Balderson, Reichner Lead BYU To Road Win

FORT COLLINS -- The Cougars snapped their seven-game Mountain West Conference road losing streak Saturday night with an 86-84 win over Colorado State in Moby Arena thanks to big nights from Jimmy Balderson and Brock Reichner. BYU picked up its second road win overall this year while the Rams lost at home for only the second time this season.

"This has been a big week for our team," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "We got down early tonight, but we've shown that we have the character to overcome challenges and have good results. Both teams played hard tonight and left everything out there on the floor. I'm just proud of our guys for finishing it off and getting the win."

Balderson finished with a career-high 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the floor while Reichner added 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 mark from the free-throw line before fouling out. Trent Plaisted added 15 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and Fernando Malaman contributed 10 points.

"Jimmy really stepped up tonight, and Brock played like a leader and settled things down," said Rose. "Trent made the big plays we needed. Those are the guys that we need to play well in order to win and they did for us tonight."

BYU started the game slow, making just one of its first eight shots while watching the Rams drain seven of their first eight and jump out to a 17-6 lead. Reichner single-handedly kept the Cougars in the game, scoring BYU's first 10 points until Malaman stroked a three-pointer at the 12:21 mark. The Cougars recorded six turnovers in the first 4:40, resulting in 11 CSU points.

With his team, down 11, junior Austin Ainge entered the game at the point guard spot and got the Cougar offense clicking, as BYU went on a 30-11 run over the next seven minutes to take a 36-28 lead. The run featured 12 points from Balderson and two dunks from Plaisted, including a spectacular one-handed slam off of an alley-oop pass from Austin Ainge on the fastbreak.

"That dunk was spectacular," said Rose. "When Austin let that pass go, I thought it would be our eighth or ninth turnover. I never thought Trent would make the dunk. To see it go down like that was amazing. It was one of the best dunks I've seen in my experience at any level."

The Rams attempted a comeback late in the first half as they held BYU to just one field goal in 5:42 to take a 39-38 advantage. But the lead was short-lived as the Cougars scored five of the next six points to take a 43-41 lead into the locker room at the half.

Colorado State made the first bucket of the second half to retake the lead, but Balderson made quick work of the Rams from there, scoring six points during a 12-4 run to give BYU a 55-47 lead. Colorado State battled back at the free-throw line with a 9-2 spurt featuring five makes from the stripe to cut the lead to just one point at 57-56. But the Cougars answered right back with an 13-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 70-58 with 10 minutes to play.

However, BYU went cold from the floor from there, going 7:21 without a field goal and allowing the Rams to take their first lead since the opening bucket of the half at 78-77 with 2:56 left to play. With the fans going wild, Reichner stroked a three-pointer on the other end to give the Cougars an 80-78 advantage. The Rams threatened again with two free-throw opportunities but could not convert the second shot, allowing Rashaun Broadus to drain a three-pointer off the fastbreak for a four-point cushion with just under two minutes to play. Colorado State sank two free throws but Balderson converted a layin to maintain BYU's lead.

But Colorado State was not going down easily, stroking a three-pointer on its next trip down the floor to cut the lead to one point with 55 seconds left to play. A turnover by Balderson gave the Rams the chance play for the win with 33 seconds left but a missed jumper and a subsequent rebound by Malaman with 14 seconds to play took the wind out of the Rams' sails.

With their first back-to-back wins of league play in hand, the Cougars are now 12-6 overall and 4-3 in the MWC. Colorado State falls to 12-8 overall and 1-6 in conference.

BYU now travels to New Mexico for a 7 p.m. Wednesday night matchup with the Lobos being televised in Utah on Comcast local channel 3. The Cougars then return home to host Air Force Saturday at 1 p.m. in the featured MWC Game of the Week on ESPN+.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs Colorado State
1/28/06 7:05 p.m. at Fort Collins, Colo. (Moby Arena)
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VISITORS: BYU 12-6, 4-3 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
03 YOUNG, Keena........ f  1-5    0-0    1-4    0  2  2   3   3  0  3  0  2  21
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... f  7-15   0-0    1-2    4  3  7   5  15  3  0  1  3  30
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g  2-5    2-3    0-2    0  0  0   2   6  2  3  0  1  22
11 REICHNER, Brock..... g  6-10   4-6    7-7    2  3  5   5  23  5  2  0  4  36
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g  0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  2  3  0  0   6
04 EMERY, Jackson......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  1  0   2
13 AINGE, Austin.......    1-5    0-2    3-4    0  1  1   3   5  6  2  1  2  21
15 MALAMAN, Fernando...    4-5    1-1    1-1    1  2  3   3  10  1  1  1  3  26
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy....    8-12   1-2    7-8    0  4  4   1  24  2  2  0  2  35
43 DAWES, Derek........    0-0    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   2   0  0  0  0  0   1
   TEAM................                            1  1             1
   Totals..............   29-57   8-14  20-28   8 16 24  25  86 21 17  4 17 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-31 48.4%   2nd Half: 14-26 53.8%   Game: 50.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-6  50.0%   2nd Half:  5-8  62.5%   Game: 57.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-11 90.9%   2nd Half: 10-17 58.8%   Game: 71.4%    3
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HOME TEAM: Colorado State 12-8, 1-6 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
14 SMITH, Jason........ f  8-11   1-1    6-8    2  7  9   2  23  4  8  4  0  31
55 HARRISON, Michael... f  3-3    0-0    3-3    1  3  4   4   9  1  3  3  0  26
04 LEWIS, Cory......... g  6-13   1-3    3-5    0  2  2   4  16  8  3  0  3  34
32 MORRIS, Micheal..... g  1-4    0-1    2-4    4  3  7   4   4  4  2  1  3  24
33 GILLING, Stephan.... g  4-7    3-6    0-0    0  0  0   3  11  1  1  0  2  28
01 MORRIS, Sean........    1-4    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  2  1  0  1   7
03 HARRIS, Chris.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   0   0  0  2  0  0   6
13 ROBINSON, Freddy....    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   2  0  1  0  1   8
21 PATTERSON, Andrew...    1-2    1-1    0-0    0  1  1   2   3  0  0  0  1  13
30 CREASON, Stuart.....    3-3    0-0    8-11   0  4  4   4  14  1  3  0  0  23
   TEAM................                         2  2  4
   Totals..............   28-48   6-13  22-31   9 25 34  24  84 21 24  8 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-23 65.2%   2nd Half: 13-25 52.0%   Game: 58.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-7  42.9%   2nd Half:  3-6  50.0%   Game: 46.2%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-13 61.5%   2nd Half: 14-18 77.8%   Game: 71.0%    4
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Officials: Jim Stupin, Tim Gabutero, Greg Burks
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Colorado State-None.
Attendance: 4043
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   43   43  -   86
Colorado State................   41   43  -   84
ID-360554
Points in the paint-BY 32,CS 32. Points off turnovers-BY 30,CS 22.
2nd chance points-BY 12,CS 12. Fast break points-BY 10,CS 8.
Bench points-BY 39,CS 21. Score tied-6 times. Lead changes-7 times.