MORAGA -- The Saint Mary's Gaels took advantage of various BYU turnovers and a big second half to defeat the Cougars 72-51, Tuesday at the McKeon Pavilion.
"Saint Mary's is a very good team but the fact is, we beat ourselves," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "We made a lot of unforced errors. They got on us in the second and we couldn't finish. We made some turnovers and the game got away from us."
BYU had 25 turnovers that led to 35 Gael points, half of their total for the game. The Cougars hit 41 percent of their shots while Saint Mary's shot 44 percent. The loss ended a season-best three game win streak by BYU.
"Defensively we played well," Cleveland said. "For the most part, most of what they got came off our turnovers. We made stops and played well but they took advantage of our mistakes."
Sophomore center Derek Dawes nearly registered a double-double for the Cougars with 10 rebounds and nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. Senior guard Mike Hall led BYU with 12 points, shooting 5-of-10 while sophomore guards Mike Rose and Austin Ainge each scored six.
Junior forward Daniel Kickert led all scorers with 23 while senior guard Paul Marigney added 19 for the Gaels. Senior forward Frederic Adjiwanou came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds while senior guard E.J. Rowland recorded seven assists.
Saint Mary's took control of the game after gaining momentum on a buzzer beating three by Kickert to end the first half. The Gaels jumped on the Cougars in the second, increasing the lead from 31-28 to 42-30.
Rose led a small BYU rally, hitting two threes to cut the lead to 44-36. The Cougars had a chance to cut the lead to six but freshman forward Chris Miles missed a dunk and was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim. The Gaels capitalized by hitting a free throw and getting a three from Marigney to take control at 48-36.
The game was close throughout the first half, marked by ten lead changes and five ties. BYU jumped ahead early on a three by Mike Hall and held the lead at 7-6 and 11-10 before the Gaels jumped ahead 17-13. The Cougars regained the lead at 20-17 on a 7-0 run trigged by five Hall points.
Saint Mary's took control after BYU took the lead with an 11-2 run to go up 28-22. The Cougars would not let the game get away as senior guard Terry Nashif hit a three and Dawes added a three point play to tie the game at 26. The Gaels stole back the momentum going into the locker room on Kickert's buzzer beating three, giving Saint Mary's the 31-28 lead.
Despite attempting a season-low three free throw attepmts, BYU was perfect from the line to extended its consecutive free throw streak to 27. The Cougars hit their last 24 against Santa Clara.
"We have to learn from this," Cleveland said. "Everything that we did poorly are things that we can correct. We have to find the positives and get ready for San Diego State. We need to have some good practices and get this thing turned around."
BYU will return to the Marriott Center to open Mountain West Conference play Saturday, Jan. 8 against San Diego State at 7 p.m. (MST). The game will be broadcast live on KSL Newsradio 1160 and televised on KSL-TV (SportsWest Productions).
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs Saint Mary's (CA)
01/04/05 7:36 PM at Moraga, CA (McKeon Pavilion)
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 5-9
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.......... * 5-10 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 2 12 1 1 0 0 35
03 YOUNG, Keena........ * 3-5 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 2 6 1 1 1 1 24
13 AINGE, Austin....... * 3-7 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 4 6 2 6 0 2 19
43 DAWES, Derek........ * 4-6 0-0 1-1 3 7 10 2 9 0 3 0 0 34
52 JENSEN, Jared....... * 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 5 7 3 2 1 7 1 0 25
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 2-5 2-3 0-0 0 3 3 1 6 2 3 0 0 16
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 2-6 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 5 0 2 0 0 17
12 REICHNER, Brock..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
20 BURGESS, Sam........ 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 1-2 1-1 2-2 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 7
54 MILES, Chris........ 0-5 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 4 0 0 0 1 1 15
TEAM................ 2 2 1
Totals.............. 21-51 6-13 3-3 7 25 32 19 51 8 25 3 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-26 46.2% 2nd Half: 9-25 36.0% Game: 41.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 46.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-1 100 % 2nd Half: 2-2 100 % Game: 100 % 0
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HOME TEAM: Saint Mary's (CA) 12-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
02 ROWLAND, E.J........ * 2-7 1-2 1-3 0 2 2 1 6 7 3 0 3 29
11 MARIGNEY, Paul...... * 7-17 1-4 4-5 3 2 5 1 19 0 3 0 5 33
14 KICKERT, Daniel..... * 9-15 5-7 0-0 3 3 6 2 23 2 2 0 0 29
21 WALBERG, Jason...... * 0-3 0-3 2-2 0 2 2 1 2 4 2 1 1 29
32 SANDERS, Jonathan... * 4-6 0-0 0-1 1 5 6 2 8 0 1 0 2 26
00 BOND, Erik.......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
03 DaSILVA, Rafael..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 4
05 RHALIMI, Reda....... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1
10 WADDY, Daniel....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
23 COLLINS, Brett...... 2-6 0-1 0-1 0 1 1 2 4 0 1 1 0 15
24 GOLDEN, Todd........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
33 SHOLBERG, Blake..... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 7
50 ADJIWANOU, Frederic. 3-7 0-1 2-3 5 5 10 2 8 3 2 0 1 22
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 28-63 7-18 9-17 15 23 38 13 72 18 16 2 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-30 36.7% 2nd Half: 17-33 51.5% Game: 44.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 38.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 3-6 50.0% Game: 52.9% 3
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Officials: Mark Reischling, Tim Gaburtero, Bruce Hicks
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-MILES, Chris. Saint Mary's (CA)-None.
Attendance: 2643
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 28 23 - 51
Saint Mary's (CA)............. 31 41 - 72
ID-300824