Balderson Leads Cougars in Overtime Thriller

PROVO -- BYU defeated Idaho State in thrilling fashion Saturday evening at the Marriott Center, as the Cougars posted an 84-78 overtime victory. With the win, BYU climbs to 1-1, while Idaho State falls to 1-2 on the season.

Jimmy Balderson paced the Cougars with 23 points, while Keena Young added 18 points and 10 rebounds to record the fourth double-double of his career. Idaho State's Akbar Abdul-Ahad led all scorers with 26 points on the evening. Austin Ainge posted a game-high four assists.

"Our guys got in a fight; they battled, competed and made big shots and free throws," head coach Dave Rose said. "Our guys were determined and fought until the end. There was a good atmosphere tonight for an early November game."

BYU got off to a fast start, jumping out to an early 8-0 lead, which included two steals and a block. Trent Plaisted started the Cougar scoring with a baseline dunk 15 seconds into the game followed by a BYU steal that resulted in a Young jumper. Moments later, Plaisted blocked Idaho State's John Ofoegbu, resulting in another bucket from Young. Balderson and Lee Cummard teamed up to score the final bucket of the run. Balderson made a steal and flipped the ball up court to Cummard, who netted the layup.

Ofoegbu finally put the Bengals on the board at the 15:47 mark, scoring back-to-back layups. Matt Stucki then hit a three pointer for Idaho State, drawing the score even, 10-10, with just under 14 minutes remaining in the half.

Cummard immediately responded with an offensive putback to regain the Cougar lead, 12-10.

Austin Ainge added a spark for BYU when he entered the game at the 11-minute mark, going 3-for-5 from behind the arc overall and converting his first three attempts.

With nine minutes remaining in the half, Ainge brought the ball down the floor, hesitated at the free-throw line and lobbed a pass to a streaking Malaman, giving the Cougars a nine-point lead, 25-16.

Balderson extended the lead to 12 points with 6:47 left in the half. He received the ball on the left wing, slipped past a Bengal defender, drove to the opposite side of the basket and layed the ball in. Balderson was fouled on the shot and converted the three-point play.

David Schroeder then nailed a much-needed three pointer for Idaho State, but Ainge quickly responded with a three-point bucket of his own.

The Bengals held on for the last shot of the half with Austin Kilpatrick draining a three-pointer to send Idaho State into the half down 13 points, 42-29.

Idaho State started the second half on fire, going on a 24-5 run during the first 11 minutes. BYU went just 1-for-10 from the field to open the half.

"In the second half, it took us a long time to get started," Rose said. "We went four, five, six, minutes only getting one field goal. We played on our heels. They had some good double teams that created turnovers."

The Bengals started the half with a free throw from David Schroeder, an offensive putback by Ofoegbu and a layup from Logan Kinghorn.

BYU finally got on the board three minutes into the half when Malaman hit a streaking Balderson for a layup, giving the Cougars a seven-point lead, 44-36.

Kinghorn then scored six straight points to bring the Bengals to within two, 44-42.

Abdul-Ahad tied the game at 45 points apiece with 11:33 remaining and then scored another jumper at the 9:50 mark to give the Bengals their first lead of the game, 48-47.

Balderson broke the Cougar slump with eight minutes remaining, nailing a three-pointer from the right baseline. The bucket cut Idaho State's lead to three, 53-50.

BYU came alive with five minutes left, sparked by a Plaisted free throw and buckets from Broadus and Young.

A three pointer from Balderson moments later drew BYU to within two points at 60-58. Broadus regained the BYU lead at the 3:53 mark when he netted a three-point shot. Balderson followed that up with another three-pointer.

Ofoegbu kept Idaho State's hopes alive, closing the gap to one-point at 64-63.

With 24 seconds remaining in regulation, Broadus hit two free throws to give BYU a three-point advantage, 66-63.

Idaho State's Abdul-Ahad then hit a three-pointer with six seconds left to tie the score at 68 points after two complete halves of action.

BYU started off the overtime period with a bucket from Young, but seconds later Plaisted was called for his fifth foul of the evening. The Cougars were forced to play the rest of the game without the sophomore standout.

Broadus netted a three-pointer with 3:39 remaining, giving BYU a four-point lead, 74-40. Balderson sealed the deal with 27 seconds remaining when he hit his fourth three-pointer of the night.

Bengal head coach Joe O'Brien said he was pleased with how hard his team fought in the second half.

"I am proud of where we are at but frustrated at not being to pull one out (losing in overtime at Marquette and again at BYU)."

BYU, which shot just 28 percent during the second half, managed to hit 47.4 percent of its shots on the evening, while the Bengals shot 44.4 percent from the field.

The Cougars will now prepare to challenge Portland on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Marriott Center.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Idaho State Bengals vs BYU Cougars
11-18-06 7:35 p.m. at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Idaho State Bengals 1-2
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
45 Rhodes, Nicholas.... c  0-1    0-0    0-0    1  4  5   1   0  0  2  3  0  16
03 Abdul-Ahad, Akbar... g  7-14   5-10   7-8    0  2  2   4  26  1  7  0  3  44
04 Kinghorn, Logan..... g  5-9    0-2    2-3    0  4  4   5  12  0  0  0  2  35
30 Schroeder, David.... g  3-18   2-7    3-4    3  3  6   1  11  1  1  1  5  45
31 Stucki, Matt........ g  3-4    1-2    0-0    0  3  3   4   7  1  3  0  0  32
01 Morgan, Amorrow.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
20 Carson, Donnie......    0-2    0-1    0-0    1  1  2   2   0  0  0  0  1  11
21 Monroe, Demetrius...    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   5
23 Kilpatrick, Austin..    1-1    1-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   3  1  1  0  0   3
32 O'Brien, Cory.......    1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  0  0   3
42 Ofoegbu, John.......    8-13   0-0    1-3    5  0  5   3  17  2  3  1  1  29
   TEAM................                         3  3  6
   Totals..............   28-63   9-23  13-18  13 20 33  22  78  6 17  5 12 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-28 39.3%   2nd Half: 15-30 50.0%   OT:  2-5  40.0%   Game: 44.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-10 40.0%   2nd Half:  4-10 40.0%   OT:  1-3  33.3%   Game: 39.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-4  75.0%   2nd Half:  5-8  62.5%   OT:  5-6  83.3%   Game: 72.2%    0
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 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
03 YOUNG, Keena........ f  6-10   0-0    6-6    5  5 10   3  18  2  2  0  0  37
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f  2-6    0-3    2-2    2  4  6   3   6  3  2  1  2  33
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c  2-3    0-0    2-4    2  3  5   5   6  0  2  2  0  25
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g  3-9    2-7    0-0    0  0  0   2   8  2  1  0  2  25
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g  6-13   4-7    7-10   0  6  6   1  23  2  2  0  1  37
02 ROSE, Mike..........    0-3    0-3    0-0    0  2  2   1   0  0  0  0  0  11
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk.......    2-2    0-0    3-4    0  3  3   0   7  0  2  0  1  17
13 AINGE, Austin.......    3-5    3-5    0-0    1  1  2   0   9  4  2  0  0  17
15 MALAMAN, Fernando...    3-5    0-1    0-0    0  1  1   1   6  2  1  0  0  11
20 BURGESS, Sam........    0-1    0-1    1-2    0  0  0   1   1  0  2  0  0   9
24 MURDOCK, Ben........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  0   3
   TEAM................                         3  2  5             1
   Totals..............   27-57   9-27  21-28  13 27 40  18  84 15 17  3  6 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-28 60.7%   2nd Half:  7-25 28.0%   OT:  3-4  75.0%   Game: 47.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-10 30.0%   2nd Half:  4-14 28.6%   OT:  2-3  66.7%   Game: 33.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-7  71.4%   2nd Half:  8-11 72.7%   OT:  8-10 80.0%   Game: 75.0%    4
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Officials: Bruce Hicks, Bill Gracey, Roosevelt Brown
Technical fouls: Idaho State Bengals-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 8854
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   OT   Total
Idaho State Bengals...........   29   39   10  -   78
BYU Cougars...................   42   26   16  -   84
Points in the paint-ISU 24,BY 24. Points off turnovers-ISU 21,BY 22.
2nd chance points-ISU 13,BY 16. Fast break points-ISU 6,BY 6.
Bench points-ISU 22,BY 23. Score tied-5 times. Lead changes-2 times.