POSTGAME - BYU vs. San Diego, MWC Semifinals

POSTGAME NOTES

BYU vs. San Diego State

March 13, 2009

Player Notes

— Noah Hartsock came off the bench to give BYU a big boost in the first half of the 2009 Conoco Mountain West Conference Championship semifinal against San Diego State, posting seven points, a career high for a first half. Hartsock added four rebounds and a block in the opening period. He added one rebound in the second half.

— Two Cougars scored in double figures against San Diego State with Jimmer Fredette scoring 17 points and Lee Cummard adding 11 points. BYU is 3-1 when two players score in double figures.

— BYU received solid contributions from its post players Chris Miles and James Anderson. Miles had seven points, seven rebounds, three assists and one block while Anderson added six points, two boards and two blocks off the bench.

Team Notes

— For the 30th time in 32 games this season, BYU head coach Dave Rose started Jimmer Fredette, Jackson Emery, Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Chris Miles. The Cougars are 23-7 with that starting lineup. Lamont Morgan, Jr., started the first game of the season in place of Jimmer Fredette and Charles Abouo started the Wyoming game in Provo in place of Jackson Emery.

— Trailing 28-31 at the break against the Aztecs in the MWC semifinals, the Cougars trailed at the half for the seventh-straight game. BYU is 5-2 in those games, losing the first 75-74 at UNLV before winning the next five to secure a third-straight regular season title and then losing to San Diego State.

— BYU is now 12-9 all-time in the MWC tournament, including 4-3 in the semifinals. The Cougars are also 5-3 as the No. 1 seed in the MWC tournament. BYU is 24-22 all-time in conference tournaments. Under Dave Rose BYU is 5-4 in conference tournament play, being eliminated in the quarterfinals in 2006, reaching the final in 2007 and 2008 and reaching the semifinals in 2009.

— Led by four from Chris Miles the Cougars grabbed 13 offensive rebounds against San Diego State, the fifth time in six games and the 15th time this season BYU has reached double figures in offensive boards.

Record Watch

— Lee Cummard has now played in 130 consecutive games and 130 games for his career, both school records. He broke the all-time record for consecutive games played, previously held by Mark Durrant (128), against Air Force in the quarterfinals and set the record for total games against San Diego State in the semifinals.

— With 11 points against San Diego State on Friday, Lee Cummard now has 539 points this season and 1,552 career points. He needs 16 points to pass Kenneth Roberts (1,567) for ninth place in BYU history.

— With five points against San Diego State on Friday, Jonathan Tavernari has 508 points this season and 1,148 for his career. He is now 27th all-time and three points from passing Elwood Romney.

— With one three against the Aztecss Jonathan Tavernari now has 82 threes for the season and 199 for his career. He is 15 from passing Mark Bigelow (213) for first all-time at BYU in career threes and seven from breaking his own record for threes in one season (88 in 2007-08).

Game Trends

— BYU vs. San Diego State featured eight ties and nine lead changes with six changes coming in the second half. The Cougars’ largest lead came at the 18:03 mark in the first half at 6-2 while the Aztecs held their largest lead of eight at 16:53 remaining in the second half, 38-30. Lee Cummard’s three with 12:15 remaining gave BYU it’s first lead of the second half at 45-44. After San Diego State went ahead by four the Cougars came back and tied the score at 49-all on a Chris Miles jumper and then led with a three by Jimmer Fredette at 52-49. The Aztecs responded with a 7-0 run to lead 56-52. BYU took its last three with 2:31 remaining on a Jackson Emery three. Twenty-five second later and Lorenzo Wade hit a three to give San Diego Stat the lead for good.

POSTGAME QUOTES

BYU vs. San Diego State

March 13, 2009

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

“I think it was two really good teams battling to try to get to the Mountain West Conference championship game. Both teams played really hard. Defensively, I think it was a really great game to watch.”

“Bottom line was we had a lot of chances to win, and San Diego State made a couple more plays and was able to pull out the win.”

“I think you just have to give them credit. They played really well and were able to beat us at the end.”

“We played zone most of the night. In the situation with 39 seconds to go, we’d actually talked about what we thought they would do and how we wanted to guard it."

“We got great minutes out of Charles. Lamont played a few minutes in the first half. I think the way they were guarding Jimmer, it was difficult for him to be able to be effective at the two, so we put him back at the point and then played Charles.”

“James did a really good job coming in, giving us a spurt there when we were having a hard time in the post. And I think it really helped Chris’ confidence when James went in and played well because when Chris came back in, he played a lot more active and a lot better.”

“Noah played 20 minutes of really competitive basketball as far as helping his team.”

BYU Forward Lee Cummard

“I wish we could have got one of these (an MWC tournament championship) while I was here. It’s tough. The last three years here have the same feeling leaving. You just have to deal with it.”

“They just made more plays. I think we had a stretch where we just kept turning it over. They made more free throws.”

“It was a good game. Two game plans trying to be executed by both teams. We had a few letdowns, myself included. We had chances, but just didn’t take advantage of them.”

BYU Guard Jimmer Fredette

“They were doing some different things. Obviously they were blocking the ball screens, making me go away from them, bringing the big guy to help them out. It’s a little different than what they did last time.”

“They were definitely trying to stop the ball. I was just trying to get my teammates involved in the game and get the big guys rolling to the basket.”

“We know there are still positive things ahead this season. Coach was saying that a lot of teams are going home at this point, not playing another game for the rest of the season. We have the opportunity hopefully to be playing again. That’s what we have to look forward to. It’s obviously not going to help with the bitter taste we have in our mouth right now. At least we can look forward to the next game we have ahead.”