PROVO -- BYU junior forward Lee Cummard led the Cougars to their 11th victory of the season Thursday night as BYU came out on top of the visiting Loyola Marymount 91-62 thanks in part to 18 points from Cummard. The Cougars are now 11-3 on the year while the Lions dropped to 3-12.
The Cougars tied an all-time BYU record as they attempted 33 three-pointers and hit 12 of them. The leading man from beyond the arc was Jonathan Tavernari, who hit on five of his 10 attempts to help him finish with 17 points off the bench. The Cougars saw contributions from every player who checked in as 12 BYU players made it into the scoring column.
"I am pleased with two things tonight," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "First, I thought we shared the ball well. We got 21 assists and had opportunities for a lot more with good shots that we didn't convert. Secondly, our defensive intensity was a lot more consistent throughout the game than we had the other night against Boise State."
BYU was able to get out to a quick start as Cougar center Trent Plaisted was double teamed just outside the paint and found the wide-open Chris Collinsworth, who laid in it for the first points of the game. Plaisted not only dished out three helpers on the night but also continued his streak of reaching double-digit scoring in all 14 games this season as he finished with 12 points.
The Cougars continued to build upon their quick start as they started the game off with a 12-4 run in the first 4:44. This early BYU run was highlighted by Cougar guard Ben Murdock, who hit his first two attempts from beyond the arc.
Loyola came back with an impressive run of its own to echo the Cougars' early success. The Lions tightened up the game with a 9-2 run to close the gap to 14-13 with 11:19 left in the first half.
But an alley-oop dunk by Cummard from Jimmer Fredette at the 10:59 mark of the first half sparked the crowd and also proved to ignite the Cougars as they rattled off 12 more points in the next 1:48 to extend their lead to 26-17.
Cummard finished the first half as the leading scorer for BYU as he hit on 4-for-6 from the field to record 12 points before the break. The Cougars went into the locker room up nine, 35-26.
Just over six minutes into the second half, BYU opened up a 49-31 lead; the 18-point advantage was the largest Cougar margin to that point. BYU hit four three-pointers to help reach the lead, including three from Sam Burgess.
Loyola's Orlando Johnson hit a three-pointer with 11:02 left in the game to close the gap to 51-37. Johnson came into the game averaging 12.6 points an outing and finished the game with a team-high 19 points against the Cougars.
With 8:41 left in the game BYU opened up a 67-38 lead on two consecutive trips down the court that saw Tavernari hit three-pointers. These Tavernari threes capped off a 16-1 BYU run over a 2:21 span.
The Cougars continued to build upon their lead throughout the remainder of the game. Another play that caused an eruption in the Marriott Center came with 5:40 left as Chris Miles slammed home a Fredette three-point miss. The dunk brought the crowd of over 10,000 to their feet.
After only forcing five turnovers in the first half, BYU was able to create 14 Lion turnovers in the second half. The Cougars' defense kept Loyola to 31 percent shooting from the field.
BYU will next be in action on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. ET (5 p.m. MT) as the Cougars take on the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C. This will be the last non-conference game for the Cougars. BYU's next home game will be Jan. 12 against Colorado State in the Cougars' Mountain West Conference opener. Fans who purchase two tickets for that game can receive two tickets of equal or lesser value to either the BYU vs. SDSU on Wed. Jan. 23 or the BYU vs. TCU on Wed. Feb. 6.
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Official Basketball Box Score
Loyola Marymount vs BYU Cougars
01/03/08 7:05 p.m. at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Loyola Marymount 3-12
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
32 DIEDERICHS, Tim..... f 4-6 0-0 2-3 0 1 1 2 10 1 2 0 0 27
33 JOHNSON, Orlando.... f 6-14 3-6 4-6 2 3 5 2 19 2 3 0 1 26
04 CRAIG, Max.......... c 1-4 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 0 0 14
01 COUNTS, Corey....... g 1-3 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 0 0 21
03 DEADWILER, Shawn.... g 1-8 0-4 0-0 0 5 5 1 2 5 3 0 1 31
02 TURNER, Quentin..... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 0 0 16
10 SWEEZY, Brad........ 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 9
11 KANNE, Chris........ 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3
12 DERIC, Marko........ 1-2 0-1 2-2 0 0 0 5 4 0 3 0 0 14
20 SUTTON, Terron...... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 6 6 2 2 0 0 0 0 12
22 WALKER, Brandon..... 1-2 1-1 3-4 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 10
23 ZIRI, Jon........... 2-5 1-3 0-0 2 4 6 3 5 0 3 0 2 12
50 MAYNARD, Mason...... 1-2 0-0 2-2 1 0 1 2 4 0 1 1 0 5
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 21-56 6-19 14-19 9 24 33 22 62 12 19 1 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-29 34.5% 2nd Half: 11-27 40.7% Game: 37.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-8 12.5% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 31.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 9-13 69.2% Game: 73.7% 2
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 11-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
41 COLLINSWORTH, Chris. f 1-4 0-1 1-4 1 3 4 0 3 1 1 0 0 24
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... f 5-9 0-0 2-3 2 5 7 3 12 2 2 0 1 23
20 BURGESS, Sam........ g 3-8 3-7 0-0 0 3 3 0 9 2 0 0 1 20
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ g 2-3 2-2 0-0 1 2 3 0 6 3 0 0 0 22
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g 6-12 2-4 4-4 5 1 6 2 18 3 0 1 0 28
01 LOYD, JR., Michael.. 2-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 6
05 ROSE, Archie........ 1-4 0-2 0-0 1 2 3 4 2 0 2 0 0 9
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk....... 0-1 0-0 5-8 1 1 2 2 5 0 1 0 0 10
14 MARTINEAU, Nick..... 1-2 0-1 4-4 0 1 1 0 6 4 0 0 0 17
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... 1-6 0-5 5-5 0 1 1 0 7 2 0 0 2 14
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. 6-13 5-10 0-0 3 5 8 4 17 2 3 0 3 18
54 MILES, Chris........ 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 9
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 29-68 12-33 21-28 17 29 46 18 91 21 11 2 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-32 37.5% 2nd Half: 17-36 47.2% Game: 42.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-16 37.5% 2nd Half: 6-17 35.3% Game: 36.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 16-22 72.7% Game: 75.0% 5
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Officials: Mike Scyphers, Rick Batsell, Bill Kennedy
Technical fouls: Loyola Marymount-TEAM. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 10360
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Loyola Marymount.............. 26 36 - 62
BYU Cougars................... 35 56 - 91
Points in the paint-LMU 20,BY 28. Points off turnovers-LMU 13,BY 26.
2nd chance points-LMU 11,BY 21. Fast break points-LMU 0,BY 10.
Bench points-LMU 25,BY 43. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-LMU 2nd-00:18, BY 2nd-00:24.
Largest lead-LMU None, BY by 34 2nd-05:41.