PHILADELPHIA -- The No. 8 seeded BYU men’s basketball team’s season came to an end Thursday, falling to No. 9 seeded Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 79-66.
"I'd like to give a lot of credit to Texas A&M," BYU head coach Dave Rose. "It's a very good basketball team. They came out and really got a great start to the game, especially offensively, which made it very difficult for us on both ends of the floor."
Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars in scoring with 18 points and four steals while Lee Cummard posted 17 points and six assists. Noah Hartsock came off the bench to score 10 points on the afternoon while Jonathan Tavernari added nine points and seven rebounds and Jackson Emery added eight points.
Although the Cougars scored the first points in the ball game with a three from Emery, the Aggies responded with an 11-0 run. After being scoreless for almost five minutes, Fredette stole the ball and scored on a fastbreak layup, bringing the score to 5-11.
The Cougars were unable to make a shot while Texas A&M went 10-for-10 from the field in the first eight minutes. After an offensive rebound from Cummard he kicked it out to Tavernari who drained his first trey of the game. After that play on the other side of the court, the Aggies missed their first field goal of the game and Cummard answered with a three at the 10:48 mark to make it 26-14.
Solid play from Hartsock coming off the bench gave the Cougars seven points late in the first half. Emery finished the half for the Cougars the same way he started it, draining a three at the 2:42 mark, bringing the score to 30-40.
The Aggies scored two more points off free throws at the end of the first half, making the score 30-42 going into the locker room.
The Cougars went 6-of-10 from the three-point arc in the first half but just 11-of-31 overall.
Tavernari led the Cougars in the first half making three three-pointers, posting nine points. Jackson Emery had six points, shooting 2-for-4 from the field and 2-for-3 three pointers.
Texas A&M and BYU traded baskets to open the second half until Cummard sparked a 6-0 run at the 17:15 mark, trailing the Aggies by single digits for the first time in the second half at 47-38.
"There's no quit in this team," Rose said. "They continue to fight. Although we weren't as successful as we wanted to be offensively, and defensively it was a tough assignment trying to guard them. They made some big plays."
Texas A&M responded with a 7-0 run and the teams traded baskets for the rest of the game. The game ended at 79-66, allowing the Texas A&M Aggies advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament to face the winner of No. 1 UConn/No. 16 Chattanooga on Saturday.
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Official Basketball Box Score
Texas A&M vs Brigham Young
3/19/09 12:30 at Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
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VISITORS: Texas A&M 24-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
00 DAVIS, Bryan........ f 9-13 0-0 3-5 4 5 9 1 21 3 1 3 0 30
23 CARTER, Josh........ f 3-8 2-6 2-3 0 1 1 1 10 2 2 0 0 31
41 ELONU, Chinemelu.... c 3-4 0-0 2-2 2 8 10 3 8 1 4 3 0 28
03 ROLAND, Derrick..... g 3-9 2-6 2-2 0 0 0 1 10 2 1 0 0 28
15 SLOAN, Donald....... g 6-9 0-1 2-5 0 6 6 2 14 7 2 0 0 31
02 LEWIS, Derrek....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
05 HARRIS, Dash........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 9
10 LOUBEAU, David...... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 3
11 HOLMES, B.J......... 3-5 2-4 2-2 1 1 2 3 10 2 0 0 2 21
14 DARKO, Andrew....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
24 SCHEPEL, Shawn...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
40 GRAHAM, Bryson...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
45 WALKUP, Nathan...... 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 3 4 1 1 0 0 14
50 CARRELL, Marshall... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 3 3 1
Totals.............. 30-52 6-17 13-19 7 28 35 15 79 20 14 6 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-30 56.7% 2nd Half: 13-22 59.1% Game: 57.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-5 40.0% Game: 35.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-4 100 % 2nd Half: 9-15 60.0% Game: 68.4% 2,1
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young 25-8
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 6-14 1-1 4-4 2 1 3 3 17 6 1 0 1 35
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f 3-9 3-7 0-0 0 7 7 4 9 2 2 0 3 34
54 MILES, Chris........ c 2-8 0-0 0-1 2 2 4 1 4 1 1 0 2 18
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 3-6 2-4 0-0 0 1 1 4 8 1 1 0 0 32
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 5-13 1-4 7-10 0 1 1 1 18 1 2 0 4 34
01 ABOUO, Charles...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 6
02 MORGAN, JR., Lamont. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 0 1 10
05 ROSE, Archie........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
15 ANDERSON, James..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... 4-5 0-0 2-3 1 3 4 4 10 0 2 1 0 26
53 MACGREGOR, Gavin.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 23-59 7-16 13-18 7 19 26 20 66 15 10 1 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-31 35.5% 2nd Half: 12-28 42.9% Game: 39.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 1-6 16.7% Game: 43.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 11-13 84.6% Game: 72.2% 4,1
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Officials: Mike Wood, Patrick Evans, Raymond Styons
Technical fouls: Texas A&M-None. Brigham Young-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Texas A&M..................... 42 37 - 79
Brigham Young................. 30 36 - 66
ID-755878
Points in the paint-TAMU 34,BY 24. Points off turnovers-TAMU 9,BY 4.
2nd chance points-TAMU 8,BY 11. Fast break points-TAMU 2,BY 6.
Bench points-TAMU 16,BY 10. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-TAMU 2nd-00:56, BY 2nd-02:02.
Largest lead-TAMU by 18 1st-11:56, BY by 3 1st-19:46.