Watch Game Highlights and Press Conference
Watch Slideshow of Win over San Diego State
LAS -- Led by juniors Lee Cummard and Trent Plaisted, the No. 23 BYU men's basketball team (27-6, 14-2) redeemed its lone loss in the previous 15 games by defeating San Diego State (20-12, 9-7) 63-54 in the Mountain West Conference semifinals Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center. With the victory, the Cougars advance to the MWC Championship game on Saturday for the second consecutive season and the fourth time in the nine-year history of the league.
BYU's big two lead the way with MWC Co-Player of the Year Lee Cummard leading all scorers with 20 points and All-MWC First Team selection Trent Plaisted following with 19. Cummard also added seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Sophomore Jonathan Tavernari led all rebounders with 10 boards in addition to his nine points.
"Both of these players have so much experience," BYU head coach Dave Rose said of Cummard and Plaisted. "They're both juniors, but they've both started since they were freshmen. Sometimes when there seems to be a little more at stake they feel a little more comfortable than less experienced players. What I really like about these two players and our two seniors, Ben Murdock and Sam Burgess, is that they really take ownership and they compete."
The Cougars looked solid in the opening minutes of the game as they sprinted to an early 7-2 lead and forced four turnovers. However, the Aztecs returned the favor and scored 12 of the next 16 points to take a 14-11 lead, forcing five BYU turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the contest.
SDSU led for just over 10 minutes in the first half before BYU was able to regain the lead with 3:11 left in the period thanks in large part to Plaisted's game-leading 12 first-half points and Cummard's seven points and four rebounds. Plaisted scored the team's final eight points in the last five minutes of the half, and Cummard scored the previous five.
BYU led 26-25 at the break despite shooting 38.5 percent from the field (10-26) and only 20.0 percent from down town (2-10) while SDSU was 45.8 percent from the floor (11-24) and 25.0 percent from behind the arc (2-8). The Cougars' advantage came in part from 4-5 shooting from the free-throw line to the Aztecs 1-2 performance.
Shooting woes continued for BYU in the opening minutes of the second half. The team had converted only one of its first six shots at the first media timeout when sophomore big-man Chris Miles checked into the game with the score knotted at 30-30. He made his first three shots, igniting the Cougar-friendly crowd and giving BYU a lead it would never relinquish.
Cummard blocked a shot on the defensive end to keep the crowd on its feet, but SDSU was determined not to allow the blue and white to run away with the game no matter how loud the throng grew. Tavernari hit his third three-point bucket of the game with 10:55 remaining, and Cummard followed with his second triple just 40 seconds later to give BYU is first six-point lead of the game at 44-38.
The Cougar lead reached double-digits with 4:16 left in the contest on Cummard's sixth basket and 16th point. He and Plaisted scored 21 of BYU's last 25 points in the closing 10:11 of the game. The Cougars went 8-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final minute of the game and 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) from the line on the night.
There were a total of four ties and seven lead changes before BYU took the lead for the last time at the 15:17 mark. BYU finished the night with a 44.7 field-goal percentage and 33.3 three-point percentage. SDSU shot 41.5 percent from the floor and 17.6 percent from behind the arc. The Cougars also beat the Aztecs off the glass, pulling down 35 boards to the Aztecs 26.
The MWC Championship game will be held Saturday at 4 p.m. PT at the Thomas & Mack Center. The top-seeded Cougars face the winner of the late-night semifinal between No. 6-seed Utah and No. 2-seed UNLV.
CLICK HERE for postgame notes and quotes.
Official Basketball Box Score
San Diego State vs BYU Cougars
03/14/08 6:35 PM at Las Vegas, Nev. (Thomas & Mack Center)
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VISITORS: San Diego State 20-12
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
31 WADE, Lorrenzo...... f 5-15 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 4 10 5 2 1 1 23
43 AMOROSO, Ryan....... f 7-13 0-2 4-7 0 4 4 3 18 0 1 0 0 34
03 WILLIAMS, Richie.... g 2-4 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 3 5 1 2 0 3 27
21 THOMAS, Matt........ g 1-2 1-2 0-0 1 4 5 2 3 1 2 0 0 18
23 GAY, D.J............ g 1-8 1-6 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 2 1 0 1 33
30 LAMB, Chris......... 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 5
32 WHITE, Billy........ 5-6 0-0 2-5 2 6 8 1 12 1 1 1 1 36
40 DAVIS, Kelvin....... 0-4 0-3 1-2 0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 2 24
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 22-53 3-17 7-14 5 21 26 20 54 10 11 2 8 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-24 45.8% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 41.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 1-9 11.1% Game: 17.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 6-12 50.0% Game: 50.0% 4,1
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 27-6
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f 3-9 3-5 0-0 0 10 10 1 9 1 2 0 1 30
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c 8-13 0-0 3-4 0 3 3 3 19 1 1 2 0 31
20 BURGESS, Sam........ g 0-3 0-3 4-4 1 3 4 1 4 2 4 0 1 32
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ g 0-1 0-0 2-5 0 3 3 1 2 3 3 1 0 35
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g 6-12 2-3 6-6 1 6 7 2 20 3 4 2 0 38
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 12
41 COLLINSWORTH, Chris. 1-2 0-1 1-2 1 1 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 13
54 MILES, Chris........ 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 6 1 0 1 1 9
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 21-47 5-15 16-21 6 29 35 10 63 13 14 6 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 11-21 52.4% Game: 44.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-10 20.0% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-5 80.0% 2nd Half: 12-16 75.0% Game: 76.2% 3
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Officials: Bob Staffen, Larry Spaulding, Eric Curry
Technical fouls: San Diego State-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
San Diego State............... 25 29 - 54
BYU Cougars................... 26 37 - 63
Points in the paint-SD 30,BY 30. Points off turnovers-SD 10,BY 7.
2nd chance points-SD 2,BY 10. Fast break points-SD 4,BY 2.
Bench points-SD 15,BY 9. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-8 times.
Last FG-SD 2nd-00:23, BY 2nd-03:03.
Largest lead-SD by 6 1st-09:26, BY by 11 2nd-04:17.