PROVO -- The BYU Cougars posted their fourth consecutive win by dismantling Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.
The Cougars blistered the Islanders for 52 first half points, shooting 54 percent from the field and a perfect 9 for 9 from the free throw line. The lack of defense in the first half is not a new problem according to Islander coach Ronnie Arrow.
"We're working at finding a remedy for our problems early in the game. We haven't defended anybody in the first half this year," Arrow said.
The Cougars were led in the half by Terrell Lyday, who scored all of his team-high 19 points in the first half, before being hampered by a hip-pointer for the remainder of the game.
BYU stifled the visiting team, holding the Islanders to only 23 points. The point total for the half is the lowest scored by any Islander team in any half of basketball.
The focus of both the offense and the defense did not carry over to the second half for the Cougars. Despite being down by 29 points at the end of the half, the Islanders did not go away quietly. The Islanders climbed back into the range of respectability with a 15-2 run during the middle part of the second half.
"To be honest with you, we did not play the second half with the same intensity that we showed in the first half. They came back and played a lot harder in the second half than we did," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "We got complacent and we just can't do that."
The Islanders were led by seniors Michael Hicks and Sennai Atsbeha with 21 and 15 points respectively. While the Cougars also enjoyed senior leadership in the points column with seniors Lyday and Trent Whiting scoring 19 and 15 respectively.
The Cougars open Mountain West Conference play hosting San Diego State University Saturday, January 13 at 4:00 p.m. in the Marriott Center. Please note the time change to 4 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Texas A & M-Corpus Christi vs Brigham Young University
01/06/01 7:05 at Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Texas A & M-Corpus Christi 6-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 MC BRIDE, C.J....... * 1-5 0-2 1-2 0 1 1 3 3 2 2 0 2 23
11 HICKS, Michael...... * 9-16 0-0 3-4 2 1 3 2 21 5 3 0 2 36
20 ATSBEHA, Sennai..... * 5-9 2-6 3-3 1 3 4 3 15 1 1 0 0 23
33 SHULTZ, Dustin...... * 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 18
40 HEMSLEY, Shaun...... * 2-6 0-0 0-0 5 9 14 1 4 0 2 2 0 24
03 EVAMS. Brian........ 3-8 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 6 3 1 0 2 19
05 DENMON, Lee......... 1-4 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 0 1 13
15 DRASUTIS, Arunas.... 2-6 1-5 1-1 1 1 2 4 6 1 0 0 0 9
21 HAMILTON, Brian..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1
23 WAINWRIGHT, Armond.. 1-6 0-4 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 1 1 0 0 12
34 KIRKALDY, Damian.... 4-13 0-1 0-0 3 5 8 5 8 0 2 0 0 16
50 DIENE, Pathe........ 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 6
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 28-75 4-23 8-12 15 24 39 25 68 13 16 3 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-34 .294 2nd Half: 18-41 .439 Game: .373 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-9 .111 2nd Half: 3-14 .214 Game: .174 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 1.000 2nd Half: 6-10 .600 Game: .667 1
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young University 11-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 HANSEN, Travis...... f 2-4 0-1 0-0 0 7 7 2 4 1 0 0 1 17
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... f 4-11 0-1 1-1 2 4 6 1 9 0 3 3 2 27
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 1-5 0-0 0-0 2 4 6 0 2 1 0 0 2 16
21 WHITING, Trent...... g 6-10 1-4 2-3 1 4 5 2 15 3 3 2 0 33
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 4-9 3-6 8-10 0 1 1 2 19 1 2 0 0 19
01 KNIGHT, Nate........ 4-5 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 1 8 1 0 1 0 12
10 ARCHIBALD, Jordan... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 BOBIK, Daniel....... 2-3 0-1 7-8 1 1 2 2 11 0 2 1 2 12
23 SHIPPEN, Ty......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
31 MONTAGUE,Matt....... 0-0 0-0 2-4 0 6 6 1 2 8 3 0 2 25
34 CHRISMAN, Jacob..... 2-5 0-0 0-0 3 3 6 2 4 1 3 0 0 20
42 COOPER, Nathan...... 3-4 2-3 0-0 0 2 2 3 8 0 2 0 1 14
43 DAWES, Derek........ 0-0 0-0 2-4 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................
Totals.............. 28-57 6-17 22-30 11 36 47 16 84 16 18 7 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-35 .543 2nd Half: 9-22 .409 Game: .491 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 .385 2nd Half: 1-4 .250 Game: .353 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-9 1.000 2nd Half: 13-21 .619 Game: .733 2
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Officials: Larry Stubing, Bill Gracy, Mike Giarratano
Technical fouls: Texas A & M-Corpus Christi-None. Brigham Young
University-None.
Attendance: 10205
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Texas A & M-Corpus Christi.... 23 45 - 68
Brigham Young University...... 52 32 - 84