Araujo Named Tournament MVP
SANTA CLARA -- With its top three post players fouled out of the game, BYU looked to Mark Bigelow and he delivered a slashing bucket-and-one with 14.9 seconds remaining to lead the Cougars to a 68-66 win over host Santa Clara to claim the Cable Car Classic title Tuesday at the Leavey Center.
The win improves the Cougars to 9-2, while the Broncos fall to 8-6.
Senior center Rafael Araujo again loomed large, posting his eighth double-double in nine games with 18 points and 12 rebounds -- with all 18 points scored in the second half. Araujo was named the Cable Car Classic Most Valuable Player after combining for 41 points and 23 boards in the two Cougar wins.
Despite holding a distinct size advantage, it was BYU that was plagued with foul trouble throughout the night. SCU made 21-of-30 free throws, while BYU was just 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. Before the night was done, BYU pivots Araujo, Jake Shoff and Jared Jensen had all fouled out of the game.
"This is a real feel-good win, considering everything we had to overcome -- especially our really poor play in the first half," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said.
Shoff had a dominating night on the boards grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds. The Cougars also had four players score in double figures for the second consecutive night. Bigelow, Hall and Luiz Lemes had 14, 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The game started out as a relatively low-scoring affair, and SCU nudged out to an early 6-2 lead following a Travis Niesen bucket. A pair of free throws and a tip-in by Hall at the 14:50 mark tied the game.
That was preceded, though, by a slew of fouls called on BYU in the first four minutes of the game. The Cougars were called for the first six fouls in the game, within the first four minutes, and a Jared Jensen foul put the Broncos in a 1-and-1 situation with 14:41 to go in the first half.
BYU fought though its foul woes, however, and Hall gave the Cougars their first lead, 9-7, with a three-pointer at the 14:23 mark. The Broncos would retake the lead, but it was short-lived, as Lemes hit consecutive threes on back-to-back possessions. The second Lemes trey, which gave BYU a 15-10 lead, was set up after Araujo grabbed an offensive rebound and popped it out to Lemes.
Jensen then drained a 12-foot jump shot to cap an 8-0 BYU run and extend its lead to 17-10. SCU countered with a 5-0 run, but a Hall trey and Jensen bucket again gave BYU a seven-point lead at 22-15. From there the Broncos scored 15 straight points in a 21-4 run to end the half with a 36-26 advantage. Hall led the Cougars with 10 points in the half, but Araujo was held scoreless at the half for the first time this season.
A demonstrated strong second-half team this season, BYU didn't disappoint and, as expected, Araujo led the way. Araujo hit a quick basket to get on the board then drained a trey in the opening minutes of the period, which ignited a 13-0 BYU run capped by a second Araujo three, as the Cougars suddenly seized the lead, 41-39.
The two teams would exchange leads as the half wore on, but Araujo powered BYU down the stretch, as the Cougars grabbed the lead. A pair of Bigelow free throws bulged the Cougar lead to a second-half high six points at 63-57. SCU, though, reeled off a 7-0 run to retake the lead 64-63 with 1:01 remaining.
On the ensuing BYU possession, Lemes hit a tough jumper just inside the 3-point arc to put the Cougars back in the lead. SCU retook the lead after Kyle Bailey hit a pair of free throws, before Bigelow's heroics. After Bigelow's three-point play, Bailey's desperation three with seconds remaining missed the mark.
"It was a fun game," Bigelow said. "It reminded me of an old high school game, with the crowd into it and the smaller gym.
"I'm just glad to have been able to help the team win tonight."
The longest-running holiday tournament in the nation, 2003 marked the 37th year of the Cable Car Classic. With its title this year, BYU won for the third time in four Cable Car appearances and tie the University of San Francisco for the second-most Cable Car Classic titles. The Cougars hold the most titles of any non-Bay Area team.
SCU leads with 13 titles and the Cougars have beaten the Broncos for each of their three titles. BYU also breaks SCU's six-game winning streak in the tournament, as the Broncos won the previous two titles.
BYU will next be in action when it hosts Saint Mary's (Calif.) Friday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on KSL-TV, channel 5 (Salt Lake City), and will be produced by SportsWest Productions.
2003 Cable Car Classic All-Tournament Team
Player School
Rafael Araujo (MVP) BYU
Kyle Bailey Santa Clara
Travis Niesen Santa Clara
Ed McCants Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Jeff Gardner Idaho State
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs Santa Clara
Dec. 30 8:00 p.m. at Santa Clara, Calif.
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 9-2
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 4-8 3-5 2-2 1 0 1 3 13 2 6 0 0 34
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f 5-10 1-4 3-4 1 2 3 3 14 1 2 0 2 34
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 6-10 2-2 4-5 1 11 12 5 18 3 5 1 0 29
00 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g 1-6 1-5 0-0 1 3 4 1 3 1 2 0 0 21
04 LEMES, Luiz......... g 4-8 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 10 8 0 0 1 36
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
05 SHOFF, Jake......... 2-5 0-0 0-0 2 10 12 5 4 0 1 1 1 28
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
41 MEADS, Garner....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
52 JENSEN, Jared....... 3-5 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 5 6 0 0 0 0 14
TEAM................ 2 2 1
Totals.............. 25-52 9-21 9-11 7 30 37 25 68 15 16 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-29 34.5% 2nd Half: 15-23 65.2% Game: 48.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 42.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 7-9 77.8% Game: 81.8% 0
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HOME TEAM: Santa Clara 8-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
41 NIESEN, Travis...... f 4-10 0-0 8-12 1 4 5 2 16 0 2 0 2 33
45 HOWELL, Jim......... c 4-8 0-0 2-5 3 4 7 3 10 2 0 0 1 30
03 PATRICK, J.R........ g 1-4 0-3 2-4 0 3 3 1 4 4 2 0 0 30
11 BAILEY, Kyle........ g 5-11 4-7 2-2 0 1 1 0 16 4 2 0 1 36
30 PERKINS, Doron...... g 2-6 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 4 4 2 1 0 2 18
10 ROHE, Brandon....... 2-6 1-2 4-4 0 5 5 4 9 0 1 0 0 26
15 DENISON, Sean....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 7
31 BORCHART, Scott..... 1-2 0-0 3-3 0 2 2 0 5 0 1 0 1 9
40 ROHDE, Ethan........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 9
44 TIBBETS, Linden..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 20-50 5-14 21-30 7 22 29 16 66 12 10 0 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-30 43.3% 2nd Half: 7-20 35.0% Game: 40.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 35.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-11 72.7% 2nd Half: 13-19 68.4% Game: 70.0% 2
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Officials: Ken Ditty, Sam Haddad, Brian Rood
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-TEAM. Santa Clara-None.
Attendance: 2418
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 26 42 - 68
Santa Clara................... 36 30 - 66
ID-246347
Cable Car Classic, Championship Game
Points in the paint-BY 24,SCU 20. Points off turnovers-BY 10,SCU 21.
2nd chance points-BY 9,SCU 10. Fast break points-BY 4,SCU 4.
Bench points-BY 10,SCU 16. Score tied-8 times. Lead changes-13 times.