PROVO -- Todd Christensen and Silester Rivers came off the bench to lead BYU to a 76-43 win over South Carolina State Saturday at the Marriott Center.
With South Carolina State starting the game in a triangle-and-two defense, BYU coach Steve Cleveland quickly substituted Christensen into the game at point guard for starter Matt Montague. The move paid dividends for Cleveland as the sharp-shooting Christensen made two consecutive three-pointers and went on to score 10 of BYU's first 13 points to give the Cougars an early 13-4 advantage.
"Todd is to be commended for knocking down some shots when we needed them," Cleveland said. "This was the third game of their (South Carolina State) road trip and that gave us an advantage."
The Cougar advantage on the scoreboard grew to 19 points (39-20) by half time and swelled to as many as 39 points when Rivers made a jumper to give BYU a 74-35 lead with 4:16 left in the game. Rivers played 20 minutes off the bench and contributed a game- and season-high 17 points while Christensen added a season-high 16 points on 5-8 three-point shooting and a free throw.
"We were trying to take (Mekeli) Wesley, (Michael) Vranes and (Terrell) Lyday out of the game early and we did that," South Carolina State coach Cy Alexander said. "They brought Christensen in the game and he got them going. We just couldn't hit any shots in the second half and I attribute that to the defense of BYU."
Eleven players scored for BYU and 13 saw playing time in the game. BYU's bench put 43 points through the net compared to 33 points contributed by BYU's starters. Michael Vranes led the starters with 10 points while BYU's top two scorers on the season, Wesley and Lyday, added seven and nine points respectively.
Guard Mike Wiatre's 11 points led South Carolina State. Center Duane Johnson added nine points while forward Dexter Hall pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs out rebounded BYU 45-41 on the night but shot only 22 percent from the floor while BYU made nearly 52 percent and dished out a season-best 23 assists to only 11 turnovers.
The win gives BYU its first five-game win streak since the 1994-95 season and a 7-1 start for the first time since 1992-93. The 33-point margin of victory was the Cougars' largest since a 32-point win over Morgan State in 1995. South Carolina falls to 2-7 on the year.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
South Carolina State vs Brigham Young
12/18/99 7:05 at Provo, Utah
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VISITORS: South Carolina State 2-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 RADFORD, Luis....... f 0-8 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 4 0 1 1 0 0 23
23 HALL, Dexter........ f 1-3 0-0 0-0 4 6 10 2 2 1 1 1 1 21
31 JOHNSON, Duane...... c 3-10 0-0 3-4 2 2 4 3 9 0 0 0 0 26
03 WIATRE, Mike........ g 4-12 1-4 2-2 2 0 2 1 11 1 3 0 1 25
20 VANDERHORST, Omar... g 2-9 0-2 2-2 0 2 2 0 6 2 3 1 0 29
04 DAVIS, Coray........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
24 HARRIS, Chevalier... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 4
33 JONES, James........ 1-7 0-3 3-5 0 4 4 0 5 0 0 0 0 25
43 SHIVERS, John....... 0-4 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 14
50 WILLIAMS, Antonio... 2-6 0-0 0-0 3 3 6 4 4 0 1 1 0 13
52 ALSTON, Edmund...... 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 7
53 CARLISLE, Arthur.... 1-5 0-1 2-4 3 1 4 0 4 0 1 0 0 13
TEAM................ 7 7
Totals.............. 15-68 1-13 12-17 22 23 45 18 43 7 13 3 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-28 .214 2nd Half: 9-40 .225 Game: .221 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-7 .143 2nd Half: 0-6 .000 Game: .077 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-8 .875 2nd Half: 5-9 .556 Game: .706 3
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HOME TEAM: Brigham Young 7-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 WESLEY, Mekeli...... f 3-4 0-0 1-2 1 6 7 3 7 1 1 0 0 22
25 NIELSEN, Eric....... f 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 4 4 1 2 1 1 0 0 20
13 VRANES, Michael..... g 5-10 0-2 0-0 2 4 6 2 10 7 0 0 2 24
24 LYDAY, Terrell...... g 4-10 1-3 0-0 0 3 3 1 9 3 1 1 1 27
31 MONTAGUE, Matt...... g 2-3 1-1 0-0 1 3 4 1 5 3 1 0 0 17
02 RIVERS, Silester.... 6-8 0-1 5-8 2 2 4 3 17 2 1 2 0 20
04 CHRISTENSEN, Todd... 5-8 5-8 1-2 0 0 0 2 16 2 0 0 0 18
05 ROBERTS, Marc....... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1 1 0 3 1 0 10
10 ALLEN, John......... 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 8
33 SMITH, Morgan....... 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 7
34 ELLSWORTH, Joe...... 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 4
42 COOPER, Nathan...... 1-3 1-2 2-2 0 2 2 1 5 4 1 0 0 15
50 NIELSEN, David...... 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 8
TEAM................ 2 3 5
Totals.............. 29-56 8-17 10-18 8 33 41 17 76 23 11 4 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-27 .519 2nd Half: 15-29 .517 Game: .518 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 6-12 .500 2nd Half: 2-5 .400 Game: .471 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 .625 2nd Half: 5-10 .500 Game: .556 4
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Officials: Larry Stubing, Jim Danner, Kenneth Wilson
Technical fouls: South Carolina State-None. Brigham Young-None.
Attendance: 7584
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
South Carolina State.......... 20 23 - 43
Brigham Young................. 39 37 - 76