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PROVO -- In the first home-opening sellout at the Marriott Center since 1982, guard Jimmer Fredette and forward Noah Hartsock led the BYU Cougars (1-0) to a 83-56 victory over the Fresno State Bulldogs (0-1) on Friday night.
“I think that it (the crowd) was great because part of the process is to get all the adrenaline running," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "And I don’t know anything scientific but we always say you have to have energy to win. That was easy tonight because the guys were pumped, the crowd was great and they didn’t have to create their own energy.”
Fredette finished with 24 points, his 31st 20-point game as a Cougar, while adding eight assists. Hartsock came off the bench to score a career-high 21 points and grab five rebounds.
Forward Charles Abouo also scored in double digits for BYU with 13 points. Abouo also grabbed six rebounds, second on the team only to leading rebounder Chris Collinsworth who finished with seven boards.
Both teams started the game slowly. The Cougars took an early 4-0 lead before the Bulldogs pulled ahead 6-4 at the 14:46 mark. Fredette did not score his first points until nearly seven minutes into the game with the Cougars trailing 7-10.
The defensive struggle continued until the 9:02 mark with the game locked at 18-18. A Jackson Emery three-point basket put the Cougars up 21-18, a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game.
Emery’s trey started 27-8 BYU run that put the Cougars up 45-26 to end the half. A Fredette pass to Abouo for a monster slam highlighted the run and shifted momentum the Cougars’ way for the remainder of the half. Fredette also had 10 points during the run.
Fresno State came out quick by scoring five of the first seven points but BYU responded by outscoring the Bulldogs 19-10 in the following six minutes of action. Fredette continued to frustrate the Bulldog defense, putting in six more points early in the half.
Hartsock pushed the Cougar lead to 30-points, 73-43, with a two-point basket with 7:35 remaining in the contest.
Strong play off the bench helped the Cougars finish the game, with Kyle Collinsworth, Nick Martineau and Stephen Rogers, all new to the 2010-11 team, seeing playing time.
“I was really pleased with the second half," Rose said. "There were a lot of guys who came in for us and got comfortable and were able to play at the pace that we wanted to play. Obviously our returners were great. Noah was great, Jimmer was terrific and Charles had an exceptional game.”
BYU outshot Fresno State by a large margin, finishing the game 30-61 from the field (49.2%) while holding the Bulldogs to 20-57 (35.1%). The Cougars also outrebounded their WAC opponent 43-36 and finished with nine more assists.
The Cougars will be back at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 7:00 pm MST as they host the Utah State Aggies.
Official Basketball Box Score
Fresno State vs BYU Cougars
11/12/10 7:05 pm at Provo, Utah, Marriott Center
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VISITORS: Fresno State 0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Golubovic, Nedeljko. f 5-14 2-7 0-0 2 6 8 1 12 2 1 1 0 31
04 Smith, Greg......... c 1-2 0-0 5-8 3 4 7 3 7 1 3 0 0 24
02 Wills, Jonathan..... g 3-6 0-3 2-3 1 1 2 3 8 1 1 0 0 32
05 Steed, Tim.......... g 2-6 0-1 1-4 0 4 4 1 5 1 3 1 3 29
11 Rhodes, Bennie...... g 3-9 0-3 0-1 1 1 2 3 6 0 1 0 1 18
01 Johnson, Tyler...... 2-4 0-1 3-4 0 3 3 2 7 1 1 1 2 17
20 Johnson, Garrett.... 0-1 0-0 1-2 1 0 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 9
23 Olekaibe, Kevin..... 3-8 0-4 2-3 0 1 1 1 8 1 2 0 3 22
45 Funk, Bracken....... 1-7 0-2 0-2 1 4 5 1 2 1 2 0 1 18
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 20-57 2-21 14-27 9 27 36 15 56 9 16 3 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-30 33.3% 2nd Half: 10-27 37.0% Game: 35.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-13 15.4% 2nd Half: 0-8 0.0% Game: 9.5% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 10-21 47.6% Game: 51.9% 7
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 1-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
00 DAVIES, Brandon..... f 0-1 0-0 2-2 0 5 5 0 2 0 3 0 0 14
41 COLLINSWORTH, Chris. f 1-5 0-2 1-2 2 5 7 2 3 1 0 0 0 17
01 ABOUO, Charles...... g 4-6 1-2 4-4 3 3 6 2 13 1 0 0 1 25
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 2-7 2-6 1-2 0 4 4 3 7 3 0 0 1 25
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 9-15 1-4 5-5 0 3 3 0 24 8 1 0 2 29
12 MAGNUSSON, Logan.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 7
13 ZYLSTRA, Brock...... 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 1 3 0 1 0 0 11
14 MARTINEAU, Nick..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 8
15 ANDERSON, James..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 5 2 1 1 0 0 10
21 ROGERS, Stephen..... 2-5 0-3 0-2 2 1 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 7
31 COLLINSWORTH, Kyle.. 1-1 0-0 2-4 0 1 1 3 4 3 3 0 2 22
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... 9-15 1-1 2-3 1 4 5 1 21 0 2 1 0 25
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 30-61 6-21 17-24 9 34 43 20 83 18 13 1 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-28 50.0% 2nd Half: 16-33 48.5% Game: 49.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 28.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 14-20 70.0% 2nd Half: 3-4 75.0% Game: 70.8% 2
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Officials: Steve Welmer, Eric Curry, Ruben Ramos
Technical fouls: Fresno State-None. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 22700
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Fresno State.................. 26 30 - 56
BYU Cougars................... 45 38 - 83
Sellout.
Points in the paint-FS 34,BY 38. Points off turnovers-FS 10,BY 13.
2nd chance points-FS 11,BY 10. Fast break points-FS 4,BY 6.
Bench points-FS 18,BY 34. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-4 times.
Last FG-FS 2nd-00:30, BY 2nd-01:35.
Largest lead-FS by 2 1st-14:48, BY by 36 2nd-04:27.