PROVO -- Led by Terrell Lyday's 19 points, BYU closed out the regular season with a 67-50 win at home over San Diego State Saturday.
With the win, BYU finished 12-2 at home and 18-9 overall. BYU will play New Mexico Thursday in the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas as the sixth sixth seed at 7-7. New Mexico is the third seed at 9-5. In Steve Cleveland's three years as BYU's coach, the Cougars have finished 4-10, 6-8 and now 7-7 in conference games.
Lyday led the Cougars with 19 points and Mekeli Wesley added 15 against the now 5-22 Aztecs (0-14 MWC). Lyday went 3-5 on three-pointers and tied his career high for second straight game with 5 assists. Wesley grabbed five rebounds, had two assists, two blocks and one steal.
The Cougars took a 39-27 half-time lead and kept a double-digit advantage throughout the second half. Nathan Cooper started his second game of the year and had a season-high 9 rebounds, including four off the offensive glass. Coming off the bench, Matt Montague equaled his season-best with 6 rebounds while scoring seven points.
San Diego State was led by Myron Epps with 16 and Marcelo Correa added 10. After shooting 52 percent in the first half, BYU cooled off in the late going but still out shot the Aztecs 42 percent to 35 percent.
BYU coach Steve Cleveland:
"Well the good news is we did what we needed to do to win. We finished with a 7-7 record in the conference and 18-9 overall."
"It wasn't pretty. I know we can play much better than we did tonight. We were in the right spots defensively, and pretty or not, I was pleased with the win."
"As thin as we are, and playing with the people we are, it's evident that there is now a fatigue factor. We started August 1st, and it's been almost eight months, and you can see a little bit of the fatigue factor. It comes in the form of shots, or just standing a little bit. We just need to get some rest, and take Sunday and Monday off. We just need to get as much rest as we can, and have as much energy as we can."
"We'll have to be at our very best to keep up with [New Mexico]. But this was good, to be able to go as far as we have, with our record."
San Diego State coach Steve Fischer:
"It's awful when you don't win...but this group did come every day and work hard and try hard. I think, to their credit, they worked hard--and tonight we did that. But help will be on the way, and we'll be looking to get kids in here."
"BYU has an intelligent team that plays hard and follows their game plan, and the credit goes to their kids, and to Steve [Cleveland].
Post-game Notes:
• Terrell Lyday made 3 threes tonight--the seventh time he has made 3 or more treys in a game this year, but the first time in the last 10 games. His season high was 6 (6-9) at UNLV.
• Nathan Cooper had a season-high 9 rebounds.
• Matt Montague equaled his season-best with 6 rebounds.
• Terrell Lyday tied his career high for second straight game with 5 assists.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
San Diego State vs BYU
3/4/00 7:05 at Provo, Utah
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: San Diego State 5-22, 0-14
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 EPPS, Myron......... f 6-11 1-1 3-5 1 3 4 4 16 1 5 0 1 37
42 CORREA, Marcelo..... c 5-12 0-0 0-1 2 8 10 4 10 3 2 1 0 26
04 WILSON, Donte....... g 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 2 2 0 2 0 1 20
05 JACKSON, Bradley.... g 2-10 0-3 3-3 1 2 3 1 7 5 3 1 2 35
21 BEROKOFF, Jeffrey... g 2-4 1-3 1-2 0 1 1 4 6 2 2 0 4 27
11 ABRAMOWITZ, David... 2-10 2-7 1-2 1 1 2 1 7 3 0 0 0 23
32 MARION, Michael..... 1-4 0-1 0-3 1 2 3 2 2 0 4 0 0 14
34 OKOTIE, Vincent..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
52 MANN, Joe........... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 3 5 5 0 0 0 0 1 17
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 19-55 4-17 8-16 10 22 32 23 50 14 18 2 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-31 .387 2nd Half: 7-24 .292 Game: .345 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 .286 2nd Half: 2-10 .200 Game: .235 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-6 .167 2nd Half: 7-10 .700 Game: .500 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: BYU 18-9, 7-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... f 5-9 2-2 3-3 0 5 5 3 15 2 5 2 1 36
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 2-5 0-0 4-5 2 1 3 5 8 0 2 1 0 25
42 COOPER, Nathan...... f 1-3 1-2 1-2 4 5 9 3 4 1 2 0 1 17
13 VRANES, Michael..... g 2-7 1-4 0-3 1 1 2 1 5 1 0 1 0 26
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 6-11 3-5 4-7 2 4 6 2 19 5 3 0 4 35
04 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 2-6 0-4 0-0 0 2 2 1 4 1 1 0 1 22
05 ROBERTS, Marc....... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 1
10 ALLEN, John......... 0-1 0-1 1-2 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 3
20 TAGGART, Nick....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 2-5 0-0 3-3 0 6 6 1 7 4 2 0 0 28
34 ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
50 NIELSEN, David...... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 5
TEAM................ 1 4 5
Totals.............. 20-48 7-18 20-29 11 31 42 18 67 14 17 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-25 .520 2nd Half: 7-23 .304 Game: .417 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-7 .714 2nd Half: 2-11 .182 Game: .389 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-10 .800 2nd Half: 12-19 .632 Game: .690 4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Mark Theisman, Ronnie Hernandez, Greg Burks
Technical fouls: San Diego State-None. BYU-COOPER, Nathan.
Attendance: 13089
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
San Diego State............... 27 23 - 50
BYU........................... 39 28 - 67