Abouo Leads Cougars to Rivalry Win

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PROVO -- Junior forward Charles Abouo tied a career high with 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the BYU men’s basketball team to a 13-point victory over rival Utah, 72-59, in the Deseret First Duel.

Since the Deseret Duel began in the 2007-08 season, BYU men's basketball has claimed the sport title all four seasons. The Cougars are 7-1 in rivalry games in the history of the Duel.

“That was a knock-down, drag-out game,” head coach Dave Rose said. “Utah did a great job controlling the pace of this game. We made some plays late. Jackson (Emery) did a great job defensively and got some big steals that led straight to baskets.”

Senior Jimmer Fredette added 23 points and five assists while senior Jackson Emery contributed 17 points, six steals and five assists in the win. Abouo, Fredette and Emery combined to score 62 of BYU’s 72 points.

“Charles having 22 points is a direct result of how they wanted to guard Jimmer, and Charles was ready to go,” Rose said. “Different guys are stepping up and we are finding ways to win games.”

Abouo got the Cougars on the board first with a corner three, a shot that started the best first half shooting performance of his BYU career. With 17 points in the opening 20 minutes, Abouo topped his season high of 13 in the first half.

BYU opened up its biggest first half lead at 13-6 with fast breaks and quick lay ups. The Utes fought back from the early deficit to take their first lead 18-16 at the 10:42 mark.

As a team the Cougars shot 12-of-31 (38.7%) for the half but managed to go to the locker room with a 31-30 lead.

Emery led the Cougars out of the half, scoring seven-straight BYU points to stretch the lead to 38-32. Abouo followed Emery’s run with two buckets of his own to keep BYU out in front, 42-38 with 14:52 remaining.

The Cougars opened up an eight-point lead at 48-40 with 12:18 remaining before Utah’s Will Clyburn closed the gap with eight points to tie it at 48.

Following Clyburn’s 8-0 run, Fredette went off on a personal 12-0 run that helped the Cougars take a 14 point lead, 62-48, with 6:04 remaining. BYU maintained the lead in the closing minutes and Fredette sealed the win with a three-point play with 56 seconds remaining.

BYU will have a week to rest before heading to Fort Worth to take on TCU next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. CT. The game can be heard on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City and will be televised live on The Mtn.

Official Basketball Box Score
Utah vs BYU Cougars
02/12/11 4:02 pm at Provo, Utah, Marriott Center
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VISITORS: Utah 10-15, 3-8 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
32 GLOVER, Shawn....... f  1-5    0-2    0-0    1  3  4   2   2  0  2  0  0  23
51 FOSTER, David....... c  3-3    0-0    1-2    3  5  8   3   7  0  0  1  1  27
15 WATKINS, Josh....... g  2-11   0-3    0-1    0  4  4   4   4  4  4  0  4  37
20 O'BRIEN, J.J........ g  5-9    0-0    0-1    2  5  7   3  10  1  3  0  0  36
21 CLYBURN, Will....... g  7-14   2-6    2-3    0  4  4   2  18  0  3  0  0  38
00 HINES, Chris........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   3
02 KUPETS, Chris.......    5-13   3-8    1-1    0  1  1   4  14  2  2  0  0  23
42 WASHBURN, Jason.....    2-2    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   2   4  0  3  1  0  13
   TEAM................                         1  1  2
   Totals..............   25-57   5-19   4-8    8 24 32  20  59  7 17  2  5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-28 46.4%   2nd Half: 12-29 41.4%   Game: 43.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  1-9  11.1%   2nd Half:  4-10 40.0%   Game: 26.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  3-5  60.0%   2nd Half:  1-3  33.3%   Game: 50.0%    0
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 24-2,10-1 MWC
                          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  1-6    0-0    0-0    1  6  7   3   2  4  2  1  3  37
01 ABOUO, Charles...... f  8-11   2-3    4-7    3  7 10   4  22  0  2  0  2  29
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f  1-3    0-1    2-2    0  3  3   3   4  1  2  1  0  26
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g  6-12   0-2    5-5    1  3  4   2  17  5  0  0  6  39
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g  7-19   2-5    7-8    1  1  2   2  23  5  3  0  1  36
12 MAGNUSSON, Logan....    1-1    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   0   2  1  0  0  0  11
13 ZYLSTRA, Brock......    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
14 MARTINEAU, Nick.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
15 ANDERSON, James.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   1
21 ROGERS, Stephen.....    0-2    0-1    0-0    1  0  1   0   0  0  1  0  0   5
31 COLLINSWORTH, Kyle..    0-1    0-0    2-2    0  5  5   0   2  1  0  1  0  14
   TEAM................                            2  2
   Totals..............   24-55   4-12  20-24   8 28 36  14  72 17 10  3 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 38.7%   2nd Half: 12-24 50.0%   Game: 43.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-7  42.9%   2nd Half:  1-5  20.0%   Game: 33.3%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  4-7  57.1%   2nd Half: 16-17 94.1%   Game: 83.3%    3
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Officials: Bob Staffen, Mike Reed, Mike Giarratano
Technical fouls: Utah-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 22700
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
Utah..........................   30   29  -   59
BYU Cougars...................   31   41  -   72
Marriott Center sold out.
Points in the paint-UU 28,BY 30. Points off turnovers-UU 10,BY 22.
2nd chance points-UU 9,BY 12. Fast break points-UU 0,BY 18.
Bench points-UU 18,BY 4. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-6 times.
Last FG-UU 2nd-00:50, BY 2nd-00:59.
Largest lead-UU by 4 1st-09:49, BY by 14 2nd-06:05.