SAN DIEGO -- Trent Whiting and Mekeli Wesley scored 21 points each Monday to lead BYU to its first conference road win of the season. The Cougars defeated San Diego State 69-66 at Cox Arena to improve to 17-7 overall and 6-3 in Mountain West play.
"San Diego State played with purpose, took care of the ball and defended us better than they ever have," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "The character of this (BYU) team showed in the last 20 minutes. Mekeli and Trent made some big shots and Terrell (Lyday) was playing on one leg. I am proud of their effort. In order to win on the road you have to make plays."
The game was tight throughout with nine lead changes and 10 ties but the Cougars were able to make the big plays down the stretch to earn the breakthrough road victory. After the Aztecs scored the first bucket of the second half to take their biggest lead of the game at 33-24, Wesley and Whiting went to work scoring six points apiece to help the Cougars narrow the gap to 40-38 with 15 minutes remaining.
BYU was finally able to even the score at 48 when Nate Knight took a feed from
Wesley for an easy lay-in at the 10:18 mark. A little over two minutes later BYU took its first lead since the opening minute of the game when Whiting made two free throws to give BYU a 52-50 advantage.
While BYU had failed to make plays at the end its three conference road losses this year, this time around Cougar players came through in the clutch. With the Aztecs leading 63-62, Nathan Cooper dove to the ground for a loose ball to end a San Diego State possession and prevent the Aztecs from building on their slim lead. Whiting put the Cougars back on top for good at 65-63 by hitting his third three of the game with just over a minute remaining. A steal by Eric Nielsen after a San Diego State defensive rebound forced San Diego State to foul, with Wesley and Whiting each making free throws to seal the Cougar win.
"I think it is obvious at halftime that they decided to be more aggressive on the offensive end," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. "They did a better job of going to Mekeli and we didn't do as good a job of running at him."
The fourth rated free throw shooting team in the nation, BYU went 19-20 from the line while shooting 46.8 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent on three-point attempts. After Wesley and Whiting's game-high 21 points, Lyday added 11 and Nielsen and Daniel Bobik chipped in six points apiece. Whiting pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.
San Diego State shot a strong 51.1 percent from the field, including 45.5 percent on threes, while also missing only once from the line, going 15-16 from the charity stripe. It was the first time this year the Aztecs have shot better than 50 percent and lost and the first time BYU has won a game in which the opponent has made 50 percent from the floor. The Cougars have only allowed five teams to make half of their shots in a game this year.
Marcelo Correa scored 18 points to led the Aztecs with Al Faux and Randy Holcomb contributing 15 and 13 points, respectively. Myron Epps pulled down a team-high six rebounds. The Aztecs are now 1-8 in conference play and 11-11 overall.
BYU will travel home Tuesday and prepare for its matchup with league-leading Wyoming Thursday in Provo. The Cougars then host Colorado State Saturday to complete a four-games-in-eight-days stretch.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs San Diego State
02/12/01 7:05pm at San Diego, CA
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 17-7 (6-3)
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 2-3 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 4 6 0 4 0 0 25
42 COOPER, Nathan...... f 0-2 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 2 2 3 2 0 2 32
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... c 7-11 1-3 6-6 3 3 6 3 21 1 4 1 0 36
21 WHITING, Trent...... g 7-15 3-7 4-4 2 5 7 1 21 0 2 2 4 34
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 4-11 1-5 2-2 1 1 2 2 11 3 2 0 2 32
01 KNIGHT, Nate........ 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 4 2 0 0 1 1 11
20 BOBIK, Daniel....... 1-2 1-2 3-4 0 1 1 0 6 2 0 0 2 10
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 10
34 CHRISMAN, Jacob..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 0 10
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 22-47 6-17 19-20 9 17 26 18 69 12 15 4 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-24 .417 2nd Half: 12-23 .522 Game: .468 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 .273 2nd Half: 3-6 .500 Game: .353 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 .500 2nd Half: 18-18 1.000 Game: .950 2
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HOME TEAM: San Diego State 11-11 (1-8)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
23 HOLCOMB, Randy...... f 5-11 1-2 2-2 1 1 2 2 13 0 3 0 1 34
33 EPPS, Myron......... f 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 5 6 3 6 4 2 0 1 31
42 CORREA, Marcelo..... c 5-6 0-0 8-8 2 1 3 4 18 2 1 1 2 24
05 FAUX, Al............ g 5-11 3-5 2-3 1 1 2 3 15 0 4 1 0 34
11 ABRAMOWITZ, David... g 1-6 1-3 3-3 0 1 1 2 6 3 4 0 2 37
03 WALTON, Chris....... 4-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 4 8 2 3 0 0 28
10 KOVACIC,Karlo....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12
TEAM................ 5 5 1
Totals.............. 23-45 5-11 15-16 6 15 21 18 66 11 18 2 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-23 .522 2nd Half: 11-22 .500 Game: .511 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 .500 2nd Half: 2-5 .400 Game: .455 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 .800 2nd Half: 11-11 1.000 Game: .938 0
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Officials: Jim Stupin, Jim Danner, Greg Burks
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-None. San Diego State-None.
Attendance: 5037
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 24 45 - 69
San Diego State............... 31 35 - 66