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PROVO -- In his final game at the Marriott Center, senior Jimmer Fredette scored 38 points to lead the No. 3/3 BYU Cougars to victory over the Wyoming Cowboys 102-78 on Saturday.
With the win BYU (28-3, 14-2) secures at least a share of the Mountain West Conference regular season title and the number one seed in the MWC tournament.
"We were as committed to winning as a group as I have seen us in a long time," head coach Dave Rose said. "We weren't offensively having a lot of success in the first half but we were going after every loose ball, getting rebounds and diving on the floor. We showed everyone how committed we are to getting this done."
Senior Jackson Emery contributed 18 points to the win in his final home game and Charles Abouo put in a career-best 25 points, 21 in the second half, and snagged seven rebounds.
"I am happy for these players because championships are hard to win, but they last forever so this is something these players will always have," Rose said.
Fredette got off to a fast start for the Cougars, making three of his first four shots and scoring 12 of the team’s first 20 points. He finished the first half with 14 points.
The scoring went back and forth for most of the first half before the Cougars opened up the biggest lead of the half with a 9-0 run stretching over three minutes from 10:55 to 7:30 remaining in the half.
Wyoming erased the deficit quickly and tied the game at 35 with 19 seconds remaining in the half. After a missed Cowboy free throw, senior Jackson Emery nailed a three at the buzzer to give the Cougars a halftime lead, 38-35.
Abouo came ready to play in the second half as he led the Cougars on a 15-4 run out of the locker room. He went on a personal 8-0 run at one point as BYU extended the lead to 53-39 with 16:40 remaining.
Fredette helped the Cougars maintain the lead with buckets on three-consecutive possessions, including two finger rolls in the lane and a deep three. He followed that with another driving lay up to give BYU a 65-53 lead with 12:16 left in the game.
BYU continued to build the lead for the remainder of the game, stretching it to 20 at the 4:37 mark after two Emery threes and a Fredette lay in made it 87-67. The Cougars managed 15 points in the final four minutes to cross the 100-point mark for the third time this season.
Next up for the Cougars will be the MWC Basketball Championship from March 9-12 in Las Vegas. Live stats and audio links will be available on www.byucougars.com and fans can listen live on the radio on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City.
Official Basketball Box Score
Wyoming vs BYU Cougars
03/05/11 1:32 pm at Provo, Utah, Marriott Center
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VISITORS: Wyoming 10-20, 3-13 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
22 M'BAYE, Amath....... f 4-13 0-1 4-4 2 5 7 4 12 2 2 1 1 28
23 THIAM, Djibril...... f 3-4 0-0 1-2 0 2 2 2 7 0 0 1 1 26
35 HARRISON, Daylen.... f 5-7 1-2 1-2 1 1 2 1 12 0 3 0 1 25
01 LUSTER, JayDee...... g 0-2 0-0 2-4 1 2 3 4 2 7 2 0 0 29
04 CRUZ, Francisco..... g 7-11 3-4 1-2 0 1 1 3 18 1 0 0 2 39
00 GIBSON, Brian....... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
02 BOUEDO, Arthur...... 3-4 3-4 0-0 0 2 2 0 9 0 0 0 0 6
03 JACKSON, Desmar..... 3-6 0-1 4-4 0 2 2 5 10 1 2 1 0 13
15 WADDELL, Adam....... 1-8 0-0 0-2 1 1 2 3 2 2 0 0 1 26
21 HUDSON, Joe......... 2-3 2-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 0 0 0 0 7
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 28-58 9-14 13-22 6 21 27 24 78 13 9 3 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-26 50.0% 2nd Half: 15-32 46.9% Game: 48.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-6 50.0% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 64.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 7-12 58.3% Game: 59.1% 6
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HOME TEAM: BYU Cougars 28-3, 14-2 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 ABOUO, Charles...... f 9-12 1-3 6-6 3 4 7 2 25 0 2 0 2 29
31 COLLINSWORTH, Kyle.. f 5-8 0-1 1-1 1 7 8 4 11 1 1 1 1 29
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f 2-5 0-2 1-2 2 2 4 4 5 3 1 1 0 30
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 6-8 4-5 2-2 0 1 1 3 18 2 0 0 1 26
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 12-24 4-9 10-12 1 3 4 0 38 2 4 0 0 38
12 MAGNUSSON, Logan.... 0-1 0-1 1-2 2 4 6 4 1 4 0 0 0 25
13 ZYLSTRA, Brock...... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
14 MARTINEAU, Nick..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0+
15 ANDERSON, James..... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 7
21 ROGERS, Stephen..... 0-4 0-2 2-2 2 1 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 11
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 35-64 9-23 23-29 11 27 38 19 102 13 9 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-33 42.4% 2nd Half: 21-31 67.7% Game: 54.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-12 33.3% 2nd Half: 5-11 45.5% Game: 39.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-10 60.0% 2nd Half: 17-19 89.5% Game: 79.3% 3
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Officials: Bob Staffen, Michael Irving, Brad Gaston
Technical fouls: Wyoming-CRUZ, Francisco. BYU Cougars-None.
Attendance: 22700
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Wyoming....................... 35 43 - 78
BYU Cougars................... 38 64 - 102
Marriott Center sold out. 7th consecutive sellout, 9th of season.
Cougars win MWC regular-season championship and #1 seed in MWC tournament.
Points in the paint-WY 26,BY 46. Points off turnovers-WY 10,BY 12.
2nd chance points-WY 6,BY 11. Fast break points-WY 4,BY 6.
Bench points-WY 27,BY 5. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-5 times.
Last FG-WY 2nd-01:33, BY 2nd-01:04.
Largest lead-WY by 3 1st-18:01, BY by 25 2nd-00:21.