Season Ends With Loss Vs. Xavier

LEXINGTON -- Despite a nine-point second half lead, the BYU men's basketball team was upset by Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, falling 79-77 Thursday in Rupp Arena. The Cougars are now 11-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 7-15 in first-round games, having lost in their last five first-round appearances.

BYU scoring was led by Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Keena Young's 24 points. Also scoring in double figures for the Cougars were Mike Rose with 15 points, Austin Ainge with 12 points and Jimmy Balderson with 10 points. Young also led the team with 10 rebounds.

"I think our guys fought really hard," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "It was anybody's game to win in the end. They just made more plays than we did."

BYU started the game with back-to-back turnovers on its first two possessions, giving Xavier an early 2-0 lead before Young scored the Cougars' first four points of the game. Ainge went on to score the next five points, contributing to a 9-0 BYU run.

Balderson's three-point play off a driving layin at the 15:36 mark gave BYU a 12-4 lead. With 12:20 left in the first half Justin Doellman's make from behind the arc brought the Musketeers to within one. Mike Rose's first bucket of the game came on a three-pointer to give BYU a 17-13 lead. The Musketeers scored to bring their team within two points only to be followed by a Balderson layup on BYU's subsequent drive.

Mike Rose found his second three-pointer of the night on a pass from Balderson before Xavier answered with one of its own from the opposite end of the floor. The Musketeers closed in on a three by B.J. Raymond with 6:35 to play in the first half. BYU failed to score on its next possession, but a steal by Ainge and two made free throws following a Xavier reaching foul put the Cougars up by three.

Doellman scored Xavier's next five points, giving his team a 28-26 lead, its first since the 18:14 mark. Young's made 12-footer tied the score again with 3:08 to play in the first half. The Cougars capitalized on a Musketeer shot clock violation when Mike Rose made a three off an assist by Sam Burgess. Ainge recorded a make from behind the arc, capping an 8-0 run to pu the Cougars up 38-32 going into halftime.

Young opened the second half of play by driving to the basket and scoring on a running layin. He would go on to score BYU's first six points of the half. Mike Rose continued to find success from behind the arc when he drained his fourth three following a Doellman put-back dunk.

"The one aspect of BYU that we understood was they shoot a lot of threes in transition," said Xavier head coach Sean Miller. "If they get out they're very tough to stop."

A 13-6 Xavier run tightened the Cougar lead to two points, bringing the Musketeer fans to their feet. Reminiscent of its loss against UNLV last Saturday, BYU relinquished its lead and allowed Xavier to pull ahead. Young's jump shot with 9:02 to play in the second shifted the momentum back to BYU.

Ainge cut further into the Musketeer lead and brought BYU to within one point when he scored inside at the 7:53 mark. The Cougars continued to be outrebounded on both ends of the floor. On his second trip to the charity stripe in less than one minute, Plaisted went 2-for-2, cutting into the Musketeers' 66-64 lead. After an offensive foul was called on Xavier's Brandon Cole, Cummard's three tied the game for the ninth time with 2:31 to play in the second half. Young made two free throws to put BYU back on top 73-71. Cummard's putback following a missed jumper by Young tied the game again before Xavier's driving layup put the Musketeers up by two points with 35 seconds remaining.

Lavender went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line to give Xavier a 79-75 lead with 11 seconds to play. A basket at the buzzer from Young was too little too late as BYU fell 79-77.

"We didn't quite get it done, and that hurts," said Ainge. "We didn't make the plays we needed to. We called the last play to Keena, and they did a good job of taking that away."

"I'm proud of our players," said Coach Rose. "I'm proud of this team. I believe that the experiences that these player have had in this past week will be very important as we continue to build this program."

CLICK HERE to view postgame notes and quotes.

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Xavier vs BYU
03/15/07 9:32 pm at NCAA First Round, Lexington, KY
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VISITORS: Xavier 25-8
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
03 Cage, Justin........ f  1-3    0-0    6-8    1  1  2   1   8  1  0  0  0  33
15 Doellman, Justin.... f  8-17   3-6    4-4    1  4  5   3  23  1  2  2  0  35
33 Cole, Brandon....... c  3-6    0-0    2-2    3  4  7   4   8  1  2  1  0  22
24 Lavender, Drew...... g  5-12   2-3    5-6    1  3  4   1  17  5  3  0  0  37
34 Burrell, Stanley.... g  0-4    0-2    0-2    0  0  0   2   0  3  1  0  0  29
01 Duncan, Josh........    1-4    0-2    4-4    0  0  0   2   6  0  0  0  1  11
05 Brown, Derrick......    3-4    0-0    2-3    6 10 16   2   8  1  0  1  1  16
11 Raymond, B.J........    3-5    3-4    0-0    0  2  2   4   9  0  1  0  1  14
14 Wolf, Johnny........    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
   TEAM................                         1     1             1
   Totals..............   24-56   8-17  23-29  13 24 37  19  79 12 10  4  3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0%   2nd Half: 12-26 46.2%   Game: 42.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-10 40.0%   2nd Half:  4-7  57.1%   Game: 47.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-7  57.1%   2nd Half: 19-22 86.4%   Game: 79.3%   3,1
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HOME TEAM: BYU 25-9
                          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 10-23   0-0    4-4    2  8 10   2  24  4  2  0  1  39
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... f  3-8    0-0    3-5    3  2  5   4   9  1  2  1  0  28
13 AINGE, Austin....... g  4-14   2-7    2-2    2  1  3   3  12  3  2  0  0  38
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g  4-7    1-3    1-1    1  1  2   3  10  1  1  0  1  20
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g  2-4    1-3    0-1    1  0  1   4   5  0  2  1  0  24
02 ROSE, Mike..........    5-7    5-6    0-0    0  2  2   2  15  0  0  0  0  30
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  1  0  0   5
20 BURGESS, Sam........    1-2    0-0    0-0    3  2  5   1   2  1  0  0  0   6
24 MURDOCK, Ben........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  0  0  0   2
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan.    0-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   1   0  0  0  0  0   8
   TEAM................                         3  3  6
   Totals..............   29-67   9-19  10-13  15 21 36  23  77 10 10  2  2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-32 43.8%   2nd Half: 15-35 42.9%   Game: 43.3%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  5-10 50.0%   2nd Half:  4-9  44.4%   Game: 47.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  5-6  83.3%   2nd Half:  5-7  71.4%   Game: 76.9%   1,1
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Officials: Curtis Shaw, Michael Eades, Terry Wymer
Technical fouls: Xavier-None. BYU-None.
Attendance: 20752
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Xavier........................   32   47  -   79
BYU...........................   38   39  -   77
ID-535454
Points in the paint-XU 30,BY 35. Points off turnovers-XU 16,BY 18.
2nd chance points-XU 18,BY 14. Fast break points-XU 2,BY 5.
Bench points-XU 23,BY 17. Score tied-11 times. Lead changes-6 times.