PROVO -- BYU's fast-break offense and hot shooting were too much for Eastern Washington as the Cougars earned a 97-66 victory over the Eagles Tuesday. Six players scored in double figures for BYU, improving the team to 7-3 on the season while Eastern Washington fell to 5-6.
"We want all our players to play at the highest level," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "The strength of this team is in the team itself and how we played showed that."
Keena Young had a career-high 15 points off the bench to lead BYU. Fernando Malaman had 14, Brock Reichner and Mike Rose had 12 each and Trent Plaisted and Jimmy Balderson had 11 apiece. As a team BYU shot 64.5 percent (40-62), a season high, led by Plaisted's perfect 5-of-5 and Malaman hitting 6-of-8. The Cougars made 8-of-16 three pointers, including Rose hitting 4-of-4 and Balderson 3-of-4.
The 97 points scored by the Cougars tied a season high, set in a win over Lamar in the Delta Center. BYU outscored Eastern Washington 21-10 on fast break points and had 45 bench points compared to just 13 for the Eagles.
"Shooting percentage is indicative of effort," Eastern Washington coach Mike Burns said. "BYU showed tremendous effort and it showed in their shooting."
Rashaun Broadus engineered the offense, dishing out nine assists, which tied his career high. Reichner shared the ball as well, setting a career high with six assists. As a team, the Cougars had 29 assists, a season high. Young had a team-high eight rebounds, while Malaman, Balderson and Plaisted each had five.
Rodney Stuckey led Eastern Washington with 19 points, despite hitting just 6-of-21 shot attempts. Kellen Williams and Deuce Smith were the other Eagles in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
BYU started the game out on fire, hitting 11 of their first 12 shot attempts, including eight in a row at one point. With the game tied at four, the Cougars outscored the Eagles 17-1 to go up 21-5, including a string of 14-consecutive points.
The Cougars extended the lead to 18 at 28-10, but Eastern Washington trimmed the lead back down to eight at 38-30 led by eight points from Stuckey. Just when the Eagles seemed to have slowed the BYU offense, the Cougars went on a 15-4 run to end the half and lead by 19, 53-34. The 19-point lead marked BYU's biggest halftime lead of the year and the 53 points were the most scored in a half this season.
Malaman and Reichner had the hot hands in the first period, combining to hit 10-of-12 shots for 22 points. Malaman had 14 points and Reichner eight, including BYU's first four of the game.
The Cougars continued their strong play in the second half, extending their lead to as many as 36 at 91-55. BYU outscored Eastern Washington 44-32 in the second period.
BYU will play its final nonconference game against Tulsa at home on Friday at 7 p.m. The Cougars begin Mountain West Conference action Jan. 5 against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Eastern Washington Eagles vs BYU Cougars
12-27-05 7:05 p.m. at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Eastern Washington Eagles 5-6,0-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
32 BEITINGER, Jake..... f 3-4 0-1 1-2 2 3 5 4 7 0 4 1 0 15
34 WILLIAMS, Kellen.... f 6-11 1-1 2-2 1 3 4 0 15 3 1 0 1 26
03 STUCKEY, Rodney..... g 6-21 1-5 6-10 1 3 4 0 19 4 2 0 3 29
05 PENONCELLO, Matt.... g 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 1 2 0 0 24
10 SMITH, Deuce........ g 4-11 0-2 4-4 2 3 5 0 12 0 1 0 2 29
11 BEKKERING, Henry.... 0-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 17
20 HUMPHREY, Rhett..... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 3 2 2 1 0 2 17
23 ZUMWALT, Neal....... 2-5 1-3 2-2 0 1 1 3 7 2 0 0 0 17
44 RISPER, Derek....... 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 1 2 1 3 3 1 0 3 26
TEAM................ 3 2 5 1
Totals.............. 23-62 3-17 17-24 10 19 29 14 66 15 14 2 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-33 42.4% 2nd Half: 9-29 31.0% Game: 37.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 1-10 10.0% Game: 17.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 13-18 72.2% Game: 70.8% 4
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 7-3,0-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 MALAMAN, Fernando... f 6-8 1-2 1-1 1 4 5 4 14 2 2 1 1 28
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f 4-7 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 4 8 1 2 0 0 14
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c 5-5 0-0 1-2 0 5 5 4 11 0 1 0 0 22
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g 3-7 0-2 1-1 0 3 3 1 7 9 2 0 2 27
11 REICHNER, Brock..... g 5-9 0-2 2-2 0 2 2 1 12 6 3 0 0 28
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 4-5 4-4 0-0 0 1 1 0 12 3 1 0 0 11
03 YOUNG, Keena........ 6-9 0-0 3-4 3 5 8 2 15 0 1 1 1 21
04 EMERY, Jackson...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 2 2 2 1 0 10
13 AINGE, Austin....... 0-2 0-1 1-2 1 1 2 1 1 4 2 0 2 13
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 4-6 3-4 0-0 1 4 5 1 11 1 1 1 2 18
41 ODJEGBA, Jermaine... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
43 DAWES, Derek........ 2-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 3 3 1
Totals.............. 40-62 8-16 9-13 7 31 38 20 97 29 18 4 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 23-32 71.9% 2nd Half: 17-30 56.7% Game: 64.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 69.2% 1
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Officials: Bill Gracey, Rick Batsell, Martin Cota
Technical fouls: Eastern Washington Eagles-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 9870
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Eastern Washington Eagles..... 34 32 - 66
BYU Cougars................... 53 44 - 97
Points in the paint-EWU 20,BY 53. Points off turnovers-EWU 17,BY 18.
2nd chance points-EWU 8,BY 6. Fast break points-EWU 10,BY 21.
Bench points-EWU 13,BY 45. Score tied-2 times. Lead changes-0 times.