Rose, Jensen Shine at Cougar Tipoff

PROVO -- Mike Rose scored 20 points, making six threes, and Jared Jensen added 18 points during Friday's full-length scrimmage that culminated Cougar Tipoff.

Cougar fans in attendance at the second annual event saw BYU players knock down 19 three-point shots, led by Rose's six treys.

"The players have the green light to shoot the three, that's one of our strengths," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "We have to shoot the three whenever it's open."

Rose made four of his threes in the first half -- scoring 14 points -- to help the Blue team claim the first 20 minutes, 42-32. The sophomore sharpshooter started with BYU's three seniors -- Terry Nashif at the point, Mike Hall at small forward, Jared Jensen at center -- and 6-foot-11 freshman Chris Miles. Sophomores Sam Burgess and Garner Meads came off the bench for the blue team.

The White team started three sophomores on the perimeter with Austin Ainge running the point and Jimmy Balderson and Keena Young on the wings, while true freshmen Trent Plaisted and David Burgess manned the post. Balderson scored eight points in the half and Burgess added seven but the White squad got its biggest output off the bench as David's brother Joshua scored nine points, including two threes. Newcomers Joshua Reisman and Brock Reichner also came off the bench for the white team in the first half.

"This was a night to learn and see where we're at," Cleveland said. "We have some options and depth on this team. We wanted to change the lineups, change the combinations, see what the chemistry is like. We can see how the various groups play together."

The slate was wiped clean to start the second half with Ainge, Sam Burgess, Hall, Plaisted and David Burgess on the floor for Blue to face Reisman, Young, Balderson, Meads and Miles. Blue won the second-half battle 36-24 thanks largely to Jensen and Rose coming off the bench to tally 13 and six points, respectively.

For the night, four players reached double figures in points. After Rose (20) and Jensen (18), Joshua Burgess scored 16 and Reichner added 11. Ten players scored at least eight points. David Burgess and Ainge both grabbed seven rebounds to lead all players while Plaisted added six boards. Sophomore center Derek Dawes was held out of the scrimmage to nurse an injury.

"I thought our post players did some good things," Cleveland said. "We got the ball to Jared and that's what we need to do. All three of our freshmen did some good things. We also did some good things defensively."

Prior to the scrimmage, the players participated in a slam-dunk exhibition and teamed with the BYU women's team in a two-ball shooting competition. Rose and Mallary Gillespie won the shooting contest by outdueling Nashif and Ambrosia Anderson in the finals. The evening also included fan contests and giveaways as well as an autograph party.

BYU will play its first exhibition game Friday when it hosts BYU-Hawaii in the Marriott Center at 7 p.m.

COUGAR TIPOFF
Mike Rose - 20 points, 2 rebounds
Jared Jensen - 18 points, 3 rebounds
Joshua Burgess - 16 points, 3 rebounds
Brock Reichner - 11 points, 3 rebounds
David Burgess - 9 points, 7 rebounds
Mike Hall - 8 points, 3 rebounds
Terry Nashif - 8 points, 1 rebound
Sam Burgess - 8 points, 4 rebounds
Jimmy Balderson - 8 points, 3 rebounds
Trent Plaisted - 8 points, 6 rebounds
Chris Miles - 7 points, 3 rebounds
Garner Meads - 6 points, 3 rebounds
Joshua Reisman - 5 points, 1 rebound
Keena Young - 0 points, 2 rebounds
Austin Ainge - 0 points, 7 rebounds
Derek Dawes - DNP