PROVO -- In their first-ever meeting against Utah Valley State College, the BYU Cougars defeated the Wolverines 84-65 Saturday night in the Marriott Center with four players scoring in double figures.
Rafael Araujo led the Cougars with 24 points, followed by Mike Hall with 19, Luiz Lemes with 15 and Mark Bigelow with 12. Araujo grabbed 12 rebounds to post his first double-double of the season, pulling down four clutch offensive boards.
BYU coach Steve Cleveland was impressed with Hall's activity in the contest.
"Mike Hall deserves the game ball tonight," Cleveland said. "He's been really steady and is so strong. He can take the ball to people and finish. He did a really good job defensively."
In the second half the Cougars led by as many as 21 points. The Cougars gained the 21-point advantage when Hall ignited a 10-0 run with a trey with 7:32 left to play in the second half. Hall also came up big for the Cougars on defense as he held UVSC's Ronnie Price to only two points in the second half. Price scored 24 in the first half, going 4-for-4 in from three-point range before BYU made the switch to have Hall guard Price as the Cougars began the second half of play.
"I was really impressed with Utah Valley," Cleveland said. "They came out and competed, but it wasn't anything less than I expected. They competed right to the end."
Jon Bell got the Wolverines on the board first as he made the first two points of the game. UVSC's effort to hold its early lead was ousted when the Cougars went on a 9-0 run early in the first half. The 9-0 run ended for BYU when Jared Jensen was caught with a foul that sent UVSC's Ryan Toolson to the line only to walk away with two more points for the Wolverines.
Another Cougar tide arose as Araujo put down a two-handed dunk followed by a forced UVSC travel by freshmen Michael Rose. Lemes drew a foul and made the layup to put the Cougars up 24-11.
The Cougars shot 44.8 percent followed by a close Wolverine 42.9 percent in the BYU victory.
With the win BYU improves to a 2-1 record on the season while USVC falls to 0-3 on the year. In its next competition, the Cougars will face Boise State Tuesday at 7:30 MST in Idaho.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Utah Valley State College vs Brigham Young University
11/29/03 7:05 p.m. at Marriott Center
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Utah Valley State College 0-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 BELL, Jon........... f 4-10 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 4 8 0 2 0 3 22
45 RAVENBERG, Brett.... c 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 1 0 10
10 TOOLSON, Ryan....... g 2-9 1-5 2-2 1 1 2 1 7 2 3 0 0 36
24 PRICE, Ronnie....... g 8-17 4-8 6-7 0 2 2 1 26 2 5 0 0 39
32 THOMAS, Pierre...... g 4-5 0-0 4-4 0 1 1 0 12 1 2 0 0 19
04 SHARP, Morgan....... 1-3 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 5 2 0 1 0 1 13
23 WESLEY, Russell..... 1-3 0-0 0-0 4 1 5 4 2 1 2 0 0 17
25 HECK, David......... 2-4 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 3 4 2 0 1 1 17
30 LEE, Carl........... 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 4 2 1 0 2 13
40 CELESTINE, Clem..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 5 0 1 0 0 0 14
TEAM................ 4 1 5
Totals.............. 24-56 5-16 12-13 13 17 30 29 65 11 16 2 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-22 45.5% 2nd Half: 14-34 41.2% Game: 42.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 31.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-13 92.3% 2nd Half: 0-0 0.0% Game: 92.3% 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Brigham Young University 2-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 HALL, Mike.......... f 7-14 1-4 4-5 6 2 8 1 19 2 2 1 0 33
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f 4-11 1-5 3-4 3 2 5 2 12 2 0 1 1 28
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 6-13 1-3 11-13 4 8 12 0 24 0 1 0 1 26
00 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g 2-4 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 4 4 3 2 0 1 29
04 LEMES, Luiz......... g 4-7 1-2 6-9 2 1 3 3 15 2 2 0 2 21
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 13
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 16
12 ROBERTS, Marc....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
41 MEADS, Garner....... 2-4 0-0 2-4 0 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 1 12
52 JENSEN, Jared....... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 0 16
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 26-58 4-18 28-37 18 20 38 13 84 11 11 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-31 41.9% 2nd Half: 13-27 48.1% Game: 44.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-13 23.1% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-15 80.0% 2nd Half: 16-22 72.7% Game: 75.7% 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Duane Allen, Kenneth Wilson, Kim Nielsen
Technical fouls: Utah Valley State College-TEAM. Brigham Young
University-None.
Attendance: 13624
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Utah Valley State College..... 36 29 - 65
Brigham Young University...... 41 43 - 84
Points in the paint-UVSC 20,BY 34. Points off turnovers-UVSC 10,BY 25.
2nd chance points-UVSC 9,BY 22. Fast break points-UVSC 0,BY 4.
Bench points-UVSC 12,BY 10. Score tied-3 times. Lead changes-7 times.