LAIE -- He was listed as questionable entering Thursday's game because of a sprained ankle but once the ball tipped Terrell Lyday proved he had all the answers, scoring a season-high 25 points to lead BYU to a 83-67 win over Boise State at the Yahoo! Sports Invitational in Laie, Hawaii.
Lyday quickly put any doubts aside scoring 20 first-half points to give the Cougars a 39-32 lead at the break. Despite turning his other ankle (left) in the second half he did returned to the game to finish with the game-high 25 points.
"Terrell had his best game of the year," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "I was really happy with his aggressive mind-set offensively and defensively. We had significantly more post touches in the second half which opened up our three-point shooting. Both Trent (Whiting) and Mekeli (Wesley) had a big second half."
Wesley and Whiting helped Lyday carry the scoring load, scoring 19 points apiece as the three BYU starters combined for 63 of BYU's 83 points.
The Cougars built their lead to 15 points in the first six minutes of the second half but saw that advantage trimmed to only four points by the Broncos at the 11 minute mark. Wesley responded with two buckets inside, Whiting knocked down back-to-back threes, and Lyday followed with a trey during an ensuing 13-4 BYU run to give the Cougars a 67-54 edge with just over eight minutes remaining. The run not only broke the Broncos' momentum but also proved to brake their backs as Boise State did not threaten BYU the rest of the way.
The Cougars were fluid offensively, shooting 53.5 percent from the floor, while making a season-high nine treys. BYU shot 60 percent from behind the arc. Wesley had a team-high seven rebounds and Nathan Cooper and Nate Knight made solid contributions off the bench. Cooper had six points and five boards while Knight added six points and four rebounds.
The Cougars improved to 7-2 with the win and take a five-game winning streak into Friday's tournament matchup against 8-1 Iowa State. The game with the Cyclones, who are ranked 26th in this week's AP poll, tips at 6 p.m. HT (9 p.m. Mountain). Boise State fell to 6-4 with the loss and faces 2-6 Troy State (Alabama) Friday.
NCAA BB YAHOO! SPORTS INVITATIONAL
FINAL 1ST 2ND TOTAL
--- --- -----
BOISE ST 32 35 67
BYU 39 44 83 FINAL
HIGH SCORERS: BOISE ST - ABE JACKSON 18, DELVIN ARMSTRONG 10,
RICHARD MORGAN 10
BYU - TERRELL LYDAY 25, TRENT WHITING 19, MEKELI
WESLEY 19
HIGH REBOUND: BOISE ST - ABE JACKSON 5, RICHARD MORGAN 4
BYU - MEKELI WESLEY 7, NATHAN COOPER 5
HIGH ASSISTS: BOISE ST - CLINT HORDEMANN 2, BOOKER NABORS 2
BYU - MATT MONTAGUE 5, TERRELL LYDAY 2
BOISE ST (67)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Skiffer 28 1-2 2-2 0-1 0 2 4
Hordemann 33 2-7 1-2 1-3 2 2 6
Armstrong 30 3-8 2-2 0-3 1 2 10
Jackson 30 4-13 8-10 2-5 1 0 18
Morgan 22 5-5 0-0 2-4 0 4 10
Defares 3 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Woods 15 1-5 2-3 1-1 0 5 4
Nabors 24 2-5 3-5 0-1 2 2 8
Gerichs 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Tillman 12 1-3 1-2 1-3 1 5 3
Gainous 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
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TOTALS 200 21-51 19-26 7-21 7 22 67
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Percentages: FG-.412, FT-.731. 3-Point Goals:
6-17, .353 (Skiffer 0-1, Hordemann 1-3, Armstrong
2-3, Jackson 2-6, Defares 0-1, Woods 0-1, Nabors
1-2). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 2
(Jackson, Tillman). Turnovers: 15 (Jackson 4,
Nabors 3, Morgan 2, Tillman 2, Armstrong,
Hordemann, Skiffer, Woods). Steals: 3 (Armstrong,
Hordemann, Nabors).
BYU (83)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Hansen 12 0-2 0-0 0-2 1 3 0
Wesley 23 6-9 7-8 2-7 0 3 19
Whiting 35 6-12 2-3 0-1 1 3 19
Lyday 36 8-14 5-6 1-4 2 3 25
Nielsen 15 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 2
Knight 12 2-2 2-2 2-4 0 1 6
Bobik 8 0-1 4-4 0-1 1 1 4
Montague 30 0-0 0-0 0-2 5 2 0
Chrisman 7 0-0 2-2 1-2 0 1 2
Cooper 22 1-2 4-6 2-5 0 5 6
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TOTALS 200 24-45 26-31 8-28 10 23 83
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Percentages: FG-.533, FT-.839. 3-Point Goals:
9-15, .600 (Whiting 5-7, Lyday 4-7, Bobik 0-1).
Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 2 (Nielsen,
Montague). Turnovers: 17 (Montague 5, Lyday 3,
Knight 2, Wesley 2, Whiting 2, Bobik, Chrisman,
Nielsen). Steals: 7 (Lyday 4, Bobik, Montague,
Whiting).
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Boise St 32 35 - 67
Byu 39 44 - 83
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Technical fouls: None. Officials: .