BYU Breaks 40-Year-Old Record in Blowout

PROVO -- The Cougar faithful in attendance at the Marriott Center got an early Christmas present -- a 62-point blowout as BYU (7-4) defeated Western Oregon (3-6) 102-40. Six Cougars scored in double figures with freshman Jonathan Tavernari's 17 points leading the way.

"A couple big plays to start the [second] half was where we put the game away defensively and scored in transition," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "Every guy we played gave us a good lift."

The win was BYU's largest margin of victory in school history, destroying its previous record of 51 points against St. Mary's on Dec. 10, 1966. The last time the Cougars beat a team by at least 50 points was in 1993 when they beat Sacramento State by exactly 50 points. The victory also gives BYU the nation's fourth longest home-winning streak at 20 consecutive games.

"We didn't really come to play offensively," Western Oregon head coach Craig Stanger said. "Credit Coach Rose's bunch. They were well prepared, and they executed well."

Trailing 10-11 just seven minutes into the game, Lee Cummard spotted up from the top of the arc and fired a three-pointer that caught nothing but the bottom of the net. Balderson then hit a layup in transition, and BYU began what would become a 41-12 run to close out the half with a 51-23 lead. BYU's 51 points marked the most the team has scored in a half this season. Cummard would finish the night with 14 points and six rebounds, while Balderson scored 13 points and dished out four assists.

The Cougars held the Wolves without a field goal during a stretch of 10 minutes and 39 seconds. Six-foot-seven center Jacob Mitchell ended the Wolves' dry spell when he made a layup at the 3:05 mark. Mitchell led Western Oregon with 12 points. Tavernari, who nailed three of his four three-point attempts, scored 10 of his game-high 17 points off the bench during the decisive run.

After starting off as cold as the wintry night outside, knocking down just four of its first 12 field goal attempts, BYU caught fire and connected on 15 of its last 20 shots in the half. As a team, the Cougars went 3-for-9 from three-point territory in the first half and 11-for-18 for the game.

In the second half, Balderson dazzled the crowd with a couple of spectacular plays. The first was a two-handed, double-clutch jam over a Wolves defender with 17:11 to play. Minutes later, Balderson stole a pass at near halfcourt, dribbled down the lane and whipped a behind-the-back pass to Cummard on the right side. Cummard had no trouble deciding what to do with the ball as he took flight for a one-handed slam in the face of another Wolves defender.

Western Oregon showed its frustration with 13:22 to go when a scramble for a loose ball drew a foul on the Wolves' Alex Swerzbin. After the whistle blew, Swerzbin pushed Rashaun Broadus who, in turn, pushed back. The brief shoving match prompted Ryan Schmidt of Western Oregon to taunt Broadus, as Schmidt shadowed Broadus' footsteps around the court before being held back by teammates. Following double technical fouls, BYU responded with a 25-0 run. Wolves forward Travis Kuhns put down two free throws with 6:25 left to play, stopping his team's eight-minute scoring drought.

Vuk Ivanovic and Sam Burgess each scored 10 off-the-bench points for the Cougars, who recorded a season-high 16 steals.

BYU returns to action Dec. 28, when it hosts the BYU Holiday Classic. Oral Roberts and Seton Hall tipoff the three-day tournament at 5 p.m. followed by BYU taking on Liberty at 7:30 p.m.

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Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Western Oregon Wolves vs BYU Cougars
12/22/06 7:05 p.m. at Provo, Utah (Marriott Center)
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VISITORS: Western Oregon Wolves 3-6
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
03 Schmidt,Ryan........ f  0-6    0-2    0-0    0  4  4   2   0  0  7  0  1  25
30 Kuhns,Travis........ f  3-9    0-4    2-2    1  2  3   5   8  2  3  0  2  26
24 Mitchell,Jacob...... c  4-9    0-0    4-5    0  1  1   3  12  1  3  0  2  29
05 Swerzbin,Alex....... g  0-1    0-1    1-2    0  1  1   5   1  2  4  0  0  20
20 DeWeese,Dominique... g  4-7    2-4    0-0    1  1  2   0  10  0  3  0  0  20
04 Tesoro,Cody.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2   0  0  1  0  0   8
12 Krichevsky,Brad.....    1-6    0-2    0-0    1  1  2   0   2  3  3  0  2  15
22 Hall,Larry..........    0-4    0-3    0-0    1  1  2   2   0  0  2  0  0  18
23 McLaughlin,Mike.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  12
25 Hoffman,Keith.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  1   2
34 Blok,Tyler..........    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  1  0  0   7
55 Arrington,Adonal....    2-4    0-0    3-4    1  2  3   5   7  0  2  1  2  18
   TEAM................                         5  1  6
   Totals..............   14-47   2-17  10-13  10 15 25  24  40  8 29  1 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-26 30.8%   2nd Half:  6-21 28.6%   Game: 29.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-10 10.0%   2nd Half:  1-7  14.3%   Game: 11.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-8  75.0%   2nd Half:  4-5  80.0%   Game: 76.9%    0
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 7-4
                          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  4-6    0-0    2-2    1  2  3   3  10  0  2  0  0  13
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c  2-7    0-0    2-4    4  4  8   2   6  3  1  2  1  19
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g  0-4    0-2    0-0    0  1  1   3   0  3  1  0  1  13
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g  5-9    0-1    3-4    1  0  1   1  13  4  0  0  2  23
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g  5-6    2-2    2-2    3  3  6   2  14  4  1  0  3  20
02 ROSE, Mike..........    2-3    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   2   5  0  1  0  1  11
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk.......    4-8    0-0    2-2    2  4  6   1  10  1  1  0  0  14
13 AINGE, Austin.......    1-3    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   2   3  3  2  0  0  10
15 MALAMAN, Fernando...    1-1    0-0    0-0    1  3  4   0   2  0  0  0  0  14
20 BURGESS, Sam........    4-4    2-2    0-2    0  2  2   0  10  3  1  0  3  19
24 MURDOCK, Ben........    2-3    2-3    3-4    1  2  3   2   9  3  2  0  1  17
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan.    7-8    3-4    0-0    1  1  2   0  17  3  0  2  4  20
50 MACGREGOR, Gavin....    1-4    0-0    1-2    1  0  1   0   3  0  1  0  0   7
   TEAM................                         2  2  4
   Totals..............   38-66  11-18  15-22  17 26 43  18 102 27 13  4 16 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-32 59.4%   2nd Half: 19-34 55.9%   Game: 57.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  6-9  66.7%   2nd Half:  5-9  55.6%   Game: 61.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-8  87.5%   2nd Half:  8-14 57.1%   Game: 68.2%    3
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Officials: Rick Batsell, Duane Allen, Darron George
Technical fouls: Western Oregon Wolves-Swerzbin,Alex. BYU Cougars-BROADUS,
Rashaun.
Attendance: 8277
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Western Oregon Wolves.........   23   17  -   40
BYU Cougars...................   51   51  -  102
Points in the paint-WOU 20,BY 44. Points off turnovers-WOU 9,BY 40.
2nd chance points-WOU 7,BY 21. Fast break points-WOU 2,BY 16.
Bench points-WOU 9,BY 59. Score tied-0 times. Lead changes-6 times.