PROVO -- After a rocky start, the BYU men’s basketball team overcame the Trinity Western Spartans, 74-56, in an exhibition game Thursday evening at the Marriott Center.
“I was really impressed with Trinity Western,” said BYU head coach Dave Rose. “They came out physical and strong. They are well coached, and made us work on every possession offensively and defensively. That’s what you want out of an exhibition game.”
Junior guard Jimmer Fredette led BYU with 24 points on 9–of-14 shooting while senior Jonathan Tavernari contributed 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
The Spartans jumped to an 8-0 lead following a layup on the opening tipoff and a pair of three-pointers before the Cougars could settle down and eventually cut the lead to 15-12 after eight minutes of play.
BYU pulled ahead on a Fredette trey to give the Cougars a 20-18 margin, gradually building a 30-24 lead and forcing a Spartan timeout. Seniors Chris Miles and Tavernari scored their first buckets of the season before Fredette stole the ball en route to an easy layup as the Cougars gained a 40-31 halftime advantage.
The difference in the game came in second-chance points as BYU finished with 19 points to the Spartans’ five and had 16 fast-break points to Trinity Western’s two. The Cougar bench also contributed 20 points to the winning cause while the Spartans’ bench players scored nine points.
Both teams shot relatively low percentages from the field as the Cougars shot 39 percent overall and 5-of-21 from 3-point range while the Spartans shot 37 percent from the field.
Several Cougars scored their first career points in the opening half, highlighted with a monster dunk by freshman Brandon Davies off a Fredette assist just before the half. Davies and fellow freshman Tyler Haws scored four points apiece in the opening half while transfer Logan Magnusson contributed two points.
“I want this team to develop its own personality,” Rose said. “Jonathan and Jimmer will be a big part of that offensively and we hope other guys will become a big part of the offense as well. We need to be able to start more quickly but I was pleased with how we recovered.”
Both teams struggled from the field with the Cougars shooting 41 percent on 16-of-39 shooting and 3-of-12 in three-point range while the Spartans shot 33 percent from the field. Jacob Doerksen of Trinity Western had 16 points in the opening half and finished the game with 28 going 10-of-19 from the field.
The Cougars built a 52-40 lead midway through the second half as the Spartans managed to make crucial shots to stay in the game. Fredette and Tavernari kept the momentum in favor of BYU by converting jump shots and scoring points in transition. The Cougars extended the lead to 61-44 following a Tavernari layup from a Miles steal and a Haws layup from a steal by sophomore Michael Loyd, Jr.
BYU will play its second and final exhibition contest on Tuesday, Nov. 10, against Central Washington at the Marriott Center. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.
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Official Basketball Box Score
Trinity Western vs BYU Cougars
11/05/09 7:05 pm at Marriott Center, Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: Trinity Western 0-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
06 Jacob Doerksen...... f 10-19 2-8 6-8 0 4 4 2 28 2 1 0 3 35
13 Tyrell Mara......... f 4-6 3-5 1-4 0 9 9 3 12 1 3 0 1 35
14 Lance Verhoeff...... f 1-6 0-2 0-2 1 9 10 3 2 1 1 1 1 18
01 Louis Hurd.......... g 1-5 1-4 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 0 4 0 0 20
09 Calvin Westbrook.... g 1-5 0-1 0-0 0 5 5 2 2 7 6 0 0 32
00 Jason Keegstra...... 3-7 2-3 0-0 2 3 5 3 8 0 1 0 0 27
02 Daniel Horner....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 8
04 Joe Vroom........... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 2 4 0 0 8
05 Tonner Jackson...... 0-1 0-1 0-2 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 5
07 Ryan Froese......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0+
08 Elijah Nakagawa..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
10 Clint Wickham....... 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 3
11 Niko Monachini...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
12 Luke Braund......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
15 Lucian Sauciuc...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 20-53 8-25 8-18 6 36 42 19 56 15 21 2 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-30 33.3% 2nd Half: 10-23 43.5% Game: 37.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-15 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-10 30.0% Game: 32.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 44.4% 2
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 0-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 ABOUO, Charles...... f 1-3 0-0 2-2 0 1 1 3 4 0 2 0 0 12
24 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f 8-16 1-6 1-4 2 6 8 3 18 1 0 2 3 32
54 MILES, Chris........ c 2-7 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 1 4 2 1 1 2 16
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 0-6 0-5 4-5 2 4 6 2 4 2 2 1 3 27
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 9-14 3-4 3-5 1 5 6 3 24 4 4 0 4 31
00 DAVIES, Brandon..... 3-10 0-0 0-0 3 3 6 1 6 1 0 0 0 18
02 MORGAN, JR., Lamont. 2-4 1-2 1-2 0 3 3 1 6 1 0 0 2 12
10 LOYD, JR., Michael.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 2 1 0 0 10
12 MAGNUSSON, Logan.... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 10
13 ZYLSTRA, Brock...... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
15 ANDERSON, James..... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 5
23 HAWS, Tyler......... 3-9 0-2 0-1 3 3 6 0 6 0 0 0 0 24
TEAM................ 2 4 6
Totals.............. 29-74 5-21 11-20 15 34 49 20 74 13 10 4 14 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-39 41.0% 2nd Half: 13-35 37.1% Game: 39.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-12 25.0% 2nd Half: 2-9 22.2% Game: 23.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 71.4% 2nd Half: 6-13 46.2% Game: 55.0% 3,1
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Officials: David Hall, Mike Littlewood, D.G. Littlewood
Technical fouls: Trinity Western-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 7533
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Trinity Western............... 31 25 - 56
BYU Cougars................... 40 34 - 74
Exhibition