Cougars Down No. 13 Falcons

PROVO -- The BYU Cougars recorded a huge 61-52 victory against the No. 13 Air Force Falcons at the soldout Marriott Center Saturday, improving to 15-6 overall and 5-2 in the Mountain West Conference. The game also marked BYU's 27th win at home, which is tied for second nationally.

"I thought this was a great college basketball game," said BYU Head Coach Dave Rose. "I thought our guys just made some big plays. It was a big win for us."

Trent Plaisted led the Cougars in scoring with 22 points, followed by Keena Young with 17 points. The post duo also recorded eight rebounds each. BYU outshot the Falcons 43.4 percent to 37.8 percent, AFA's lowest mark of the year, and recorded a season-high +22 rebounding margin (42-20).

The Falcons, with Matt McCraw hitting a three scored the first point of the game. Lee Cummard of BYU returned the favor with a quick lay up. After 13:35, the Falcons led 10-4. Young answered the cheers of the soldout crowd with a lay-up narrowing the lead to 10-6. Mike Rose then scored a three for 10-9. At 10:59, Plaisted scored a two, putting BYU above the Falcons at 11-10.

At 8:45, the Falcons tied the score up at 12-12. Young went back to make it a Cougar lead of 14-12 at 7:38. The BYU lead continued to grow with another three-pointer made by Rose. The three and the 17-12 lead put the crowd in an uproar, which happened once again with Cummard hitting another three to widen the lead to 20-12. Austin Ainge connected on another three at 3:13 in the first half to make it a 27-16 lead.

With 1:27 remaining in the half, the Cougars led the game 31-18. BYU's first half lead of 31-21 at the break marked the fewest points allowed by BYU in the first period of play this season.

The first points of the second half were a dunk by Plaisted, which he followed with another throwdown on the next Cougar possession to show that BYU was a force to be reckoned with.

At 16:06 the Falcons hit a three to lessen the gap to 37-29. At 14:55 they hit another to cut the deficit to 37-32. With the gap lessening, another three was hit by McCraw to make the score 38-35.

Young ended the three-point barrage from the Falcons by scoring a quick lay-up. After Plaisted went on to score another four points, Air Force responded by making another three-point shot to make the score 44-40 in favor of BYU.

Cummard, with a quick break away at the 11:22 mark, scored two points and with a foul, got another point to widen the BYU lead to 47-40. With 6:56 left in the game Jimmy Balderson ended the 4:24 Cougar scoring drought by sinking a two.

Trying to come back, the Falcons narrowed the score to 49-48 with 5:49 left in the game. The 22,700-strong crowd roared for the Cougars to take back their lead that at one time was 14 points. After Plaisted made a two, the Cougars were back in action with a three made by Ainge at the 3:59 mark for a Cougar lead of 54-48.

After a foul was called with 35.8 seconds remaining, Plaisted knocked down two big free throws to push the Cougar lead to 56-51. After another foul was called with 19.7 left for the Cougars, the score was 59-51 after a Young converted the three-point play, sealing the win for BYU.

The Cougars will next be in action on Wednesday as BYU travels to Salt Lake City to take on in-state and MWC rival Utah (7-13, 2-5 MWC). The game will begin at 8 p.m. and be televised on the mtn.

CLICK HERE to view postgame notes and quotes.

Box score below.

 

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
No. 13 Air Force Falcons vs BYU Cougars
01/27/07 4:06 p.m. at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: No. 13 Air Force Falcons 19-3, 6-2 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
21 BURTSCHI, Jacob..... f  3-7    2-4    0-0    0  4  4   3   8  2  2  0  4  33
34 NWAELELE, Dan....... f  5-13   2-6    1-1    0  1  1   2  13  1  3  1  0  36
45 WELCH, Nick......... c  4-8    0-3    5-6    0  2  2   3  13  2  1  0  1  37
05 McCRAW, Matt........ g  4-10   3-7    3-4    0  4  4   1  14  2  2  0  2  39
12 ANDERSON, Tim....... g  1-4    0-2    2-2    1  5  6   4   4  3  2  1  0  35
10 HENKE, Andrew.......    0-0    0-0    0-1    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   4
24 TEETS, Ryan.........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   4
42 JOHNSON, Anwar......    0-3    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   8
54 FRYE, John..........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  1  0  0   4
   TEAM................                         1     1
   Totals..............   17-45   7-22  11-14   2 18 20  17  52 10 11  2  7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half:  8-22 36.4%   2nd Half:  9-23 39.1%   Game: 37.8%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-12 25.0%   2nd Half:  4-10 40.0%   Game: 31.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  2-2  100 %   2nd Half:  9-12 75.0%   Game: 78.6%    1
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 15-6, 5-2 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  6-14   0-0    5-5    2  6  8   2  17  0  4  1  0  35
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c  9-12   0-0    4-7    6  1  7   4  22  1  1  1  0  36
13 AINGE, Austin....... g  2-9    2-6    0-0    1  7  8   1   6  5  2  0  0  34
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g  1-7    0-4    0-0    2  3  5   3   2  1  4  0  1  27
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g  3-3    1-1    1-1    1  5  6   3   8  2  1  0  2  32
02 ROSE, Mike..........    2-4    2-4    0-0    1  0  1   3   6  2  0  0  0  19
20 BURGESS, Sam........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   0   0  0  0  0  1   1
24 MURDOCK, Ben........    0-1    0-0    0-0    1  0  1   1   0  0  0  0  1   6
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan.    0-3    0-3    0-0    0  4  4   2   0  1  2  0  0  10
   TEAM................                            1  1
   Totals..............   23-53   5-18  10-13  14 28 42  19  61 12 14  2  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-27 44.4%   2nd Half: 11-26 42.3%   Game: 43.4%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-9  44.4%   2nd Half:  1-9  11.1%   Game: 27.8%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-4  75.0%   2nd Half:  7-9  77.8%   Game: 76.9%    1
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Officials: Chris Rastatter, TIm Gabutero, Michael Irving
Technical fouls: No. 13 Air Force Falcons-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 22700
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
No. 13 Air Force Falcons......   21   31  -   52
BYU Cougars...................   31   30  -   61
Largest crowd since March 1, 2004 (Utah) 22,718 - BYU won 70-57.
23rd largest crowd in Marriott Center history (largest was March 7, 1981
vs. Utah - BYU won 95-76

Points in the paint-AF 20,BY 32. Points off turnovers-AF 9,BY 11.
2nd chance points-AF 0,BY 14. Fast break points-AF 0,BY 8.
Bench points-AF 0,BY 6. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-1 time.