelow followed two Mike Hall free throws with a 22-foot bomb to give BYU its biggest lead of the game. He totaled 15 points on the night, moving past Marty Haws into 13th place on BYU's all-time scoring list.

"Mark had a focus. He really stepped up and hit big buckets that helped us win the game," Cleveland said. "We also did a better job of guarding in the second half."

Boise State controlled most of the first half. After a Bryan Defares trey gave Boise a game-high nine-point lead at 31-22, Araujo took over inside with six straight points in what proved to be a 13-4 Cougar run to even the score at 35 with 1:53 to go in the half. Two more Bronco treys by Jermaine Blackburn and Defares gave Boise State momentum to claim a 43-39 lead at the half.

Boise State shot 43 percent for the game compared to the Cougars' 51 percent clip. BSU shot 44 percent on threes while BYU connected on 4-of-10 attempts. BYU put the game away with free throws, making 21-of-27 for the game. Boise State went 12-for-17 from the line.

The Cougars' Kevin Woodberry came off the bench for the first time this year and contibuted eight points, along with Jared Jensen. Hall added seven points, Luiz Lemes four and Garner Meads two to round out BYU's scoring. Lemes had a team-best three assists along with four rebounds. Blackburn led four Boise State players in double figures with 20 points. Defares and Jason Ellis added 13 points each and Karl totaled 12. Defares led BSU with eight rebounds.

BYU now prepares to face nationally ranked Oklahoma State Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The game starts at 4 p.m.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BRIGHAM YOUNG vs BOISE STATE
12/2/03 7:35 pm at The Pavilion at Boise State (Boise, ID)
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VISITORS: BRIGHAM YOUNG 3-1
                          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  4-11   2-5    5-6    0  3  3   3  15  2  1  0  1  36
41 MEADS, Garner....... f  1-3    0-0    0-0    1  2  3   4   2  0  1  1  0  12
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 10-13   0-0   11-14   4 10 14   2  31  0  6  1  3  31
01 HALL, Mike.......... g  2-4    0-0    3-5    0  1  1   3   7  0  0  0  0  26
04 LEMES, Luiz......... g  2-6    0-0    0-0    1  3  4   2   4  3  2  0  0  36
00 WOODBERRY, Kevin....    3-4    2-3    0-0    0  2  2   1   8  1  3  0  1  33
02 ROSE, Mike..........    0-4    0-2    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1  10
05 SHOFF, Jake.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   1
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1   5
12 ROBERTS, Marc.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
52 JENSEN, Jared.......    3-4    0-0    2-2    1  0  1   1   8  0  1  0  0   8
   TEAM................                         1  1  2             1
   Totals..............   25-49   4-10  21-27   8 22 30  17  75  6 15  2  7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-23 52.2%   2nd Half: 13-26 50.0%   Game: 51.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-6  50.0%   2nd Half:  1-4  25.0%   Game: 40.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-14 85.7%   2nd Half:  9-13 69.2%   Game: 77.8%   3,1
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HOME TEAM: BOISE STATE 3-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 Haynes, Aaron....... f  2-3    0-0    1-2    0  0  0   4   5  0  6  0  0  14
45 Ellis, Jason........ f  5-9    0-0    3-4    2  5  7   3  13  2  0  2  0  30
01 Defares, Bryan...... g  5-15   2-4    1-2    4  4  8   2  13  2  3  0  0  34
04 Skiffer, Joe........ g  0-5    0-0    2-2    2  3  5   2   2  3  1  0  1  35
20 Nabors, Booker...... g  0-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   8
03 Lane, Eric..........    1-2    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  1  0  0  0   7
05 Karl, Coby..........    4-8    2-5    2-2    1  1  2   5  12  2  2  1  0  25
11 Avgerinos, Kostas...    0-1    0-0    2-2    0  1  1   2   2  0  0  0  1   9
21 Blackburn, Jermaine.    8-13   3-5    1-3    1  2  3   2  20  0  4  0  1  30
35 Harris, Franco......    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   8
   TEAM................                         2  3  5
   Totals..............   25-58   7-16  12-17  12 20 32  21  69 10 16  3  3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6%   2nd Half: 10-30 33.3%   Game: 43.1%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-9  55.6%   2nd Half:  2-7  28.6%   Game: 43.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-10 80.0%   2nd Half:  4-7  57.1%   Game: 70.6%    3
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Officials: Bill Gracey, Verne Harris, Randy McCall
Technical fouls: BRIGHAM YOUNG-None. BOISE STATE-None.
Attendance: 6908
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BRIGHAM YOUNG.................   39   36  -   75
BOISE STATE...................   43   26  -   69
Points in the paint-BY 32,BOISEST 28. Points off turnovers-BY 19,BOISEST 11.
2nd chance points-BY 7,BOISEST 9. Fast break points-BY 4,BOISEST 4.
Bench points-BY 16,BOISEST 36. Score tied-5 times. Lead changes-2 times.