PROVO -- In a game that never saw BYU trail, an aggressive Cougar defense stymied Idaho early and hot three-point shooting kept the Cougars on top in a 70-48 blowout of the Vandals.
Idaho's zone defense slowed the BYU offense early but the Cougars outside shooting gave the team a 23-7 lead with seven minutes left in the first half and the team never looked back from there, finishing 11-of-21 from downtown on the night. The 52.4 percent clip from downtown is the first time BYU has shot over 50 percent from three-point range this season.
"This is the first time we have seen forty minutes of zone defense this year and, as a coach, that really makes you nervous," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. "You just don't know how well you are going to shoot against the zone but we shot well tonight."
BYU took a 32-19 lead into the locker room at and have gone to the lockers with the lead in every game this season.
With his 19 points on the night, Mark Bigelow lead the Cougars in scoring for the fourth time this season. Daniel Bobik shot well from the floor, scoring a career-high 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from three-point range.
Matt Montague also had a career night for BYU, catching the spirit of giving by dishing out a career-high 15 assists against Idaho, just one assist shy of the BYU single game record set by Mark May in 1976 against Niagara College.
"Overall it was a good team effort," Cleveland said. "The numbers were good and the energy was good for the most part. It was nice to see Bobik come off the bench and hit some shots and Montague's 15 assists is a pretty good number at any level of basketball."
BYU's defensive pressure limited the Vandals to just 19 points in the first half and held the Idaho offense to 34 percent shooting on the night. The Cougars have held their opponent below 36 percent shooting from the field in each of the last four games.
BYU continued to impress at the free throw line as well, shooting 89.5 percent on the night to mark the fifth game this season the team has eclipsed the 80 percent mark from the charity stripe. The Cougars have shot 75 percent or higher from the free-throw line in all eight games this season.
The win extends the Cougars winning streak in the Marriott Center to 25 games, the fourth-longest home winning streak in the nation. The team travels to the desert for their next game against No. 12 Stanford in Las Vegas next Saturday at 10 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Idaho vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
12/15/01 4:05 at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Idaho 2-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
25 HILAIRE, Rodney..... f 2-7 0-2 1-2 1 3 4 1 5 1 2 0 0 27
44 GERSCHEFSKE, Matt... f 0-8 0-2 1-2 2 4 6 5 1 2 4 0 0 26
11 FLETCHER, Bethuel... g 4-9 3-5 0-0 0 2 2 4 11 3 1 0 0 37
15 LOGAN, Justin....... g 3-7 2-5 0-0 0 2 2 0 8 2 0 0 3 40
21 JENKINS, Jerald..... g 6-13 0-0 5-6 0 2 2 1 17 0 1 0 2 28
04 HOLMES, Marquis..... 2-3 0-0 0-1 2 2 4 0 4 2 0 0 0 21
05 TURNER, Jermery..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4
54 HOWELL, David....... 0-3 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 17
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 17-50 5-14 9-13 7 18 25 14 48 10 9 0 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-25 32.0% 2nd Half: 9-25 36.0% Game: 34.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-4 0.0% 2nd Half: 5-10 50.0% Game: 35.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 69.2% 3
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 6-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f 4-7 3-6 8-8 0 4 4 3 19 1 2 0 1 24
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 0 2 0 1 0 0 25
52 JENSEN, Jared....... c 4-4 0-0 4-4 0 4 4 1 12 0 1 2 0 20
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g 3-8 2-4 3-5 0 4 4 4 11 1 0 1 0 33
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g 2-4 0-2 0-0 0 3 3 1 4 15 2 0 0 33
04 PINEGAR, Jesse...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 5
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 5
12 OPUNUI, Shawn....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
20 BOBIK, Daniel....... 5-8 5-7 2-2 0 3 3 2 17 2 1 0 1 19
22 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 7
32 JEPSEN, Bart........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 8
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 13
42 CARLISLE, Jon....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 6
Totals.............. 21-39 11-21 17-19 2 27 29 13 70 20 11 5 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-18 50.0% 2nd Half: 12-21 57.1% Game: 53.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 5-10 50.0% Game: 52.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-8 100 % 2nd Half: 9-11 81.8% Game: 89.5% 0
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Officials: Bill Kennedy, Greg Burks, Shawn Lehigh
Technical fouls: Idaho-TEAM. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 5003
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Idaho......................... 19 29 - 48
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars......... 32 38 - 70