No. 21 Utes Pull Away in Second Half

PROVO -- A solid first half was not enough for the Cougars as the University of Utah pulled away to defeat BYU, 72-58, Monday in the Marriott Center in the first of two meetings between the in-state rivals.

The Cougars now stand at 7-14 overall and 1-5 in the Mountain West Conference while the No. 21 Utes are 18-3 and 6-0. Utah also increased its lead to 121-117 in the series, its largest margin ever.

BYU Coach Steve Cleveland said his team played a solid first half but made too many mistakes to stay in the game.

"The turning point of the game was in the second half," Cleveland said. "When we turned it over for the first five possessions of the second half, the swing of the game turned. We had control of the basketball game but we let it go in the first three or four minutes of the second half. We're not good enough to beat this caliber of team when our whole team isn't playing well."

Austin Ainge led three double figure scorers for BYU with 15 points while Jimmy Balderson recorded 13 and Keena Young contributed 10. Ainge added five assists, and Young and Garner Meads had four rebounds each.

"I thought Jimmy played very well," Cleveland said. "Our post players played well but they just aren't an offensive threat."

Four Utes finished with double digits, led by Andrew Bogut's game-high 20. Bryant Markson and Tim Drisdom had 11 points each, and Mark Jackson chipped in 10. Bogut also had a game-high nine rebounds and added four assists.

For the game, the Cougars shot 43.2 percent (19-44) while Utah connected on 61.9 percent of its shots (26-42). The Utes also won the rebounding battle, grabbing 27 to BYU's 20.

The Cougars did not let Utah's No. 21 ranking intimidate them in the first period as they came out aggressive on both sides of the ball. Derek Dawes gave BYU its first lead at 3-2 with a thunderous dunk off a feed from Ainge.

The Utes went ahead at 7-5 before an Ainge three gave the Cougars a lead they would hold for more than nine minutes. Rose hit a three from the corner that was followed by an Ainge turnaround jumper over Bogut, putting BYU up 15-9.

Utah chipped its way back into the game with a 5-0 run, cutting the lead to 15-14, but a Balderson layup for the Cougars pushed the lead back to three. The Utes then went on an 8-2 run, capped by layups from Jackson and Bogut to give Utah a 22-19 lead.

BYU put together a run of its own with Jared Jensen and Ainge hitting two-point field goals and Balderson nailing a three. A Jensen free throw extended the Cougars' lead to 27-24.

Utah took the lead once more on four consecutive free throws by Bogut. Meads came down the floor determined to send his team into the locker room with the lead, rebounding his own miss and putting it back for the 29-28 halftime lead. It marked only the fourth time this season the Utes have gone into the locker room trailing. The shot also made Meads the eighth BYU player to score in the first half.

Utah stormed out of the gates in the second period of play, scoring the first four points before Balderson tied the score at 32 with a three pointer from the corner. The Utes then scored seven straight points, forcing a BYU timeout.

The timeout did not halt the momentum as Markson kept the run alive by getting a dunk and a three-pointer to put the Utes up 44-32, extend the run to 16-3 and forcing another Cougar timeout.

Hall ended the run with a turnaround jumper out of the timeout to pull the Cougars to within 10. But Utah again pulled away, going up by 13 at 54-41. Balderson responded with a three to again cut the lead to 10. BYU would get no closer as the Utes stayed in control the rest of the way to take the game and stay perfect in the Mountain West Conference.

The Cougars will be back in action Saturday Feb. 5 against UNLV to complete the first half of MWC play. BYU and the Rebels will tip off at noon PST in Las Vegas. The game will be televised on ESPN+. The radio broadcast can be heard on KSL Newsradio 1160.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
University of Utah vs Brigham Young
01/31/05 10:01 PM at Marriot Center, Provo, UT
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VISITORS: University of Utah 18-3, 6-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
20 MARKSON, Bryant..... f  5-7    1-1    0-0    1  3  4   3  11  1  5  1  2  32
30 JACKSON, Chris...... f  0-0    0-0    0-2    0  0  0   4   0  0  0  0  0   6
04 BOGUT, Andrew....... c  7-10   0-0    6-8    1  8  9   2  20  4  4  5  1  37
02 JACKSON, Marc....... g  3-7    0-3    4-4    1  3  4   3  10  4  2  0  0  37
11 DRISDOM, Tim........ g  4-6    1-3    2-3    1  1  2   2  11  2  2  0  1  30
03 CALVIN, Jermaine....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
05 HAWKINS, Justin.....    4-4    0-0    1-1    2  2  4   2   9  1  1  0  0  23
10 IVERSON, Casey......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
13 CHANEY, Richard.....    2-4    0-0    3-3    0  2  2   4   7  1  1  0  0  14
15 GRANT, Chris........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   1
51 LANGVAD, Jonas......    1-4    0-1    2-2    0  0  0   0   4  0  0  0  1  17
   TEAM................                         1  1  2
   Totals..............   26-42   2-8   18-23   7 20 27  20  72 13 16  6  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  9-18 50.0%   2nd Half: 17-24 70.8%   Game: 61.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-6  16.7%   2nd Half:  1-2  50.0%   Game: 25.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  9-12 75.0%   2nd Half:  9-11 81.8%   Game: 78.3%    3
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young 7-14, 1-5
                          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  1-7    0-3    2-2    0  1  1   3   4  1  0  2  2  31
03 YOUNG, Keena........ f  3-6    0-0    4-7    1  3  4   3  10  2  2  0  2  23
43 DAWES, Derek........ c  2-3    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   5   4  0  2  0  1  17
13 AINGE, Austin....... g  5-8    1-3    4-5    0  0  0   1  15  5  3  0  1  32
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g  4-6    3-4    2-4    1  1  2   3  13  0  1  0  1  20
02 ROSE, Mike..........    1-2    1-1    0-0    0  1  1   3   3  0  2  0  0  23
04 BURGESS, Joshua.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  2  1  0  0   9
12 REICHNER, Brock.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
20 BURGESS, Sam........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
41 MEADS, Garner.......    2-6    0-0    0-0    3  1  4   1   4  0  1  1  0  17
52 JENSEN, Jared.......    1-3    0-0    3-5    2  1  3   1   5  0  0  0  1  14
54 MILES, Chris........    0-2    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  0  1  0   8
   TEAM................                            2  2
   Totals..............   19-44   5-11  15-23   9 11 20  22  58 10 12  4  8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-26 42.3%   2nd Half:  8-18 44.4%   Game: 43.2%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-7  42.9%   2nd Half:  2-4  50.0%   Game: 45.5%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-7  57.1%   2nd Half: 11-16 68.8%   Game: 65.2%    4
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Officials: David Hall, Randy McCall, Larry Spaulding
Technical fouls: University of Utah-MARKSON, Bryant. Brigham Young-HALL,
Mike; MILES, Chris.
Attendance: 14072
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
University of Utah............   28   44  -   72
Brigham Young.................   29   29  -   58
Points in the paint-UT 44,BY 18. Points off turnovers-UT 17,BY 24.
2nd chance points-UT 8,BY 5. Fast break points-UT 4,BY 0.
Bench points-UT 20,BY 12. Score tied-4 times. Lead changes-12 times.