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FORT COLLINS -- The No. 9/9 BYU Cougars outlasted the Colorado State Rams on the road, 94-85, on Saturday night in Fort Collins. The Cougars only trailed during the first three minutes of the game but the Rams made BYU work for the win, fighting to the very end. The Cougars' 19-1 record through 20 games is tied for the best in program history.
"It was a great win," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "Colorado State just kept coming back and coming back. In the second half they were hard to stop."
The nation’s leading scorer, Jimmer Fredette, led the Cougars with 42 points followed by Jackson Emery and Kyle Collinsworth who each posted 16 points in the victory. Collinsworth tallied 13 of his 16 in the first half which gave the freshman a new career-high in points while six assists gave the Provo native a career-high in assists as well. Brandon Davies nearly tallied a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
While both teams came out shooting lights out from the field early on, BYU was able to take an early 14-7 lead in the first four minutes of the game forcing a CSU timeout. Coming out of the huddle the Cougars demonstrated their ability to shoot from downtown with Fredette, Noah Hartsock and Collinsworth each hitting a trey to take a 23-11 lead. Still, the home team showed their fans they would not be defeated easily by going on an 8-0 run to cut the BYU lead to four, 23-19.
The Rams continued to battle even after an Emery trey stopped the run, but the Cougar guard play was too much as Fredette, Collinsworth and Emery combined for 43 of BYU’s 55 first half points. The Cougars went into the break with a 15-point advantage as BYU shot 62.5 percent from the field.
With success early in the second half, the Cougars led by as many as 19 points. However, with 10:35 remaining a three-pointer by Wes Eikmeier cut the BYU lead to 13. Less than one minute later Cougar center Brandon Davies and Noah Hartsock were saddled with four fouls each. A three-point play by CSU brought the Rams within 10 points of BYU with the Moby Arena crowd on their feet. A missed opportunity by the Cougars followed by another Eikmeier trey continued to cut away at the BYU lead, 71-63. CSU would cut the lead to six but the Rams hopes of a comeback were temporarily silenced by a Fredette trey on the following play.
A breakaway dunk by Dorian Green reignited the CSU faithful as BYU sought to hang onto a 78-71 lead. As the Rams continued to give the Cougars their best, BYU was able to execute offensively and were able to hang on for the victory. The Cougars sealed the deal with less than a minute remaining when Fredette dished the ball to Abouo for an open two-handed dunk, adding an exclamation point to the 94-85 victory.
BYU will be back in action at home against No. 6/6 San Diego State on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The game has been announced a sell out.
Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs Colorado State
01/22/11 7:02 p.m. MT at Fort Collins, Colo. (Moby Arena)
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VISITORS: BYU 19-1, 5-0 MWC
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 5-8 0-0 2-4 5 4 9 5 12 2 0 1 1 23
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f 1-5 1-2 0-0 1 2 3 4 3 1 1 2 0 19
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 6-12 4-10 0-0 0 1 1 1 16 3 0 0 1 38
31 COLLINSWORTH, Kyle.. g 6-8 1-1 3-4 2 4 6 3 16 6 2 0 0 36
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 11-24 4-9 16-17 0 4 4 2 42 4 2 0 2 38
01 ABOUO, Charles...... 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 3 5 0 1 1 0 17
12 MAGNUSSON, Logan.... 0-2 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9
15 ANDERSON, James..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 4 0 1 0 1 0 14
21 ROGERS, Stephen..... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 6
TEAM................ 2 4 6
Totals.............. 31-62 11-26 21-25 11 22 33 23 94 17 7 5 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 20-32 62.5% 2nd Half: 11-30 36.7% Game: 50.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 8-14 57.1% 2nd Half: 3-12 25.0% Game: 42.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-7 100 % 2nd Half: 14-18 77.8% Game: 84.0% 2
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HOME TEAM: Colorado State 13-6, 3-2 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 FRANKLIN, Travis.... f 6-10 0-0 9-14 2 2 4 2 21 2 3 0 1 27
32 OGIDE, Andy......... f 6-11 0-0 6-8 5 5 10 3 18 1 3 2 0 33
02 EIKMEIER, Wes....... g 9-19 5-9 2-2 1 4 5 2 25 5 1 0 0 36
12 NIGON, Adam......... g 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 1 12
22 GREEN, Dorian....... g 2-7 1-3 3-4 0 2 2 4 8 5 1 0 1 34
04 HORNUNG, Pierce..... 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 4 0 1 0 0 15
05 WILTZ, Moe.......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
11 CARR, Jesse......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 6
23 BELL, Will.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
33 SMITH, Dwight....... 1-1 1-1 2-2 1 1 2 3 5 1 0 1 0 12
44 SMITH, Greg......... 1-4 0-0 2-3 0 2 2 2 4 1 3 1 1 18
TEAM................ 2 1 3
Totals.............. 27-56 7-14 24-33 12 22 34 21 85 17 12 4 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-31 45.2% 2nd Half: 13-25 52.0% Game: 48.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 4-8 50.0% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 15-21 71.4% Game: 72.7% 4
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Officials: Bill Gracey, Larry Spaulding, Hal Lusk
Technical fouls: BYU-None. Colorado State-None.
Attendance: 8745
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 55 39 - 94
Colorado State................ 40 45 - 85
Points in the paint-BY 34,CS 32. Points off turnovers-BY 11,CS 6.
2nd chance points-BY 10,CS 13. Fast break points-BY 4,CS 9.
Bench points-BY 5,CS 13. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-3 times.
Last FG-BY 2nd-00:59, CS 2nd-01:43.
Largest lead-BY by 19 2nd-18:42, CS by 2 1st-19:05.