ALBUQUERQUE -- The Cougars' road victories kept coming Wednesday night as BYU snapped New Mexico's 21-game home win streak with a 77-71 victory at The Pit, finishing the first round of Mountain West Conference play at 5-3 in league and 13-6 overall.
"I'm just really, really proud of our players," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "They're in a position right now where their confidence is high and their resolve to do things right and play together and compete together is great. Obviously, we're playing well and we're on a roll right now. Guys are hitting big shots and we're getting help from a lot of people.
BYU was not intimidated by the Lobos' win streak, the fourth longest in the nation, as the Cougars pounded out the win. BYU has snapped the three longest home winning streaks in New Mexico history, ending a 41-game streak in 1998 and a 24-game streak in 1975.
Rashaun Broadus led the Cougars with 15 points while recording three rebounds, six assists and no turnovers, contributing to BYU's season-low-tying seven turnovers. Four other players scored in double figures as Jimmy Balderson scored 14 points, Trent Plaisted contributed 13, Keena Young added 12 and Brock Reichner posted 11 points. Young was BYU's high rebounder with nine boards on the night.
"One of the big keys in this game was not only how we guarded them but that we didn't turn the ball over," said Rose. "We got down in the first half when they scored off of our turnovers. We only had one in the second half, which was a huge factor."
The Cougars started out in trouble as Reichner, BYU's leading scorer on the road, picked up two fouls in the first 54 seconds of the game, forcing him to take a seat on the bench. New Mexico made the first bucket of the game and followed that up with two free throws on the next possession to take an early 4-0 lead. But the Cougars responded with an 8-0 run, including Plaisted's 22nd dunk of the year, to go up 8-4.
New Mexico fought back with an 8-0 spurt of its own that saw Plaisted, BYU's leading scorer, check out of the game with two fouls of his own. The Cougars' 4:03 scoring drought was finally ended with a jumper from Young, who scored BYU's next six points. But it was not enough to stop the Lobos as New Mexico built a 26-16 lead.
The Cougars responded with a bucket from Young and a three-pointer from Reichner at the 6:57 mark to cut the lead in half at 26-21. From there, the three-pointers began to rain down for the Lobos as four of their last six field goals of the half came from long range. BYU put together a little magic of its own with three-pointers from Fernando Malaman and Lee Cummard in addition to another Plaisted dunk and six free throws to maintain the five-point deficit, heading into the locker room down just 42-37.
Both teams came out hot offensively in the second half as BYU made three of its four shots and New Mexico made four of its first five. After seeing the Cougars fall behind 51-44, Balderson drained a three-pointer to bring BYU within four. The Cougars got another break on the other end of the court as New Mexico's Mark Walters, the Lobos' leading scorer on the year, was forced out of the game with four fouls.
BYU took advantage of the opportunity, draining back-to-back three-pointers to take the lead at 53-52, the Cougars' first advantage since 8-7 in the first half. The two teams traded buckets and the lead for the next four minutes. BYU managed to take a 62-59 lead at the 10:30 mark on a reverse layin from Balderson but saw the slim margin disappear with a 5-0 Lobo spurt. The Cougars did not score from the floor for 6:19 as they watched New Mexico take a 67-63 lead with 5:07 left to play.
Enter Reichner. BYU's walk-on senior scored eight straight points from there, including two drained three-pointers, to give the Cougars a 71-67 lead with just 2:28 remaining. Two free throw makes on the other end made it a one-possession game, but BYU had the ball and was not about to go quietly. With 32 seconds left to play, Broadus drove to the hoop and drained the layin that put the nail in the coffin for the Lobos, leading to the 77-71 win.
"You've got to make plays on the road. Brock and Rashaun were a great example of that tonight," said Rose. "You've got to go out there and play, and right now these guys are playing."
As a team, the Cougars shot 49 percent from the field while allowing New Mexico to shoot 53 percent. BYU also shot a season-high 92 percent from the free-throw line. The game marks the first time this season the Cougars have come back from a halftime deficit on the road.
BYU is now in sole possession of fourth place in the MWC with a 5-3 league record while New Mexico drops to 3-5 in conference action and 12-9 overall. BYU now hosts Air Force on Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+. Tickets for the game are available for just $1 for seats above the concourse level.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs New Mexico
02/01/06 7:05 PM at Albuquerque, NM (The Pit)
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VISITORS: BYU 13-6, 5-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 YOUNG, Keena........ f 5-8 0-0 2-2 3 6 9 1 12 2 2 0 0 33
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... f 5-8 0-0 3-4 2 3 5 5 13 1 1 0 0 28
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g 5-10 3-7 2-2 0 3 3 2 15 6 0 0 0 33
11 REICHNER, Brock..... g 4-10 3-5 0-0 0 1 1 4 11 3 1 0 1 29
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g 2-4 1-1 0-0 1 1 2 1 5 1 1 1 0 16
04 EMERY, Jackson...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
13 AINGE, Austin....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 0 0 0 2 0 1 11
15 MALAMAN, Fernando... 3-7 1-2 0-0 0 4 4 2 7 1 0 1 0 19
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 4-9 2-6 4-4 0 1 1 2 14 4 0 0 1 28
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 28-57 10-22 11-12 6 23 29 18 77 18 7 2 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-27 48.1% 2nd Half: 15-30 50.0% Game: 49.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-8 37.5% 2nd Half: 7-14 50.0% Game: 45.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-8 100 % 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 91.7% 1
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HOME TEAM: New Mexico 12-9, 3-5
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 CHIOTTI, David...... f 4-8 0-0 5-12 2 7 9 1 13 4 2 1 0 35
32 DANRIDGE, Tony...... f 5-8 0-1 5-6 1 3 4 4 15 2 1 0 1 34
03 COLLINS, Kris....... g 4-6 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 2 8 4 3 1 0 38
05 WALTERS, Mark....... g 4-8 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 5 8 4 1 0 1 17
21 KERSTEN, Ryan....... g 0-4 0-2 2-2 2 0 2 3 2 1 2 0 0 18
01 WALTER, Kellen...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
22 HART, Jeff.......... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 19
24 PRENTICE, Darren.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
25 HARDEN, Blake....... 3-5 2-4 0-0 0 2 2 0 8 0 1 0 0 16
33 TOPPERT, Chad....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
50 PROCHASKA, Kyle..... 1-2 1-1 0-1 1 0 1 0 3 2 0 0 0 6
53 FARIS, Daniel....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
54 BOX, Joel........... 5-6 4-4 0-0 0 5 5 0 14 0 1 1 0 14
TEAM................ 4 4
Totals.............. 26-49 7-16 12-21 6 23 29 17 71 18 11 3 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-28 57.1% 2nd Half: 10-21 47.6% Game: 53.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-11 54.5% 2nd Half: 1-5 20.0% Game: 43.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 57.1% 3
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Officials: Bill Kennedy, Larry Spaulding, Shawn Lehigh
Technical fouls: BYU-None. New Mexico-None.
Attendance: 13444
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 37 40 - 77
New Mexico.................... 42 29 - 71
ID-352233
Points in the paint-BY 30,NM 34. Points off turnovers-BY 12,NM 15.
2nd chance points-BY 10,NM 4. Fast break points-BY 12,NM 8.
Bench points-BY 21,NM 25. Score tied-3 times. Lead changes-9 times.