PROVO -- The BYU men's basketball team tied a program record by hitting 14 three-pointers on the way to defeating TCU Wednesday night, 89-65. The Cougars improved to 12-4 (2-0 MWC) on the season while TCU falls to 10-5 (2-1 MWC). The win was BYU's 25th consecutive victory at home, which is tied for the second-longest active home winning streak in the nation. BYU was led by starting point guard Austin Ainge and freshman Jonathan Tavernari as they combined for 38 points and together shot 11-for-14 from three-point land.
"We got started well," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "Austin (Ainge) got some big shots and gave us some confidence."
BYU set the up-tempo pace early on running TCU up and down the court. The Cougars converted on eight of their first 10 possessions and were led by Ainge's eight points during that run. BYU took a 17-5 advantage early on by forcing seven Horned Frog turnovers.
TCU found out how difficult it is to win in Provo as the Horned Frogs trailed the Cougars 24-10 midway through the first half. Senior guard Mike Rose came off the bench to lift the Cougars by burying a deep three and nailing a mid-range jumper. Rose ended the night with 11 points.
Aside from BYU's stellar shooting the Cougars' defensive pressure seemed to be too much for the Horned Frogs to handle as BYU held TCU to .241 shooting in the half.
"My hat is off to what they did tonight," said TCU head coach Neil Dougherty. "They had an unbelievable night offensively."
Tavernari gave the Cougars huge minutes off the bench blasting back-to-back triples to give BYU its biggest lead of the half, 33-17, with six minutes left. Rose ended the half with his hot shooting as he connected on a three-point play and hit a three as time expired to put BYU up 48-25.
BYU came out of the locker room ready to end any sort of TCU comeback with a balanced offensive attack. Ainge and Jimmy Balderson hit from the outside while Trent Plaisted and Keena Young pounded the Horned Frogs down low. Though TCU allowed only one of the Cougar starters to score in double figures, the Horned Frogs had problems all night defending players that came off the BYU bench.
Later in the second half Tavernari got all 10,806 fans in the Marriot Center screaming as he drilled back-to-back threes. His 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting was a career high. Ainge then decided to answer Tavernari's hot shooting by hitting back-to-back threes himself. Ainge's 20 points on the night was a season high and helped improve the Cougars' current win streak to seven games, the longest streak since the 2003-04 season.
"The whole situation in the last day or two was about opportunities," said Coach Rose. "I think Austin took advantage of his opportunity. It got a lot of confidence in our players."
BYU will hit the road Saturday for its first MWC road game of the season to face UNLV in Las Vegas. Game time is set for 7 p.m. (PT) and will be televised on the MountainWest Sports Network (the mtn.).
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Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
TCU Horned Frogs vs BYU Cougars
01/10/07 7:06 p.m. at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: TCU Horned Frogs 10-5, 2-1 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
32 LANGFORD, Kevin..... f 6-12 0-0 6-8 4 4 8 3 18 4 0 1 0 29
33 PARKER, Alvardo..... f 2-4 0-0 1-3 1 3 4 3 5 0 0 1 0 17
02 HACKETT, Brent...... g 5-11 2-5 0-0 1 1 2 4 12 0 4 0 0 30
05 OWENS, Neiman....... g 2-2 0-0 4-4 2 0 2 3 8 2 1 0 1 25
13 DOUGHERTY, Neil P... g 1-4 0-2 5-6 2 3 5 1 7 1 1 0 2 21
03 EBIE, Jason......... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 7
10 MORONES, Martiese... 0-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
11 WALL, Ryan.......... 1-9 0-4 0-2 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 1 2 20
12 IBIKUNLE, Femi...... 2-7 0-0 1-4 1 4 5 4 5 0 3 0 0 17
22 MITCHEM, Keion...... 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10
23 ADAMS, Blake........ 3-5 1-2 1-2 2 2 4 0 8 1 2 0 1 21
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 22-61 3-16 18-31 18 19 37 23 65 8 12 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-29 24.1% 2nd Half: 15-32 46.9% Game: 36.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-9 22.2% 2nd Half: 1-7 14.3% Game: 18.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 9-19 47.4% Game: 58.1% 7
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 12-4, 2-0 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 3-8 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 4 6 1 1 0 1 15
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f 1-1 0-0 3-3 1 2 3 2 5 4 1 2 2 24
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c 2-2 0-0 2-5 0 5 5 4 6 4 0 2 1 16
13 AINGE, Austin....... g 7-9 5-7 1-2 1 3 4 2 20 6 3 0 1 26
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy.... g 3-6 1-2 1-2 0 0 0 4 8 1 2 0 1 18
02 ROSE, Mike.......... 4-9 2-5 1-1 0 2 2 1 11 1 2 0 2 26
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk....... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 3 4 1 1 0 0 11
15 MALAMAN, Fernando... 2-3 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 2 4 1 2 1 0 14
20 BURGESS, Sam........ 0-1 0-1 3-4 1 3 4 0 3 1 1 0 0 12
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ 1-4 0-2 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 0 0 14
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. 6-7 6-7 0-0 2 4 6 1 18 1 1 0 0 20
50 MACGREGOR, Gavin.... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 4
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 32-54 14-25 11-17 7 27 34 27 89 22 15 7 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 19-29 65.5% 2nd Half: 13-25 52.0% Game: 59.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-12 58.3% 2nd Half: 7-13 53.8% Game: 56.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-5 60.0% 2nd Half: 8-12 66.7% Game: 64.7% 2
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Officials: David Hall, Kelly Self, Dick Cartmell
Technical fouls: TCU Horned Frogs-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 10806
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
TCU Horned Frogs.............. 25 40 - 65
BYU Cougars................... 48 41 - 89
Points in the paint-TC 28,BY 24. Points off turnovers-TC 15,BY 7.
2nd chance points-TC 7,BY 13. Fast break points-TC 0,BY 6.
Bench points-TC 15,BY 44. Score tied-1 time. Lead changes-1 time.