PROVO -- Three Cougars scored in double figures as BYU defeated Portland, 79-50, in a 29-point rout on Wednesday in front of 8,022 fans at the Marriott Center.
Lee Cummard paced BYU with a career-high14 points, while Keena Young and Sam Burgess each added 13 points. Young and Vuk Ivanovic led the Cougars with nine rebounds apiece. Sherrard Watson and Jamie Jones both tallied eight points apiece for Portland, and Kevin Field led all players with 11 boards.
"One of the strengths of our team is our perimeter shooting, but we can't go away from the inside game," head coach Dave Rose said. "We tend to do that sometimes, but we are working hard to establish our inside game."
BYU got off to a hot start, jumping out to an early 9-0 lead, including five points thanks to three Cougar steals. Ivanovic netted a turnaround jumper on BYU's first possession, followed by a long two from Jimmy Balderson. On Portland's next possession, Balderson made his first theft of the night that resulted in a bucket by Young. Balderson again made a steal on the very next Pilot possession but stepped out of bounds while trying to advance the ball up court. The Cougars immediately got the ball back, however, when Austin Ainge capped the Cougar run by making a steal and feeding Cummard for a three-pointer.
Parker Emerson finally put Portland on the board at the 14:55 mark when he sank two free throws.
Trent Plaisted was noticeably missing from the first five minutes of action as he is nursing a sprained ankle. On Plaisted's first possession, he netted a hook shot, extending the Cougar lead back to nine points, 11-2.
Both teams traded baskets for several possessions until Walter Thompson hit a three-point shot with nine minutes to go in the half, cutting BYU's lead to two, 14-12.
With 6:20 left in the first period Sam Burgess was fouled on a drive to the basket off a full-court pass from Ainge, extending the Cougar lead to five points, 22-17. On the next BYU possession, Ainge faked a three-point shot, waited for Brian McTear to fly by him and then nailed a three-pointer.
Thompson hit a jumper with 15 seconds left to cut BYU's lead to seven points, 31-24, at the break.
BYU continued to build on its lead to open the second period as the Cougars started the half with a 7-0 run off a free throw from Young, a bucket from Cummard and a layup from Balderson, giving BYU a 12-point lead, 36-24.
Burgess added a spark four minutes into the second period when he hit back-to-back-to-back three pointers, widening the BYU lead to 17 points, 45-28. Burgess took just 1:24 to hit all three buckets.
"Sam is just a tough, competitive player," Rose said. "He plays with energy all the time, and he works hard all the time. I'm excited for him and our team that he had a break-out game tonight."
The two teams spent a good portion trading baskets back-and-forth until the Cougars went on a 10-0 run with five minutes left in the game. Cummard scored a tip-in basket, hit two free throws and sank a three-pointer, while Rashaun Broadus ended the run with a three-point play.
Pilot head coach Eric Reveno said his team lost the game by getting down by too much early.
"Once you dig yourself that hole and you're always fighting from eight, 10, 12 and 15 down, then all of a sudden every basket feels so critical -- especially on the road. You just have to get the mindset of taking it one possession at a time, as cliche as that is. You've got to make a shot and then make a stop. You can't just get it all back at once."
BYU shot 44.4 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from behind the arc, while the Pilots shot 25 and 20 percent, respectively.
The Cougars held the advantage in points in the paint (34-10), points off turnovers (21-6), second-chance points (25-4) and bench points (36-23).
BYU (2-1) will challenge Southern Utah Friday at 8 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The game will be televised on the mtn.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
PORTLAND PILOTS vs BYU Cougars
11/22/06 7:35pm at Marriott Center, Provo, UT
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VISITORS: PORTLAND PILOTS 2-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 NIEDERMEYER, Ethan.. f 0-3 0-1 1-2 0 2 2 4 1 0 3 0 0 10
34 WATSON, Sherrard.... f 2-8 0-5 4-4 1 4 5 3 8 0 3 0 1 26
44 JONES, Jamie........ f 2-10 0-0 4-4 1 3 4 3 8 0 3 0 0 24
45 SULLIVAN, Ben....... c 2-5 0-1 2-2 0 1 1 2 6 0 1 0 0 23
15 McTEAR, Brian....... g 2-6 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 1 4 4 3 0 0 27
02 FIELD, Kevin........ 1-4 0-0 2-2 5 6 11 3 4 0 3 1 0 23
04 THOMPSON, Walter.... 2-6 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 1 5 0 0 0 0 12
05 ITO, Taishi......... 2-5 2-4 0-0 0 0 0 1 6 0 1 0 0 22
14 JACKSON, Chris...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 10
24 EMERSON, Parker..... 0-4 0-1 6-9 2 3 5 3 6 0 1 0 0 13
32 CARTER, Marcus...... 1-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 10
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 14-55 3-15 19-23 13 26 39 22 50 4 19 1 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-23 30.4% 2nd Half: 7-32 21.9% Game: 25.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 10-11 90.9% Game: 82.6% 2
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 2-1
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 6-12 0-0 1-2 4 5 9 3 13 0 0 1 0 21
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk....... c 3-9 0-0 1-2 2 7 9 2 7 0 3 0 0 19
13 AINGE, Austin....... g 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 2 1 0 1 17
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g 3-9 0-3 0-2 0 7 7 3 6 5 1 0 5 29
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g 4-6 2-2 4-5 1 1 2 5 14 1 0 1 1 18
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... 1-2 0-1 2-3 3 1 4 1 4 2 3 0 0 18
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 1-4 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 11
15 MALAMAN, Fernando... 1-3 0-0 5-6 4 3 7 3 7 2 0 2 0 23
20 BURGESS, Sam........ 4-8 3-5 2-3 0 2 2 1 13 0 0 0 1 19
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 8
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... 2-6 0-0 2-4 2 2 4 4 6 0 1 0 0 14
50 MACGREGOR, Gavin.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 3
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 28-63 6-15 17-28 17 30 47 22 79 14 9 6 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-32 34.4% 2nd Half: 17-31 54.8% Game: 44.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 4-8 50.0% Game: 40.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-10 70.0% 2nd Half: 10-18 55.6% Game: 60.7% 3
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Officials: Mark Whitehead, Andy Rios, Jimmy Casas
Technical fouls: PORTLAND PILOTS-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 8202
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
PORTLAND PILOTS............... 24 26 - 50
BYU Cougars................... 31 48 - 79
Points in the paint-POR 10,BY 34. Points off turnovers-POR 6,BY 21.
2nd chance points-POR 4,BY 25. Fast break points-POR 0,BY 2.
Bench points-POR 23,BY 36. Score tied-0 times. Lead changes-0 times.