Reichner Leads BYU over Washington State

Victory Marks Head Coach Dave Rose's First Win

SPOKANE -- The BYU Cougars gave head coach Dave Rose his first win Tuesday night as they defeated Washington State 76-68 at Spokane Arena. The Cougars came out strong and never trailed in the victory, which evened their season record at 1-1.

"Tonight was a team effort for our guys, and that's what I'll remember for a while," Rose said. "We got great performances from six or seven guys and good performances from three or four others. When you see guys make big plays and when you see your team respond when opponents make runs at you, those are things that make a coach happy."

Brock Reichner, BYU's lone senior, made an immediate impact in his first start of the season and just the third start of his BYU career. The 6-foot-4 guard scored on the opening possession en route to topping his career-high with 10 points in just the first half while scoring a total of 18. On the defensive end, Reichner was assigned to guard sophomore Josh Akognon, who led WSU with 22 points in its season-opening win over UC Riverside. Akognon was not a factor in the game with Reichner on the floor, finishing with five points and going scoreless until three minutes into the second half.

Four of BYU's five starters scored in double figures on the night as Fernando Malaman tallied a career-high 14 points, Jimmy Balderson contributed 12 and Trent Plaisted added 10 in addition to Reichner's 18. Both Plaisted and Balderson have scored in double figures in every game this season including both exhibition contests.

"This was a team win," said Reichner. "Everyone hit big shots at big times. We wanted to win and thought we deserved to win. It was a great game overall."

Defense was the name of the game for both teams as shots and rebounds were at a premium. BYU shot 55.3 percent (26-47) from the field while Washington State hit 54.8 percent (23-42) of its shots, including a 63 percent first-half efficiency. The Crimson Cougars outrebounded the Provo Cougars, 23-22, marking the first time a Dick Bennett-coached Washington State team won the rebounding battle but lost the game. BYU's win avenged a 49-46 loss to WSU last season in the Delta Center

"I was impressed by BYU," said Bennett. "They played a much more aggressive and hard-nosed game than they playing last year. They came out alert and ready to play."

BYU came out solid in the first half on both ends of the court as the Provo Cougars scored the first six points of the game while building an early 8-2 lead and holding Washington State without a bucket from the floor until the 16:22 mark. The WSU offense got going from there but could not surmount the early deficit, tying the game at 20-20 with just over six minutes remaining but coming no closer as the Cougars in blue responded with an 8-0 run to tie their largest lead of the half.

WSU tried one more time late in the half, cutting the lead to three at the 1:20 mark on a Randy Green three-point bucket from the corner. With 21 seconds left before the break, Washington State had a chance to cut the lead to one, but ended up going into the locker room down 34-30 when Ivory Clark missed one of his two free throws and BYU's Austin Ainge hit a driving shot in the paint just before time expired.

The second half was much the same as the first as BYU maintained a cushion, pushing the lead to nine points at one time, but was continually challenged by WSU. Washington State made things interesting late in the second frame with a three-pointer followed by a dunk to cut the lead to three points. With the Wazzou crowd roaring, Rashaun Broadus picked the pocket of WSU's Clark and took the ball all the way to the hoop. The Provo Cougars continued to respond to every WSU push, finding answers from Young, Balderson and Reichner down the stretch to secure the win.

Clark led Washington State, now 1-1, with a game-high 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting. He shared game-high rebounding honors with BYU's Malaman, both players grabbing five boards. Led by Reichner's three treys, BYU shot well from long range, making 9-of-18 triples, with six different players converting from behind the arc. WSU made 7-of-19 three-pointers.

BYU will now return home for a matchup with Southern Utah on Saturday in the Marriott Center. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs Washington State
11/22/05 7:05 p.m. at Spokane, Wash. (Spokane Arena)
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VISITORS: BYU 1-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 MALAMAN, Fernando... f  6-8    2-3    0-0    0  5  5   4  14  1  1  0  3  31
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c  2-5    0-0    6-8    1  0  1   4  10  1  5  0  2  27
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g  2-5    1-2    1-2    0  2  2   3   6  5  1  0  1  23
11 REICHNER, Brock..... g  6-10   3-5    3-6    0  1  1   0  18  0  0  0  3  30
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g  4-9    1-4    3-4    1  3  4   3  12  1  2  0  1  28
02 ROSE, Mike..........    0-2    0-1    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  1  0  0   3
03 YOUNG, Keena........    3-3    0-0    2-2    1  3  4   4   8  0  2  0  0  21
04 EMERY, Jackson......    1-1    1-1    0-0    0  0  0   1   3  0  0  0  0  10
13 AINGE, Austin.......    1-2    0-0    0-1    0  1  1   0   2  5  1  0  0  17
30 CUMMARD, Lee........    1-2    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   1   3  1  1  0  0  10
   TEAM................                         1  1  2
   Totals..............   26-47   9-18  15-23   5 17 22  20  76 14 14  0 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-23 56.5%   2nd Half: 13-24 54.2%   Game: 55.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-10 50.0%   2nd Half:  4-8  50.0%   Game: 50.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-5  60.0%   2nd Half: 12-18 66.7%   Game: 65.2%   5,1
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HOME TEAM: Washington State 1-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
33 Clark, Ivory........ f  8-10   0-0    7-10   2  3  5   0  23  0  4  1  1  34
42 Henry, Chris........ c  0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   5   0  0  1  0  1  20
01 Akognon, Josh....... g  2-8    1-7    0-0    0  4  4   1   5  0  2  0  0  30
02 Low, Derrick........ g  3-7    3-6    4-4    0  0  0   0  13  7  3  0  1  38
25 Weaver, Kyle........ g  3-4    0-0    1-3    0  0  0   4   7  4  3  0  1  24
05 Matthews, Chris.....    1-2    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   1   3  0  0  0  0   6
11 Baynes, Aron........    3-5    0-0    3-4    0  3  3   3   9  0  2  0  0  14
12 Green, Randy........    1-4    1-3    0-0    1  2  3   3   3  1  1  0  0  25
23 Chavers, Antonio....    2-2    1-1    0-0    0  2  2   4   5  1  1  0  0   9
   TEAM................                         1  3  4
   Totals..............   23-42   7-19  15-21   4 19 23  21  68 13 17  1  4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-16 62.5%   2nd Half: 13-26 50.0%   Game: 54.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-8  37.5%   2nd Half:  4-11 36.4%   Game: 36.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-10 70.0%   2nd Half:  8-11 72.7%   Game: 71.4%    3
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Officials: Randy McCall, Mike Littlewood, Brian Shelley
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Washington State-None.
Attendance: 3138
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   34   42  -   76
Washington State..............   30   38  -   68
Points in the paint-BY 24,WASHST 22. Points off turnovers-BY 18,WASHST 12.
2nd chance points-BY 4,WASHST 6. Fast break points-BY 8,WASHST 0.
Bench points-BY 16,WASHST 20. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-0 times.