Albuquerque, N.M. (March 3, 2003)--BYU caps off its Mountain West Conference road season with a win over the Lobos of New Mexico 91-81, Monday night. With the win, the Cougars finish 5-2 away from home in the conference and pick up their 20th win of the season overall (20-7, 9-3 MWC).
BYU held a three-point lead at the break, but went on a 16-4 run to open the half, extending the lead to 54-39. During the run, junior Mark Bigelow hit back-to-back treys and two free throws and Araujo had a transition jam inside to build the lead.
The Cougars looked to lone senior Travis Hansen for big shots down the stretch to fight off attempted runs by the Lobos. Hansen led five Cougars in double figures with 26 points, including a perfect 12-for-12 from the line.
"Travis has been our leader all season on and off the court and he made some big shots," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said.
Jared Jensen topped a new season-high in points with 19 along with six rebounds. He made many key buckets inside to quiet the raucous crowd of 15,741 at The Pit. Jensen scored 15 on the Lobos earlier this season in Provo.
Araujo chipped in 14 points while grabbing 14 boards. The two big men scored 33 points on 13-of-19 shooting.
"It is a great time for our big men to play well," Cleveland said. "We just needed to get them some post touches, and we did that tonight."
Bigelow paced the run out of the gate in the second half before fouling out with 14 points. Kevin Woodberry added 11 points with five assists and just one turnover.
BYU mixed defenses to try and contain UNM's Ruben Douglas. The Lobo guard scored 27 points, including 12-for-12 from the line to match Hansen for BYU in free throw accuracy. Cleveland wanted to limit Douglas' trips to the foul line after he helped the Lobos beat Utah Saturday by making 26 free throws.
Mark Walters and Jamaal Williams scored 18 and 17 points respectively for New Mexico.
The Cougar's defense came within 52 seconds of snapping Douglas' streak of 35 consecutive games with a three-pointer. He hit 1-of-7; the lone make came in the final minute of the game.
BYU shot 63.6 percent in the second half to build the lead that they would never give up. The Cougars shot 54.5 percent from the field on the game and totaled the most points in a road game for BYU since 1994 at Air Force. BYU was 26-of-28 from the line for 93 percent.
The Cougars wrap up the regular season this weekend at home against Wyoming on Thursday night and CSU on Saturday. Tip-off against the Cowboys is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be televised by SportWest TV on KUWB in Salt Lake City.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs New Mexico
03/03/03 7:05 PM MST at The Pit/Bob King Court
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VISITORS: BYU 20-7, 9-3 MWC
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 2-4 4-4 0 1 1 5 14 4 0 0 1 29
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 6-9 0-0 2-2 3 11 14 3 14 3 5 1 0 34
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g 7-15 0-4 12-12 2 2 4 4 26 1 1 0 2 37
14 BOWER, Ricky........ g 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 9
24 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g 3-6 2-4 3-4 0 2 2 2 11 5 1 0 1 33
04 LEMES, Luiz......... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 7
05 SHOFF, Jake......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 0 3 7 0 0 0 21
52 JENSEN, Jared....... 7-10 0-0 5-6 3 3 6 3 19 2 0 0 0 28
TEAM................ 1 2 3 1 1
Totals.............. 30-55 5-17 26-28 9 25 34 21 91 22 8 1 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-33 48.5% 2nd Half: 14-22 63.6% Game: 54.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-12 16.7% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 29.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 22-24 91.7% Game: 92.9% 0
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HOME TEAM: New Mexico 10-16, 4-9 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 CHIOTTI, David...... c 2-4 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 4 5 2 1 0 1 29
00 WALTERS, Mark....... g 6-10 1-3 5-5 1 4 5 4 18 1 3 0 1 31
05 DOUGLAS, Ruben...... g 7-22 1-7 12-12 2 1 3 4 27 2 2 1 1 37
11 TINDALL, Javin...... g 3-8 3-7 2-2 0 3 3 1 11 4 0 0 0 35
12 ASHCRAFT, Ryan...... g 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 25
01 BELL, Chad.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 8
22 HART, Jeff.......... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 12
24 WILLIAMS, Jamaal.... 6-10 0-0 5-9 5 3 8 0 17 0 0 0 0 23
TEAM................ 2 3 5 1 1
Totals.............. 25-59 6-19 25-30 12 18 30 20 81 10 8 1 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-28 46.4% 2nd Half: 12-31 38.7% Game: 42.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 31.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-9 88.9% 2nd Half: 17-21 81.0% Game: 83.3% 2
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Officials: Verne Harris, Randy McCall, Ron Zetcher
Technical fouls: BYU-TEAM. New Mexico-TEAM.
Attendance: 15741
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 38 53 - 91
New Mexico.................... 35 46 - 81
Points in the paint-BY 38,NM 32. Points off turnovers-BY 14,NM 6.
2nd chance points-BY 9,NM 14. Fast break points-BY 8,NM 6.
Bench points-BY 24,NM 20. Score tied-4 times. Lead changes-7 times.