Cougars Fall Short In Thriller

PROVO -- Mike Hall carried the Cougars late in the second half but the Cougars would come up short to the California Bears in a 67-64 thriller Saturday night in the Marriott Center that ended BYU's 18-game home winning streak. Hall delivered plenty of key baskets, finishing with a career-high 23 points for the Cougars.

Cal's size and athleticism proved to be difficult to handle as the Cougars trailed at the half, 39-31. Despite the absence of last year's Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, Leon Powe who was sidelined from a knee injury and starting point guard Ayinde Ubaka who was out with a foot injury, the Golden Bears came out on fire.

In the first half, the Golden Bears shot a stifling 48.5 percent led by Richard Midgley who finished with 15 points to the Cougars' 27.3 percent shooting from the field. The Cougars were out-rebounded 27-18 while the Golden Bears took advantage of many of their offensive rebounds and converted them into easy two-point baskets.

"This ball game was determined in the first 20 minutes," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. "We didn't match their aggression level tonight."

The Cougars and 9,857 screaming fans came alive early in the second half with a Hall 3-pointer, but Cal would bounce back with a Midgley 3-pointer and a DeVon Hardin put-back dunk. Throughout the half the Cougars and Golden Bears traded baskets, yet the Cougars were never able to bring the game closer than five points until the final minutes.

The Cougars fought hard to bring the score to within two at 64-66 with under a minute to play after Mike Hall was fouled on a three point-shot and hit all three free throws. Cal guard Martin Smith was fouled with 17.1 seconds in the game but was only able to extended the Cal lead to three, giving the Cougars one chance to tie the game. In the end, the Cougars fell short on a desperate shot from beyond the arc by Jared Jensen.

"In the second half, we competed and tried to win the game," Cleveland said. "We did better on the boards, but we lost the game on offensive rebounds."

The Cougars struggled shooting throughout the game, finishing with 32.8 percent from the field, the Cougars' second-lowest shooting percentage of the season, to the Golden Bears' 44.8 percent. Terry Nashif's size didn't get in the way of his dominating play as he scored a season-high eight points while adding eight rebounds and a team-high five assists.

After falling to 1-3 on the season with the loss, the Cougars' next two match-ups are away from the Marriott Center when they will face Utah State on Wednesday, December 1 and USC on Saturday, December 4. The Utah State game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and can be seen locally on KJZZ. Tip-off for USC is set for 7:30 p.m. and can be seen on Fox Sports Net 2.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
CALIFORNIA vs Brigham Young
11/27/04 7:00 at Marriott Center
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VISITORS: CALIFORNIA 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 MC GUIRE, Dominic... f  3-5    0-0    0-0    2  4  6   3   6  2  1  1  1  25
35 HARDIN, DeVon....... f  4-7    0-0    4-6    5  7 12   1  12  1  0  3  1  32
00 BENSON, Rod......... c  6-11   0-0    2-5    2  0  2   3  14  1  0  0  0  29
15 MIDGLEY, Richard.... g  4-9    3-5    4-4    0  2  2   3  15  0  2  0  0  31
25 KATELY, Marquise.... g  5-11   0-2    0-1    3  4  7   3  10  0  5  0  0  31
14 VIERNEISEL, Eric....    0-2    0-2    0-0    0  2  2   0   0  1  1  0  1  15
20 SMITH, Martin.......    2-4    0-0    2-4    1  2  3   1   6  1  1  0  0  18
32 LANGFORD, Kevin.....    0-2    0-0    0-2    1  1  2   2   0  0  2  1  0   9
55 PARIS, David........    2-7    0-0    0-0    3  3  6   1   4  0  2  0  1  10
   TEAM................                         1  2  3
   Totals..............   26-58   3-9   12-22  18 27 45  17  67  6 14  5  4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-33 48.5%   2nd Half: 10-25 40.0%   Game: 44.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-6  16.7%   2nd Half:  2-3  66.7%   Game: 33.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-9  66.7%   2nd Half:  6-13 46.2%   Game: 54.5%    3
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young 1-3
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
01 HALL, Mike.......... f  8-18   3-7    4-5    3  1  4   1  23  2  0  0  3  37
03 YOUNG, Keena........ f  2-7    0-0    2-2    5  1  6   3   6  2  0  1  0  21
52 JENSEN, Jared....... c  4-10   0-0    4-5    2  0  2   4  12  2  0  0  1  34
10 NASHIF, Terry....... g  3-8    2-5    0-0    0  8  8   4   8  5  3  0  0  31
20 BURGESS, Sam........ g  1-5    1-4    3-3    1  0  1   3   6  0  1  0  1  12
02 ROSE, Mike..........    0-4    0-4    1-2    0  3  3   3   1  1  0  0  1  17
13 AINGE, Austin.......    0-2    0-1    2-2    0  1  1   0   2  0  1  0  0   9
34 BURGESS, David......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
43 DAWES, Derek........    2-7    0-0    0-0    4  4  8   1   4  0  2  3  0  19
54 MILES, Chris........    1-3    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   2  0  1  1  0  18
   TEAM................                         4  1  5
   Totals..............   21-64   6-21  16-19  19 20 39  19  64 12  8  5  6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-33 27.3%   2nd Half: 12-31 38.7%   Game: 32.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-11 27.3%   2nd Half:  3-10 30.0%   Game: 28.6%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-13 76.9%   2nd Half:  6-6  100 %   Game: 84.2%   0,1
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Officials: David Hall, Randy McCall, Tim Gabutero
Technical fouls: CALIFORNIA-None. Brigham Young-None.
Attendance: 9857
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
CALIFORNIA....................   39   28  -   67
Brigham Young.................   31   33  -   64