LAS -- Luiz Lemes dished the ball off to Rafael Araujo who scored the game-winning basket with 0.5 seconds left as BYU beat UNLV 89-88 Saturday in Las Vegas, sweeping the season series and ending the regular season on an eight-game winning streak.
"I knew Haffa (Araujo) was somewhere, so I looked for him and found him open," Lemes said. "I'm glad I was able to get it to him to give us the win."
Lemes scored a career-high 23 points in the win and was one of four Cougars who posted double figures. Araujo added 21 points despite being in foul trouble for most of the game. Kevin Woodberry contributed 13 points, just one short of his season-high, and Mike Hall put 12 points on the board for the Cougars. Araujo also pulled down 13 rebounds to record his 14th double-double of the season. Lemes and Araujo combined for 44 of the Cougars' 89 points.
BYU started the game on fire, going 9-of-12 in the first nine minutes, including 4-6 from beyond the arc. After a 13-4 run gave the Cougars a 23-14 lead, BYU turnovers on four consecutive possessions allowed UNLV to cut the lead to just two points. Then the Rebels did a little scoring of their own, going on an 11-3 run and an 11-2 run that saw the Cougars go scoreless from the field for over four minutes. Kevin Woodberry hit a three-pointer and then two free throws to bring the Cougars back to within two, 44-46, at the half.
The second half was an offensive battle as both teams ran the floor trading buckets and neither team led by more than six points. As the score went back and forth, Araujo picked up his third and fourth fouls before the 10-minute mark, the fourth being a technical he received after a hard UNLV foul as he was going up for a put-back basket on one of BYU's 12 offensive rebounds. After sitting for almost six minutes, Araujo came back in for the remainder of the game, scoring the game-winner.
Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field with BYU going 30-54 (.556) and UNLV hitting 32-55 (.582). The Cougars made 7-18 (.389) from beyond the arc, including 3-5 from Woodberry -- a vast improvement from their dismal 1-15 three-point shooting night against UNLV in Provo. BYU also out-rebounded the Rebels 32-21, marking the 19th game of the season in which the Cougars have won the rebounding battle. BYU is 16-3 in those games.
After completing the regular season 20-7 overall and 10-4 in the Mountain West Conference, the Cougars will now take their eight-game winning streak into Denver, Colo. for Thursday's opening of the MWC Tournament. As the No. 2 seed, BYU will face No. 7 seed Wyoming at 3:30 p.m. Thursday at the Pepsi Center.
"I couldn't be more proud of this team," said BYU coach Steve Cleveland. "Our mentality is that we've got to keep winning each game. We're going to go into the Tournament Thursday and just play it out and see how far we can go."
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs UNLV
03/06/04 12:30 PM at Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nev.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: BYU 20-7, 10-4 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 2-8 1-5 3-3 1 2 3 3 8 2 2 0 0 31
41 MEADS, Garner....... f 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 14
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 9-13 0-0 3-4 4 9 13 4 21 4 0 1 0 31
01 HALL, Mike.......... g 3-5 1-2 5-6 1 1 2 4 12 2 3 1 0 29
04 LEMES, Luiz......... g 8-14 2-6 5-6 0 0 0 2 23 6 2 0 2 35
00 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... 3-6 3-5 4-5 0 1 1 2 13 1 2 1 0 29
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
05 SHOFF, Jake......... 2-3 0-0 0-0 2 6 8 4 4 2 0 0 1 22
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
52 JENSEN, Jared....... 2-3 0-0 2-4 2 2 4 1 6 0 2 0 0 8
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 30-54 7-18 22-28 12 22 34 23 89 17 13 3 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-26 53.8% 2nd Half: 16-28 57.1% Game: 55.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 1-7 14.3% Game: 38.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-13 76.9% 2nd Half: 12-15 80.0% Game: 78.6% 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: UNLV 16-11, 7-7 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
00 BLANKSON, Odartey... f 8-13 1-3 6-9 3 7 10 3 23 0 4 0 0 34
11 PETERS, James....... f 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 4 1 1 0 1 11
05 EDWARDS, J.K........ c 8-14 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 4 16 4 2 2 1 35
03 BECK, Romel......... g 4-9 1-2 5-5 0 0 0 2 14 2 0 0 2 32
10 BLASSINGAME, Jerel.. g 6-10 3-4 2-2 1 2 3 2 17 14 3 0 0 37
01 HUNTER, Demetrius... 4-5 2-2 0-0 0 1 1 4 10 0 0 0 1 26
12 UMEH, Michael....... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4
22 AMUNDSON, Louis..... 0-0 0-0 2-8 1 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 0 11
33 WINSTON, John....... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 1 10
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 32-55 7-12 17-28 6 16 22 19 88 24 11 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-30 53.3% 2nd Half: 16-25 64.0% Game: 58.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 58.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 10-17 58.8% 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 60.7% 6
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Bill Gracey, Lonnie Dixon, Greg Burks
Technical fouls: BYU-ARAUJO, Rafael. UNLV-None.
Attendance: 14641
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 44 45 - 89
UNLV.......................... 46 42 - 88
ID-213703
Points in the paint-BY 34,LV 44. Points off turnovers-BY 17,LV 16.
2nd chance points-BY 17,LV 5. Fast break points-BY 0,LV 10.
Bench points-BY 23,LV 14. Score tied-16 times. Lead changes-18 times.