PROVO -- Led by Mekeli Wesley's 24 points, BYU defeated California-Riverside Saturday night, 91-62, to open its 1999-2000 season with a victory.
The win marks the third time in as many years that BYU has opened its season with a win under Head Basketball Coach Steve Cleveland. BYU's coach, however, was not completely satisfied with the 29-point win on opening night.
"We executed our offensive game plan but we did not execute on defense," the third-year coach said. "They could not stop Mekeli (Wesley) and Silester (Rivers) but sometimes when things come so easily on the offensive end you relax on the other end. Our young men know what to expect Monday at practice. "
Wesley started the game by scoring BYU's first seven points on his way to matching his season high from last year with 24 points in only 20 minutes. He was nearly perfect on the evening, going 7-8 from the floor and 9-9 from the line. His only miss was one of his two three-point attempts.
Rivers added 14 points on 6-8 shooting while pulling down a game-high six rebounds. Terrell Lyday also scored 14 points in his BYU debut in a team-high 32 minutes. The 6-3 transfer from Fresno City College added four rebounds, two assists and a steal while showing the 7,546 in attendance that he can score knocking down threes or taking the ball to the basket. Nathan Cooper added 13 points and Eric Nielsen 10 as five Cougars scored in double figures.
BYU started the game with returned missionary sophomores Nielsen and point guard Matt Montague joining Lyday and returning starters from last year's team Wesley and Michael Vranes. Vranes, playing the shooting guard position this year instead of the point, made 3-4 field goal attempts, including both three-pointers, for eight points. He also contributed four rebounds and four assists.
All 15 BYU players saw action. Freshman 7-0 center Dan Howard contributed six points and five rebounds in nine minutes of play. Todd Christensen, who had 20 points in BYU's last exhibition contest, took only one shot and was scoreless in his 18 minutes but added two rebound and two assists.
UC Riverside was led by Mark Miller with 14 and Rion Nolan with 13. With the loss, the Highlanders drop to 1-1 on the season. An NCAA division II school, the Highlanders will turn division I next season.
The Cougars shot 61 percent from the floor, including 5-10 treys, and 83 percent from the line to earn the win and start the season 1-0. BYU will play Southern Utah University Wednesday in the Marriott Center.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
California-Riverside vs Brigham Young
11/20/99 7:05 at Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: California-Riverside 1-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 NOLAN, Rion......... f 5-8 0-3 3-4 3 3 6 3 13 3 1 0 0 27
32 HANDS, Aaron........ c 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 4 1 1 0 0 15
22 JORDAN, Ryan........ g 0-2 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 19
23 LABAGH, Jason....... g 2-7 1-3 1-2 1 2 3 1 6 2 1 0 1 32
34 MILLER, Mark........ * 4-12 2-5 4-5 2 0 2 3 14 1 3 0 1 32
20 EDDINGS, Trenell.... 3-10 1-3 2-3 1 0 1 1 9 1 3 0 2 21
24 CLARK, Chris........ 1-2 0-0 0-2 1 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 5
33 VANTA, Mark......... 1-3 0-2 1-2 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 7
35 GIBBS, Gerald....... 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 8
42 DEDERER, Jake....... 0-3 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 5
44 ELLIS, Antwon....... 2-4 0-0 1-2 1 3 4 1 5 1 1 0 1 17
45 PERKINS, Jason...... 1-5 1-3 2-2 3 1 4 0 5 0 1 0 0 11
50 ZEPEDA, Mike........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 21-63 5-22 15-24 17 15 32 18 62 9 15 0 5 202
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-30 .300 2nd Half: 12-33 .364 Game: .333 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 .273 2nd Half: 2-11 .182 Game: .227 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-7 1.000 2nd Half: 8-17 .471 Game: .625 3
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young 1-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 4-6 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 3 10 2 1 0 1 24
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... c 7-8 1-2 9-9 0 3 3 2 24 2 1 0 0 20
13 VRANES, Michael..... g 3-4 2-2 0-0 0 4 4 3 8 4 3 0 1 21
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 5-11 2-5 2-2 0 4 4 1 14 2 1 0 1 32
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 4 2 0 0 20
02 RIVERS, Silester.... 6-8 0-0 2-4 0 6 6 4 14 1 1 1 0 19
04 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 2 0 0 0 18
05 ROBERTS, Marc....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
10 ALLEN, John......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
20 TAGGART, Nick....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
33 SMITH, Morgan....... 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 3-3 0-0 0-2 3 2 5 2 6 0 1 0 0 9
42 COOPER, Nathan...... 5-9 0-0 3-3 3 2 5 3 13 1 1 0 0 18
50 NIELSEN, David...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 1 2 3 1
Totals.............. 33-54 5-10 20-24 7 31 38 24 91 18 12 1 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-29 .655 2nd Half: 14-25 .560 Game: .611 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 .500 2nd Half: 2-4 .500 Game: .500 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 .833 2nd Half: 15-18 .833 Game: .833 3
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Officials: Lonnie Dixon, Ronnie Hernandez, Shawn Lehigh
Technical fouls: California-Riverside-None. Brigham Young-None.
Attendance: 7546
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
California-Riverside.......... 28 34 - 62
Brigham Young................. 47 44 - 91