FORT COLLINS -- BYU's Austin Ainge caught fire early and never cooled off in leading the Cougars with a career-high 25 points, but Colorado State's bench lifted the Rams past BYU 74-67 at Moby Arena. CSU's bench overwhelmingly outscored the Cougar bench, 47-8.
"We need our bench to score more," BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. "And we have to make shots on the road if we want to win."
Ainge got the Cougars off to a quick start, connecting on a long range three-pointer and two free throws to take a 5-0 lead. BYU's early lead quickly disappeared as the Rams capitalized on Cougar turnovers and a dismal 18.9 percent first-half shooting performance. BYU's leading scorer Mike Hall was held scoreless in the opening period. The Rams ran away with a 10-0 run late in the first half to take a 32-22 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, the Cougars jumped on the Rams with a quick 6-0 spurt and continued to crawl back, eventually taking a 43-42 lead at the 11-minute mark. But the Rams regained the lead for good on a lay-up by freshman 7-footer Jason Smith, who scored a career-high 19 points. With under a minute left to play, Ainge brought the Cougars within three on back-to-back three-pointers, but the Rams sharp free-throw shooting gave CSU the victory and continued its unbeaten record at home this season.
"It came down to execution on both sides of the floor," Cleveland said. "Chris (Miles) and Jared (Jensen) both played well in the second half offensively and defensively."
BYU finished the game shooting 35 percent from the field. Mike Hall contributed 11 points while Jared Jensen scored nine points and equaled a career-high 10 rebounds. Miles added eight points and a career-best seven rebounds while assisting in holding CSU's leading scorer Matt Nelson to just 11 points. BYU is now 0-10 when scoring less than 70 points.
At 6-11 overall and 0-2 in the Mountain West Conference, BYU will continue the Front Range road swing on Monday in Laramie when the Cougars and Cowboys tip-off in a nationally televised 10 p.m. (MST) tilt on ESPN.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs Colorado State
1-15-05 1:00 p.m. at Fort Collins, Colo. (Moby Arena)
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VISITORS: BYU 6-11, 0-2 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
54 MILES, Chris........ f 3-6 0-0 2-2 5 2 7 4 8 1 0 1 0 19
52 JENSEN, Jared....... c 3-5 0-0 3-4 3 7 10 4 9 0 1 1 1 31
01 HALL, Mike.......... g 4-13 1-7 2-2 0 3 3 5 11 4 0 0 1 30
02 ROSE, Mike.......... g 2-9 2-9 0-0 1 0 1 1 6 2 3 0 0 36
13 AINGE, Austin....... g 8-14 5-9 4-4 2 1 3 4 25 6 2 0 2 36
03 YOUNG, Keena........ 1-2 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 5
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
20 BURGESS, Sam........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 4
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4
41 MEADS, Garner....... 2-9 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 2 4 0 0 0 1 18
43 DAWES, Derek........ 1-4 0-0 0-0 2 0 2 4 2 0 4 0 0 12
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 24-69 8-30 11-13 17 18 35 29 67 14 10 2 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-37 18.9% 2nd Half: 17-32 53.1% Game: 34.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-19 21.1% 2nd Half: 4-11 36.4% Game: 26.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 7-8 87.5% Game: 84.6% 1
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HOME TEAM: Colorado State 9-6, 1-1 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 SMITH, Jason........ f 8-12 1-1 2-2 2 2 4 2 19 0 3 2 0 26
30 CREASON, Stuart..... f 3-6 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 1 6 2 0 1 0 20
54 NELSON, Matt........ c 3-6 0-0 5-9 2 8 10 2 11 5 6 3 0 30
04 BALL, Nick.......... g 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 3 0 4 0 1 12
21 PATTERSON, Andrew... g 2-5 1-4 3-4 2 1 3 2 8 1 0 1 1 33
01 MORRIS, Sean........ 4-9 1-4 3-6 1 7 8 2 12 4 3 0 1 25
10 RAKIECKI, Jon....... 0-3 0-3 4-4 0 1 1 3 4 0 0 0 1 21
11 THOMASSON, Phillip.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
32 MORRIS, Micheal..... 0-2 0-0 8-12 1 3 4 3 8 3 0 0 2 20
34 VERWERS, Stephen.... 1-1 0-0 1-1 0 2 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 11
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 22-45 4-13 26-38 10 29 39 17 74 15 16 7 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-20 55.0% 2nd Half: 11-25 44.0% Game: 48.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 30.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-10 80.0% 2nd Half: 18-28 64.3% Game: 68.4% 7
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Officials: Bob Staffen, Shawn Lehigh, Chris Rastatter
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Colorado State-None.
Attendance: 3287
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 22 45 - 67
Colorado State................ 32 42 - 74
Points in the paint-BY 24,CS 30. Points off turnovers-BY 20,CS 9.
2nd chance points-BY 10,CS 8. Fast break points-BY 6,CS 4.
Bench points-BY 8,CS 27. Score tied-2 times. Lead changes-3 times.