PROVO -- After a low scoring, tough first half, the BYU men’s basketball team used a second half surge to race to a 73-62 win over the New Mexico Lobos in the Marriott Center Tuesday night. With the win the Cougars improve to 20-5 on the season — the fourth-straight season under Coach Dave Rose BYU has reach 20 victories — and 8-3 in Mountain West Conference play.
“I thought it was a great college basketball game,” Rose said. “We were fortunate to make some big plays down the stretch in that second half, gain some separation and hold on to win.”
Junior Jonathan Tavernari led all scorers with 22 points on the night. Three other Cougars also scored in double figures, including Jackson Emery with 19, Lee Cummard with 13 and Jimmer Fredette with 10 points. Emery was 7-of-9 from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from the three-point line.
The Cougars had a slow start, missing their first six shots of the game before a make by center Chris Miles with 16:59 to play in the first half. Several fouls went the Lobos’ way, helping them build a seven-point lead. BYU scraped its way through, pulling out a 9-0 run for its first lead of the game at 16-13. The run was capped by a three-point play converted by Emery at the free throw line.
“New Mexico guards really well,” said Rose. “They’re a really physical team with really good defensive schemes. There are a lot of opportunities you think you’re going to have, but then they close down and make you go to your second or third option.”
The physical game continued as freshman Charles Abouo chased down a potential fastbreak layup to record his first block of MWC play. Emery notched his second three-point play to again give the Cougars the lead with 5:41 remaining in the first half. The lead changed a total of five times before the halftime break.
Tavernari’s first three-pointer of the night came with under two minutes remaining in the half, marking only BYU’s second of the night. The bucket sent the Cougars into the locker room with a 29-26 lead.
BYU opened the second half with a three-point make by Emery and an impressive layin by Tavernari. Miles skipped the ball to the junior from midcourt, through three UNM defenders, for the two points.
“I thought our players showed real composure coming out of the second half, in a situation where we had a couple individuals play well in the first half, but as a team didn’t play as well as we expect to play,” said Rose. “We were able to come out and execute and maintain our composure in the second half.”
Cummard made only his second field goal of the night with 15:43 to play in the game, putting BYU up 38-32. The Cougars built a seven-point lead after Abouo managed to make a wild layup fall through the basket. A fast-break layup by Tavernari gave BYU its first double-digit lead of the game at 45-34.
Feeling comfortable from beyond the arc, Cummard, Tavernari quickly built upon the Cougars’ lead, recording a trio of three-pointers in a span of two minutes, pulling ahead by 16. Emery remained perfect from behind the three-point line, making his third three of the half with 6:13 minutes remaining. BYU knocked down five three-pointers in the second half of play after making only two in the first 20 minutes.
As the minutes wound down the Cougars took several trips to the charity stripe, going 5-of-6. Up by nine points with just under two minutes to play and coming out of a timeout, Cummard sparked the crowd with a two-handed dunk. Emery soon followed with one of his own, giving BYU the 69-56 lead.
Up next the Cougars travel to take on UNLV on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. PT. The game will be televised live on CBS College Sports.
CLICK HERE for postgame notes and quotes.
Official Basketball Box Score
New Mexico vs BYU Cougars
2/17/09 8:05 pm at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: New Mexico 16-10, 7-4 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 MARTINEZ, Roman..... f 1-6 1-6 0-0 4 5 9 4 3 1 3 1 1 29
32 DANRIDGE, Tony...... f 6-12 1-1 4-5 0 2 2 3 17 2 3 0 0 37
53 FARIS, Daniel....... f 7-13 0-0 2-5 0 10 10 1 16 0 3 3 0 34
05 GARY, Dairese....... g 4-6 3-3 4-6 0 2 2 4 15 1 2 0 3 28
23 MCDONALD, Phillip... g 0-2 0-1 1-2 0 2 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 14
00 HARDEMAN, A.J....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
02 WILLS, Jonathan..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 7
11 GARTH, Nate......... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 3 2 1 0 1 15
15 BROWN, Will......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 1 0 4
33 TOPPERT, Chad....... 2-8 1-7 2-4 0 3 3 1 7 4 0 0 0 29
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 21-52 7-21 13-22 6 29 35 21 62 11 15 5 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-28 39.3% 2nd Half: 10-24 41.7% Game: 40.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 5-13 38.5% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 11-18 61.1% Game: 59.1% 5
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 20-5, 8-3 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f 4-14 1-6 4-4 1 5 6 2 13 5 1 0 0 36
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f 9-17 3-5 1-3 0 7 7 2 22 1 1 0 0 37
54 MILES, Chris........ c 1-5 0-0 3-4 2 2 4 4 5 2 1 1 0 12
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 7-9 3-3 2-2 1 5 6 3 19 2 1 0 2 38
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 5-13 0-3 0-2 0 6 6 2 10 6 2 0 1 34
01 ABOUO, Charles...... 1-2 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 1 3 0 1 1 0 6
02 MORGAN, JR., Lamont. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 0 11
15 ANDERSON, James..... 0-2 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 5 1 1 2 1 0 16
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 2 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 10
TEAM................ 4 2 6
Totals.............. 27-64 7-17 12-19 11 29 40 23 73 19 10 3 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-36 33.3% 2nd Half: 15-28 53.6% Game: 42.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 25.0% 2nd Half: 5-9 55.6% Game: 41.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 9-15 60.0% Game: 63.2% 4
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Officials: Dick Cartmell, John Higgins, Rick Batsell
Technical fouls: New Mexico-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 12911
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
New Mexico.................... 26 36 - 62
BYU Cougars................... 29 44 - 73
Points in the paint-NM 18,BY 34. Points off turnovers-NM 10,BY 16.
2nd chance points-NM 2,BY 4. Fast break points-NM 0,BY 12.
Bench points-NM 10,BY 4. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-NM 2nd-00:56, BY 2nd-00:24.
Largest lead-NM by 7 1st-15:55, BY by 16 2nd-07:42.