SALT LAKE -- Utah's mastery over BYU in the Huntsman Center continued Wednesday night as the Cougars fell 79-60 to the Utes, snapping their four-game winning streak.
BYU had not won in the Huntsman Center since 1994 but was confident going into the game, having won four in a row and beaten Utah in the season's earlier game. However, the Utes showed why a rivalry game is always up for grabs in dropping the Cougars to 14-7 on the season, including 6-4 in Mountain West Conference play. Utah is now 11-10 overall and 4-6 in the MWC.
"We saw a different Utah team tonight from what we saw at our place," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "It's really tough here. It takes a really good game on the part of the visitors to win here. We wanted to come here and play well, but we didn't. Give our guys credit. They fought to the end. We made some steals and cut the lead but it just wasn't meant to be tonight."
Brock Reichner, BYU's leading scorer on the road, once again came up big for the Cougars in scoring a game-high 21 points on six three-pointers and three free throws. Trent Plaisted recorded his third double-double of the year with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and Keena Young notched 14 points on the night. Only two other Cougars scored as Rashaun Broadus logged eight points and Jimmy Balderson added five. Broadus also took home game-high assist honors with four but BYU shot just 30.0 percent (18-for-60) from the field, its lowest mark of the season.
Neither team scored from the field for the first two minutes of the game as fouls and turnovers plagued both sides. Utah's Bryant Markson recorded the first point of the game on a free throw at the 17:59 mark, but Reichner followed that up with a three-pointer on the other end. From there, the nets heated up with each team scoring on the next four possessions, including another make from long range for BYU's walk-on senior.
Plaisted recorded his 25th dunk of the year on the Cougars' next trip down the floor despite being fouled on the way up to give BYU an 11-5 lead after the free-throw make. Utah's Markson tried the same thing on the fastbreak after intercepting a BYU pass but missed the wide-open dunk. However, instead of capitalizing on their 11-5 lead, the Cougars went cold, allowing Utah to put together a 34-13 run to end the half. BYU shot just 32.1 percent from the field in the opening period of play, their second lowest mark of the season, while the Utes shot 51.9 percent to take a 39-24 lead into the locker room.
Reichner once again came up big for the Cougars to start the second half, scoring BYU's first nine points of the half on three three-pointers to keep the lead at 15 points with 15 minutes to play. However, Utah drained a three-pointer to tie its largest lead of the game at 51-33 with 14:14 left in the game.
But the Cougars toughness prevailed over the next several minutes as BYU put together a 13-4 run to cut the lead to nine points at 55-46 with 6:26 left to play, holding the Utes scoreless from the field for 8:06. Plaisted put the exclamation point on the run with his 26th dunk of the year at the 6:26 mark. However, then it was BYU's turn to go cold from the field as the Cougars could not convert from the floor for 3:10. BYU went 7-for-10 from the free-throw line during that stretch to keep the Utes close at 66-55. But with 2:43 remaining, Utah turned up the heat, outscoring the Cougars 13-5 to end the game and secure the 79-60 win.
BYU returns home on Saturday for a 6 p.m. matchup with the UNLV Rebels. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
"I talked to the team after the game about tomorrow," said Rose. "We have to get ready to play a UNLV team that's ahead of us in the standings. UNLV is a very good defensive team. Their pressure caused us problems in Las Vegas. We will need to execute offensively.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Brigham Young vs Utah
02/08/06 7:07 PM at Salt Lake City, UTAH (Huntsman Center)
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 14-7, 6-4 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 YOUNG, Keena........ f 3-7 0-0 8-8 2 2 4 1 14 1 1 0 2 27
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... f 5-12 0-0 2-4 4 8 12 3 12 1 1 0 2 32
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g 2-11 0-4 4-5 0 1 1 2 8 4 1 0 1 33
11 REICHNER, Brock..... g 6-11 6-8 3-4 0 2 2 1 21 2 4 1 1 30
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g 0-2 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 4 0 0 2 1 1 10
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 10
04 EMERY, Jackson...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
13 AINGE, Austin....... 0-6 0-4 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 12
15 MALAMAN, Fernando... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 5 0 0 0 0 1 14
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... 2-5 1-3 0-1 2 1 3 3 5 1 2 0 0 23
43 DAWES, Derek........ 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 2 1 0 5
TEAM................ 1 1 2 1
Totals.............. 18-60 7-22 17-22 14 20 34 23 60 9 14 3 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-28 32.1% 2nd Half: 9-32 28.1% Game: 30.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 5-15 33.3% Game: 31.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 13-17 76.5% Game: 77.3% 3
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HOME TEAM: Utah 11-10, 4-6 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 MARKSON, Bryant..... f 4-10 1-1 4-6 2 4 6 4 13 1 5 0 3 27
21 GREEN, Shaun........ f 3-8 2-5 5-6 2 2 4 2 13 1 1 1 1 30
50 NEVILL, Luke........ c 4-7 0-0 6-8 2 8 10 2 14 3 2 1 0 29
01 BRYANT, Johnnie..... g 5-10 2-4 2-2 0 2 2 2 14 2 1 0 0 33
03 GRANT, Chris........ g 3-4 1-2 1-2 0 7 7 4 8 1 1 0 0 26
02 BORHA, Lawrence..... 1-2 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 3 4 2 0 0 0 18
10 IVERSON, Casey...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
11 DRISDOM, Tim........ 2-2 2-2 0-0 0 0 0 4 6 3 1 0 0 16
30 JACKSON, Chris...... 2-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 4 0 0 0 0 10
32 JOHNS, Ricky........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
51 LANGVAD, Jonas...... 1-3 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 0 3 2 2 0 0 9
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 25-48 8-16 21-28 7 30 37 22 79 15 13 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-27 51.9% 2nd Half: 11-21 52.4% Game: 52.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-9 44.4% 2nd Half: 4-7 57.1% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-10 70.0% 2nd Half: 14-18 77.8% Game: 75.0% 3
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Officials: David Hall, Scott Thornley, Kelly Self
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-None. Utah-None.
Attendance: 12213
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 24 36 - 60
Utah.......................... 39 40 - 79
ID-353763
Points in the paint-BY 20,UT 30. Points off turnovers-BY 6,UT 11.
2nd chance points-BY 10,UT 6. Fast break points-BY 2,UT 2.
Bench points-BY 5,UT 17. Score tied-3 times. Lead changes-2 times.