Fredette's 43 Carry Cougars To Victory

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PROVO -- Senior guard Jimmer Fredette scored 43 points to lead the No. 9 BYU Cougars over the No. 4 San Diego State Aztecs 71-58 in front of a sellout crowd at the Marriott Center on Wednesday night.

"Jimmer has a relentless mindset toward scoring the ball, which you might think everyone has but his is unique," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "He's also playing with guys that want to get the best shot possible on every possession, and I think you can see that when Jimmer's got a hot hand and is rolling pretty good that his teammates really look for him."

Fredette led all scorers on the night, hitting 14-of-24 shots from the field, including five-of-eight from behind the arc. His 43 points are the most ever scored by a Cougar in the Marriott Center. Sophomore Brandon Davies helped out with 14 points and five rebounds.

BYU (20-1, 6-0) shot 44.6 percent for the game on 25-of-56 shooting. The Cougars were outrebounded by the Aztecs (20-1, 5-1) 42-35, but answered with nine blocked shots. Junior James Anderson provided valuable minutes off the bench with five blocked shots of his own.

"I feel like our guys really battled," Rose said. "We were fortunate that we made a few more plays than they did at the end offensively, and we were able to get a big win."

The Cougars and Aztecs started the game off trading baskets for the first five minutes of play with SDSU holding an 8-6 lead with 14:28 until halftime.

BYU would go on a 5-0 run to pull back ahead 13-12 with just over 11 minutes left before the break but would continue to fight with the Aztecs as the score was knotted up at 19 with 6:44 on the first-half clock.

SDSU sophomore Kawhi Leonard hit a three-point shot with three seconds until halftime to send the Aztecs into the locker room holding a 31-30 lead.

Fredette led all scorers with 20 points heading into the break, including BYU’s last 15. Davies chipped in eight and Anderson helped out on the defensive end with two blocked shots and a steal.

After going back and forth for the first few minutes of the second half, Fredette hit a three-pointer to put BYU back on top 40-38 with 16:40 left to play to electrify the Cougar crowd. The senior guard would drop in another easy two pointer on BYU’s next possession to extend the lead.

With the shot clock ticking down to single digits, Fredette hit a well-contested deep three to give the Cougars a 50-46 lead with 12:29 remaining. Senior Jackson Emery got a steal on the next SDSU possession and finished with a fast-break dunk to give BYU a six-point advantage.

Emery kept the Cougars on top 58-52 with under five minutes in the game with two made free throws. Junior Noah Hartsock would follow on the next possession with an offensive rebound and put-back to give BYU an eight-point lead with just over four minutes to play.

Fredette's consistent free-throw shooting helped build BYU’s lead to 67-56 with under two minutes to go. Fredette, who made 10-of-11 from the line on the night would help seal BYU’s victory by making all seven attempts in the closing minutes.

No. 9 BYU will travel to Albuquerque, N.M., to play New Mexico on Saturday, Jan. 29, at 2 p.m. MT in The Pit. Live stats and audio links will be available on www.byucougars.com and fans can listen live on the radio beginning with the pregame show at 1 p.m. MT on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City. The game will be televised live on VERSUS.

Official Basketball Box Score
San Diego State vs BYU Cougars
01/26/11 8:15 p.m. at Provo, Utah, Marriott Center
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VISITORS: San Diego State 20-1, 5-1
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
04 THOMAS, Malcolm..... f  4-11   0-0    2-2    2  4  6   4  10  1  2  2  0  36
15 LEONARD, Kawhi...... f  8-20   1-5    5-8    9  6 15   2  22  2  6  1  1  36
32 WHITE, Billy........ f  3-9    0-2    0-2    1  4  5   3   6  2  2  0  1  34
22 TAPLEY, Chase....... g  3-7    2-5    0-0    0  2  2   1   8  1  1  0  1  28
23 GAY, D.J............ g  0-7    0-5    2-3    1  1  2   3   2  4  0  0  2  37
05 CARLWELL, Brian.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  1  0   4
10 SHELTON, Tim........    1-3    1-1    0-0    0  3  3   0   3  0  0  0  0   6
11 RAHON, James........    3-5    1-2    0-0    1  1  2   1   7  0  1  0  0  19
   TEAM................                         4  3  7
   Totals..............   22-62   5-20   9-15  18 24 42  14  58 10 12  4  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0%   2nd Half: 10-32 31.3%   Game: 35.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-7  42.9%   2nd Half:  2-13 15.4%   Game: 25.0%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-5  80.0%   2nd Half:  5-10 50.0%   Game: 60.0%    2
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 20-1, 6-0
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
00 DAVIES, Brandon..... f  6-8    0-0    2-4    0  5  5   3  14  2  1  2  1  26
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f  3-7    0-2    0-0    2  5  7   2   6  3  0  0  0  36
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g  1-7    0-5    2-2    1  5  6   2   4  2  0  1  4  39
31 COLLINSWORTH, Kyle.. g  0-1    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   1   0  2  2  1  1  27
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 14-24   5-8   10-11   0  4  4   1  43  0  4  0  1  39
01 ABOUO, Charles......    0-5    0-0    2-2    2  2  4   2   2  0  0  0  0  15
15 ANDERSON, James.....    1-4    0-0    0-0    2  1  3   3   2  1  0  5  1  14
21 ROGERS, Stephen.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   4
   TEAM................                         1  3  4
   Totals..............   25-56   5-15  16-19   9 26 35  14  71 10  7  9  8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-29 44.8%   2nd Half: 12-27 44.4%   Game: 44.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-8  37.5%   2nd Half:  2-7  28.6%   Game: 33.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  1-2  50.0%   2nd Half: 15-17 88.2%   Game: 84.2%    1
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Officials: Randy McCall, Verne Harris, Mike Reed
Technical fouls: San Diego State-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 22700
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
San Diego State...............   31   27  -   58
BYU Cougars...................   30   41  -   71
Marriott Center sellout.
Points in the paint-SDSU 22,BY 26. Points off turnovers-SDSU 10,BY 16.
2nd chance points-SDSU 13,BY 2. Fast break points-SDSU 6,BY 4.
Bench points-SDSU 10,BY 4. Score tied-7 times. Lead changed-15 times.
Last FG-SDSU 2nd-00:23, BY 2nd-00:39.
Largest lead-SDSU by 4 1st-15:30, BY by 13 2nd-01:55.