Hot-shooting Cougars Down Lobos
PROVO -- Rafael Araujo led four Cougars scoring in double figures with 18 points while grabbing eight rebounds as the Cougars defeated New Mexico 88-71 Saturday night in front of 18,367 screaming fans at the Marriott Center.
The Lobos used an early 9-0 run to jump out to a seven-point lead before the Cougars outscored New Mexico 22-3 to give BYU the lead for good at 32-23. New Mexico would pull within two points just before the half before Luiz Lemes buried a three to put BYU up by five at the half.
The Cougars shot well in the first half, hitting 53.6 percent of their shots, including 50 percent from behind the arc. BYU didn't cool off in the second half, opening the half on a 13-2 run to put the game out of reach. Senior forward Mark Bigelow helped ignite the Cougar run, scoring nine of his 16 points during the run.
The Cougars finished the game shooting a red-hot 60 percent from the floor and a season-high 52.3 from three-point land. Fan-favorite Mike Rose entered the game in the second half and promptly hit three of his four attempts from three-point range for nine points. The Lobos and Cougars tied a Marriott Center record set last year by the same two teams with a combined 23 three-pointers. The Lobos went 14-of-32 (.438) while BYU finished 9-of-17 from long range.
"Certainly, offensively I felt like we got the touches I wanted and we shot well," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "We had good movement."
BYU also had an excellent game on the defensive end of the floor, holding the Lobos to just 41.1 percent from the floor. Mike Hall frustrated New Mexico's Danny Granger, who lit up the Cougars for 27 points in their previous meeting, holding him nearly 12 points below his average with just nine points.
"I thought Mike Hall played extremely well," said Cleveland, who now has the second most victories by a BYU coach in the Marriott Center with an 82-18 record. "Guarding Granger is not easy and he responded really well. It was a solid win. It was exactly what we needed. We had a lot of guys step up and play well."
Besides his excellent defense, Hall poured in 16 points and grabbed five rebounds. Lemes was BYU's fourth player to score in double figures, finishing with 12 points.
Troy DeVries led the Lobos with 16 points on the strength of 5-of-9 three-point shooting. Javin Tindall contributed 12 points, including three treys.
With the victory, the Cougars improve to 7-4 in conference (17-7 overall), while the Lobos fall to 4-6 in conference (13-10 overall). The Cougars will face the MWC-leading Air Force Academy Monday evening at 8:30 p.m. in the Marriott Center.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Univ. of New Mexico vs Brigham Young University
02/21/04 7:07 PM at Brigham Young University
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VISITORS: Univ. of New Mexico 13-10, 4-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 NEALE, Alfred....... f 2-8 0-4 1-2 3 4 7 1 5 0 1 1 2 22
33 GRANGER, Danny...... f 3-9 1-4 2-4 1 2 3 3 9 0 2 0 1 30
13 CHIOTTI, David...... c 2-5 0-0 4-5 0 0 0 4 8 0 1 0 0 19
02 DEVRIES, Troy....... g 5-12 5-9 1-2 1 1 2 1 16 2 2 0 0 25
11 TINDALL, Javin...... g 4-7 3-6 1-3 0 3 3 2 12 4 3 0 2 33
00 WALTERS, Mark....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 5 0 2 0 0 0 18
01 WALTER, Kellen...... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2
05 FERRIS, Collins..... 2-4 2-3 2-2 1 2 3 2 8 1 3 0 0 18
20 WALL, Ryan.......... 1-2 0-1 0-0 2 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 0 7
22 HART, Jeff.......... 3-4 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 8 1 0 0 0 9
23 MILES, Lenny........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 13
25 BENSON, Justin...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
34 MONETTE, Mikal...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 23-56 14-32 11-18 9 19 28 20 71 13 13 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-27 40.7% 2nd Half: 12-29 41.4% Game: 41.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-15 46.7% 2nd Half: 7-17 41.2% Game: 43.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-13 53.8% 2nd Half: 4-5 80.0% Game: 61.1% 1
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young University 17-7, 7-4
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 6-8 2-4 2-4 1 5 6 2 16 4 3 0 0 30
41 MEADS, Garner....... f 2-2 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 3 6 1 1 1 0 8
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 7-13 0-2 4-6 1 7 8 2 18 1 1 3 0 27
01 HALL, Mike.......... g 7-11 1-1 1-4 2 3 5 2 16 0 2 0 2 36
04 LEMES, Luiz......... g 3-6 3-4 3-4 0 3 3 3 12 5 2 0 1 31
00 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... 1-4 0-2 2-3 2 1 3 1 4 6 0 0 0 24
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 3-5 3-4 0-0 0 2 2 1 9 0 1 0 0 12
05 SHOFF, Jake......... 1-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 4 4 1 1 0 0 7
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 7
13 AINGE, Austin....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 6
15 DRESSER, Mike....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
52 JENSEN, Jared....... 0-0 0-0 3-4 0 2 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 9
TEAM................ 4 4
Totals.............. 30-50 9-17 19-29 6 30 36 21 88 20 13 5 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-28 53.6% 2nd Half: 15-22 68.2% Game: 60.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-10 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 52.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 13-19 68.4% Game: 65.5% 5
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Officials: Scott Thornley, Bill Kennedy, Kelly Self
Technical fouls: Univ. of New Mexico-None. Brigham Young University-None.
Attendance: 18367
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Univ. of New Mexico........... 36 35 - 71
Brigham Young University...... 41 47 - 88
Attendance is season high to date.
Points in the paint-NM 17,BY 32. Points off turnovers-NM 17,BY 19.
2nd chance points-NM 6,BY 3. Fast break points-NM 7,BY 9.
Bench points-NM 21,BY 20. Score tied-3 times. Lead changes-5 times.
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