Lemes, Araujo Lead Cougars over Idaho State

SANTA CLARA -- Led by the play and leadership of its senior Brazilian combination, BYU pulled away for a 90-66 win over Idaho State Monday night at the Leavey Center. Point guard Luiz Lemes scored a career-high 20 points and center Rafael Araujo posted game highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cougars.

The win improves BYU to 8-2 on the season, and moves the Cougars into the finals of the Cable Car Classic against host Santa Clara Tuesday at 8 p.m. PST (9 p.m. MST). The loss drops ISU to 3-8.

Lemes shot 6-for-8 from the field, including 3-of-4 treys, and also dished out six assists, grabbed four rebounds and had two steals. Araujo continued his string of dominance, scoring 19 of his 23 points in the second half, while posting his seventh double-double in the Cougars' last eight games.

Junior guard Mike Hall and senior forward Mark Bigelow also scored in double figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively.

"We played very well in our first five or six minutes in each half," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "It was a sloppy game, though, and I think their match-up zone contributed to that.

"We just need to be more consistent and take better care of the ball, and we'll be better tomorrow night."

The Cougars started the game with a fierce 16-2 run in the first 4:39 of the first half. Included in the run was a 14-0 stretch that was capped by an Araujo put-back on a missed free throw. The Bengals, however, proved to be a scrappy team throughout the half, and countered the overwhelming BYU run with a 7-0 run of their own, to narrow BYU's lead to 16-9.

BYU struggled from the field, going almost five minutes without a field goal, to let ISU back into the game, until Terry Nashif stemmed the Bengal tide with a trey at the 10:38 mark to make it 20-11 BYU.

A flurry of baskets by both teams followed, but the Cougars again started to pull away with an 8-0 run, powered by two Hall baskets to give BYU a 16-point cushion at 31-15, and forcing ISU into a 30-second timeout.

ISU refused to budge, however, and promptly replied with a 10-0 run of their own to trump the Cougars' effort, and slim the BYU lead to 31-23. A Mark Bigelow free throw at the 2:28 mark got the Cougars back on the scoreboard, but BYU continued to struggle missing eight field goals down the stretch and a Scott Henry bucket brought ISU to within five points at 32-27 BYU at the 2:06 mark. Then Lemes exploded for back-to-back 3-pointers with 49 and 10 seconds left in the half, respectively, to push BYU's lead back into double-digits at 39-27 heading into the locker room.

BYU came out of the break an aggressive, attacking team with a 17-3 run in the first 4:49 the second half. Araujo, who was held to four points in the first half, poured in 10 points in that stretch, to spur the Cougars on their run, and give them a 56-30 lead.

"I need to have a lot of patience," Araujo said. "I want to score and I want to help my teammates and help my team win.

"We learned from our mistakes in the first half, and needed to play well in the second half -- and we did."

Then, as was the case in the first half, ISU fought back with a 10-0 run of their own to stay in the game. The Cougars, though, proved time and time again to be too big and talented for the Bengals, as Araujo, Hall and Lemes kept BYU rolling.

With the shot clock running down, Araujo hit a three at the 9:12 mark for his fourth trey of the season, surpassing his 2002 total. The 6-foot-11 280-pound center is now 4-for-11 on 3-point shooting on the year.

After sitting out the first nine games of the season due to an injury, redshirt freshman guard Austin Ainge made his collegiate debut with 1:34 to go in the game. Ainge hit his only shot to score two points and complete the BYU scoring.

BYU out-rebounded ISU 37-20 and out-shot the Bengals 57 percent to 52 percent.

"Our sloppy play led to a lot of turnovers and a lot of easy baskets for the other team," Cleveland said. "If we don't cough the ball up as much they don't shoot over 50 percent."

Santa Clara defeated Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 66-64, to win the opening game of the Cable Car Classic. The Broncos bring an 8-5 record into Tuesday's game against BYU.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs Idaho State
Dec. 29 8:00 p.m. at Santa Clara, Calif.
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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
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f  3-10   2-5    2-4    1  2  3   3  10  3  2  0  2  27
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f  2-3    0-0    3-5    1  0  1   3   7  1  2  0  1  17
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 10-13   1-1    2-3    4  7 11   3  23  1  6  2  2  28
01 HALL, Mike.......... g  6-9    0-1    3-3    3  3  6   0  15  2  4  0  2  35
04 LEMES, Luiz......... g  6-8    3-4    5-6    1  3  4   1  20  6  5  0  2  31
00 WOODBERRY, Kevin....    2-7    1-6    0-0    0  3  3   2   5  1  1  0  0  21
02 ROSE, Mike..........    1-3    1-3    0-0    1  1  2   0   3  0  1  0  0   6
05 SHOFF, Jake.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   2   0  1  1  0  0  12
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    1-3    1-3    0-0    0  1  1   4   3  8  0  0  1  18
13 AINGE, Austin.......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   2  0  0  0  0   2
41 MEADS, Garner.......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  1  0  0  0   3
   TEAM................                         2  1  3
   Totals..............   33-58   9-23  15-21  14 23 37  19  90 24 22  2 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-28 46.4%   2nd Half: 20-30 66.7%   Game: 56.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-16 31.3%   2nd Half:  4-7  57.1%   Game: 39.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-13 61.5%   2nd Half:  7-8  87.5%   Game: 71.4%    1
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HOME TEAM: Idaho State 3-8
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
31 HENRY, Scott........ f  5-7    0-0    0-1    1  2  3   3  10  1  2  1  1  36
34 D'AMORE, Doug....... f  2-4    1-1    0-0    0  1  1   1   5  1  2  0  2  13
42 SMITH, Jesse........ c  2-6    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   4  1  2  0  0  19
11 GARDNER, Jeff....... g  7-10   5-6    3-5    0  1  1   2  22  4  3  0  2  32
23 POOLE, Marquis...... g  3-8    0-1    5-8    0  5  5   3  11  6 10  0  5  31
05 LEWIS, Arzelle......    1-3    0-2    1-2    0  1  1   0   3  4  0  0  2  16
10 THOMAS, Maurice.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
15 JORDAN, Che'........    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   6
21 REDE, Nate..........    3-6    0-0    0-0    1  2  3   2   6  0  0  1  3  21
32 KEY, Sale'..........    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
33 BRADLEY, Aaron......    2-2    1-1    0-0    1  3  4   4   5  0  3  0  0  23
   TEAM................                         1     1
   Totals..............   25-48   7-11   9-16   4 16 20  17  66 17 22  2 15 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-24 50.0%   2nd Half: 13-24 54.2%   Game: 52.1%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-4  50.0%   2nd Half:  5-7  71.4%   Game: 63.6%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-3  33.3%   2nd Half:  8-13 61.5%   Game: 56.3%    3
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Officials: Bob Sitov, Melvin Landry, Scott Harris
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-ARAUJO, Rafael. Idaho State-None.
Attendance: 1903
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Brigham Young.................   39   51  -   90
Idaho State...................   27   39  -   66
ID-220010
First Round, Cable Car Classic
Points in the paint-BY 44,IDAHOST 32. Points off turnovers-BY 39,IDAHOST 29.
2nd chance points-BY 10,IDAHOST 4. Fast break points-BY 8,IDAHOST 10.
Bench points-BY 15,IDAHOST 14. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-0 times.