PROVO -- The BYU Cougar men's basketball team (21-7, 10-3) took another step towards the Mountain West Conference regular season title and the NCAA Tournament with a 69-50 win over the Wyoming Cowboys (20-8, 8-5) Thursday night at the Marriott Center.
BYU finished the game with three players in double figures including senior Travis Hansen's game high 23 points in 34 minutes of play. Hansen also pulled down five rebounds, and had two blocked shots. Hansen led the Cougars with three three-pointers on the night.
Hansen was tough all night on defense being assigned to defend Wyoming's leading scorer Donta Richardson who is averaging just over 18 points a game, Hansen held Richardson to only nine on the night.
"We were able to play well on defense and we took care of the ball tonight. I was a little surprised at the spread of the points, but there was nothing easy about beating this team," said head coach Steve Cleveland. "I thought that it would be a possession game that would go down to the last five minutes."
Juniors Mark Bigelow and Rafael Araujo chipped in 13 and 12 points respectively to lift the Cougars past the Cowboys. Araujo also scored the second three-pointer of his career and came within one rebound of a double-double, grabbing nine boards in 29 minutes of play.
Araujo and Hansen got the Cougars off to a big start in the first half scoring a combined 19 of the Cougars' 36 points.
After starting out the game by trading baskets, BYU went on an early 11-2 run to go up 16-6 with 12:30 left to go in the half. On defense, Araujo forced Wyoming's center, Uche Nsonwu-Amadi, to fight for all eight of his first-half points and Hansen held Richardson to only four points at the break.
"Wyoming has some big guys inside that are really tough to guard," said Cleveland.
"BYU is one of the few teams that can match up with Uche when they have Araujo in there," said Wyoming head coach Steve McClain. "I give credit to BYU's defense, their big guys do a great job of helping each other."
With 3:27 remaining Hansen blocked a layup attempt by Wyoming's guard Chris McMillan that pinned the ball between the rim and the backboard. The block brought the Marriott Center to its feet and the 15,383 in attendance stayed there on the ensuing play as Bigelow scored off an Araujo behind-the-back pass.
With only 10.7 seconds left in the half and the Cowboys trying to score, Wyoming's David Rottinghaus threw the ball out of bounds and turned the ball over to the Cougars. On the in-bound play Cougar guard Kevin Woodberry drove the length of the floor to score a layup and take the Cougars into the lockerroom on top 36-25.
In the second half it was all Hansen as he came out shooting, scoring eight of the team's first 10 points.
After forward Jared Jensen connected on a pair of free throws with 13:33 left in the game, the Cougars increased their lead as they went on a 16-2 run led by Jensen who had six points in the stretched.
The Cougars went on to claim the victory with a 69-50 final and tied with Utah in the overall standings for the Mountain West Conference regular season title.
Utah's 66-65 loss to Colorado State on Thursday puts the Cougars and Utes in a first-place tie with identical 10-3 records. The Cougars will battle for the MWC title Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. (MST) when they take on Colorado State in the Marriott Center. It is the last home game of the season for the Cougars and will include a special half-time ceremony honoring former Cougar Danny Ainge, whose BYU uniform will be retired.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
University of Wyoming vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
03/06/03 7:00pm at Brigham Young University
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VISITORS: University of Wyoming 20-8, 8-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 ROTTINGHAUS, David.. f 1-3 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 2 3 1 4 1 1 25
25 RIES, Joe........... f 3-5 0-0 2-2 1 4 5 1 8 1 0 0 1 29
05 NSONWU-AMADI, Uche.. c 5-11 0-0 5-7 0 4 4 3 15 0 4 0 0 29
01 RICHARDSON, Donta... g 3-8 1-3 2-6 3 3 6 2 9 1 3 0 1 32
03 STRAIGHT, Jay....... g 3-4 0-1 3-5 1 4 5 1 9 2 4 0 0 27
00 MAKUN, Omoniyi...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 7
13 DUNN, Alex.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1
15 JEGEDE, Supo........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
23 ADAMS, David........ 0-4 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 4 0 0 2 0 1 19
24 MCMILLIAN, Chris.... 0-2 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 17
31 CORREA, Mory........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 4
32 WILDENBORG, Ryan.... 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 8
TEAM................ 2 4 6
Totals.............. 17-43 2-9 14-22 10 22 32 20 50 6 17 1 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-20 40.0% 2nd Half: 9-23 39.1% Game: 39.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-1 0.0% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-11 81.8% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 63.6% 3
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 21-7, 10-3
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 6-12 1-4 0-0 4 2 6 2 13 3 1 0 1 33
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f 2-2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 3 6 0 1 0 0 22
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 5-11 1-1 1-2 3 6 9 2 12 2 3 0 2 29
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g 7-15 3-8 6-7 2 3 5 1 23 2 1 2 1 34
24 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g 2-6 1-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 5 2 2 0 2 27
04 LEMES, Luiz......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 3
05 SHOFF, Jake......... 2-5 0-0 0-0 3 2 5 4 4 0 0 0 0 17
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 0 3 3 2 0 0 0 11
12 ROBERTS, Marc....... 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 2
14 BOWER, Ricky........ 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 9
15 ALLEN, John......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
32 JEPSEN, Bart........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 8
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 25-58 6-20 13-18 14 21 35 21 69 11 10 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-27 51.9% 2nd Half: 11-31 35.5% Game: 43.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 30.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-8 75.0% 2nd Half: 7-10 70.0% Game: 72.2% 2
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Officials: David Hall, Milt Stowe, Steve Weimer
Technical fouls: University of Wyoming-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars-None.
Attendance: 15383
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
University of Wyoming......... 25 25 - 50
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars......... 36 33 - 69
Points in the paint-WY 22,BY 22. Points off turnovers-WY 8,BY 20.
2nd chance points-WY 11,BY 10. Fast break points-WY 0,BY 2.
Bench points-WY 6,BY 10. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-0 times.