Fredette's 24 Lead Cougars Past Fresno State

FRESNO -- Jimmer Frdette scored 18 points in the second half, finishing with 24, lifting BYU to a 72-67 win on the road against Fresno State Saturday. The Cougars improve to 8-1 on the year while the Bulldogs drop to 4-5.

Tyler Haws tied the career high he set against Arizona State, scoring 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added four rebounds. Noah Hartsock was a point away from a double-double, grabbing a career best 11 rebounds and nine points.

"It was a really competitive game," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "It wasn't the cleanest game but I think that's because both teams were really trying to compete."

Chris Miles tied his own career high with eight rebounds on a night when the Cougars went up against a big and long Bulldog team.

"Man he played hard, he played really hard," Rose said. "He is getting to where he feels more comfortable. We needed him in the game tonight against their big post players."

BYU, which has never trailed at halftime this season, led the Bulldogs 35-29 after the first period. The Cougars stayed in front in large part to six three-pointers. Two treys by Tyler Haws and Jonathan Tavernari for six unanswered points opened up a 29-27 lead to 35-27.

Fredette came out in the second period firing, hitting 6-of-10 from the field. The junior guard also dished out seven assists and had three rebounds and two steals.

With BYU's lead down to five at 42-37 in the second half, the Cougars sprinted to their first double-digit lead on a 7-0 run that included back-to-back buckets by Fredette and a three by Jonathan Tavenari.

After a Mike Ladd layup ended the run BYU reeled off seven more points, including five from Fredette and another bucket by Tavernari, to give the Cougars their biggest lead of 17 at 58-41.

Playing against former BYU coach Steve Cleveland, now head coach of the Bulldogs, the Cougars were playing Fresno State for the first time since 1999. The win was the first of BYU over its former WAC foe since a 97-84 win in early 1996.

The Cougars play two home games next week as part of the Las Vegas Classic, hosting Wagner on Thursday and Eastern Washington on Saturday. Both games tipoff at 7 p.m. and will be televised live on BYU TV.

CLICK HERE for postgame notes and quotes.

Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs Fresno State
12/12/09 7 pm at Save Mart Center --- Fresno, Calif.
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VISITORS: BYU 8-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f  4-5    0-0    1-3    1 10 11   2   9  0  0  1  0  26
54 MILES, Chris........ c  0-2    0-0    0-0    3  5  8   2   0  3  1  2  2  28
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g  1-8    0-5    2-2    0  0  0   2   4  0  0  0  4  15
23 HAWS, Tyler......... g  7-11   3-5    0-0    1  3  4   3  17  1  3  0  0  36
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g  8-16   4-8    4-5    2  1  3   2  24  7  7  0  2  35
00 DAVIES, Brandon.....    0-0    0-0    1-4    1  1  2   3   1  1  0  1  0   6
01 ABOUO, Charles......    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   2   0  0  0  0  0   3
02 MORGAN, JR., Lamont.    1-2    1-2    0-0    0  0  0   0   3  1  1  0  0  10
10 LOYD, JR., Michael..    2-4    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   0   4  3  2  0  0  15
15 ANDERSON, James.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  1  0  0   3
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan.    4-11   2-6    0-0    0  4  4   3  10  1  3  0  2  23
   TEAM................                         2  1  3
   Totals..............   27-60  10-27   8-14  10 25 35  20  72 17 18  4 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-32 43.8%   2nd Half: 13-28 46.4%   Game: 45.0%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  6-15 40.0%   2nd Half:  4-12 33.3%   Game: 37.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-1  100 %   2nd Half:  7-13 53.8%   Game: 57.1%    3
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HOME TEAM: Fresno State 4-5
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
24 George, Paul........ f  4-10   1-3    5-5    3  4  7   5  14  5  5  0  6  33
30 Seay, Sylvester..... f  6-13   2-5    2-4    1  6  7   2  16  3  7  1  1  34
22 Smith, Greg......... c  8-16   0-0    5-7    2  6  8   2  21  0  3  1  1  35
12 Shepp, Steven....... g  0-4    0-3    0-0    1  3  4   3   0  3  2  0  3  36
32 Sperling, Brandon... g  1-3    0-1    2-2    1  3  4   1   4  4  2  0  3  26
01 Ladd, Mike..........    3-8    1-3    1-2    1  0  1   0   8  0  1  0  0  21
03 Kelly, Taylor.......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
11 Brown, Jerry........    2-2    0-0    0-0    0  1  1   2   4  0  1  0  0   8
42 Webster, Brandon....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   4
   TEAM................                            2  2
   Totals..............   24-56   4-15  15-20   9 25 34  15  67 15 21  2 14 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5%   2nd Half: 14-30 46.7%   Game: 42.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-7  14.3%   2nd Half:  3-8  37.5%   Game: 26.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  8-12 66.7%   2nd Half:  7-8  87.5%   Game: 75.0%   3,1
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Officials: Larry Spaulding, Bobby McRoy, Jimmy Casas
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Fresno State-None.
Attendance: 4853
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   35   37  -   72
Fresno State..................   29   38  -   67
Points in the paint-BY 22,FS 38. Points off turnovers-BY 22,FS 22.
2nd chance points-BY 14,FS 9. Fast break points-BY 19,FS 6.
Bench points-BY 18,FS 12. Score tied-2 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-BY 2nd-01:29, FS 2nd-00:05.
Largest lead-BY by 17 2nd-09:10, FS by 5 1st-10:20.