PROVO -- It has become a habit for BYU at home, jump out to an early lead behind senior leadership and maintain the pace for the victory. The Cougars defeated Wyoming Thursday night by a score of 79-63 and move to a perfect 14-0 on the Marriott Center floor this season.
Once again, the senior leader out of the gate was Terrell Lyday, connecting on his first two three point attempts and scoring 10 of the Cougars first 22 points. Lyday has had difficulty with a sprained ankle and a strained arch, but showed no signs of slowing down.
"Terrell came up with some great baskets tonight," said coach Steve Cleveland. "But, it was also a good effort by the team. We are not going to beat that team anywhere unless we come up with a great effort."
Despite the Cougars explosive start, the Cowboys refused to let the game get out of hand. Wyoming's first half crusade was led by several strong juniors, including four early points from Josh Davis and the team's next 13 points from Ronell Mingo and Paris Corner. Wyoming coach Steve McClain commented on BYU's hot start.
"I don't think we played bad defensively," head coach Steve McClain said. "They just came out and knocked down some shots. I knew we could go on a run and get back into the game."
BYU held Wyoming off for most of the first half, leading 40-28 at the break. The run referred to by McClain came at the beginning of the second half with a combination of forced turnovers and poor decisions by the Cougars.
"The thing that bothered me at the beginning of the second half was that we turned the ball over too many times," Cleveland said.
Wyoming took advantage of the Cougar mistakes and cut the lead to three with 13 minutes to play. The 15-6 Wyoming run included baskets from Corner, Mingo, and Davis, as well as points from Marcus Bailey and Chris McMillian. The two teams continued to exchange baskets and fouls over the next 6 minutes, with neither team gathering enough strength to put the game out of reach.
"We couldn't get back over the top," McClain said. "That is a credit to BYU and the way they played, but it is hard to beat a team when they shoot that many free throws."
BYU capitalized on four second half technicals against the Cowboys, including two on McClain, and several fouls. The Cougars made 17 of 18 free throws down the stretch and put the game out of hand with a 19-7 run. With the BYU victory, there is a three-way tie for first place in the Mountain West Conference, between the Cougars, Utah, and Wyoming. All three teams are 7-3 in conference play with four games remaining.
BYU will play the final home game of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 17, against the Colorado State Rams. The game will mark the final regular season home game for several BYU seniors including, Nathan Cooper, Nate Knight, Terrell Lyday, Mekeli Wesley, and Trent Whiting.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
University of Wyoming vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
02/15/01 7:05 at Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: University of Wyoming 16-6, 7-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 DAVIS, Josh......... f 4-8 0-2 2-3 3 5 8 4 10 0 1 2 0 26
44 BAILEY, Marcus...... f 3-7 1-2 2-2 1 2 3 4 9 2 4 0 0 26
05 NSONWU-AMADI, Uche.. c 2-4 0-0 2-4 2 4 6 3 6 1 3 1 2 28
10 McMILLIAN, Chris.... g 1-5 0-4 1-2 1 2 3 5 3 4 3 0 2 34
20 ROTTINGHAUS, David.. g 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 5
00 MINGO, Ronell....... 6-9 0-0 6-6 0 1 1 3 18 1 2 1 0 21
04 UDEZUE, Ugo......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
14 McFALL, Brett....... 1-6 1-5 0-0 1 1 2 4 3 6 2 0 0 26
23 VINES, Scottie...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
24 CORNER, Paris....... 5-10 2-3 2-3 1 4 5 1 14 1 2 0 2 27
25 RIES, Joe........... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 22-52 4-17 15-20 12 20 32 27 63 15 19 4 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-23 .348 2nd Half: 14-29 .483 Game: .423 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-8 .125 2nd Half: 3-9 .333 Game: .235 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 11-15 .733 2nd Half: 4-5 .800 Game: .750 3
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 18-7, 7-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 KNIGHT, Nate........ f 2-3 0-0 0-2 1 4 5 2 4 0 1 3 1 12
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... f 1-5 1-3 7-8 3 3 6 4 10 2 4 0 0 23
42 COOPER, Nathan...... f 3-5 1-2 4-4 0 3 3 3 11 2 1 0 1 27
21 WHITING, Trent...... g 2-4 1-3 9-9 0 0 0 4 14 2 2 0 0 33
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 8-18 2-6 7-8 2 2 4 3 25 4 3 2 2 36
20 BOBIK, Daniel....... 2-4 1-2 0-1 0 0 0 1 5 3 1 0 0 13
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... 1-5 0-0 5-6 3 5 8 2 7 1 1 2 0 31
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 10
34 CHRISMAN, Jacob..... 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 2
43 DAWES, Derek........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 13
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 20-48 6-16 33-40 12 20 32 21 79 16 14 8 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-22 .545 2nd Half: 8-26 .308 Game: .417 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-6 .667 2nd Half: 2-10 .200 Game: .375 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-18 .667 2nd Half: 21-22 .955 Game: .825 3
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Officials: Scott Thornley, David Hall, Dan Crisman
Technical fouls: University of Wyoming-McMILLIAN, Chris; McFALL, Brett;
BENCH 2. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-COOPER, Nathan.
Attendance: 16488
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
University of Wyoming......... 28 35 - 63
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars......... 40 39 - 79