PROVO -- The largest Marriott Center crowd in eleven years (22,702) honored BYU hall-of-famer Danny Ainge and saw the Cougars win a share of the Mountain West Conference Championship by beating Colorado State 67-55 Saturday night.
"I have a great appreciation for where we started, and tonight to see the arena full was a great thrill." said BYU head coach Steve Cleveland. "To share this in front of an entire community was something very special for me."
Ainge's jersey, number 22, was retired and now hangs from the rafters in Provo. BYU also paid tribute to lone senior Travis Hansen in his last home game as a Cougar. Hansen was the first player to cut a loop from the net, which came down after the game in celebration of the school's 26th conference championship.
No player in BYU history helped the Cougars to a better home record over a three-year period than Travis Hansen. In the last three seasons the Cougars have posted a 44-1 mark. The next best three-year home record was 39-2 during the final three seasons of Ainge's BYU career from 1979-81.
In the first half, BYU used a 17-2 run during an eight-minute stretch to build the lead to 14 points at 26-12. The Rams held the lead momentarily at 10-9 thanks to a bucket by Ronnie Clark with just under 15 minutes to play in the first half before the Cougars' run.
In the second half, BYU controlled the boards, pounded the ball inside, and held CSU to 34.6 percent shooting to pull ahead. It is the first time this year the Rams were held below 40 percent shooting.
"Right now BYU is playing better basketball than anyone in the league," said CSU head coach Dale Layer.
Brian Greene led the Rams with 18 points and eight rebounds while Matt Nelson added 17. Ram sharp-shooter Andy Birley, who connected on six three-pointers in Fort Collins, was held to just one trey and only three points.
The Cougars spread the ball around effectively with four players scoring in double figures. Mark Bigelow led all scorers with 20 points followed by Hansen with 15. Rafael Araujo scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Kevin Woodberry chipped in 10.
BYU will enter the MWC tournament as the No.2 seed because of being swept by Utah this year. BYU will face New Mexico Thursday at 1 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. The game will be broadcast live by ESPN +Plus (KJZZ-TV in Salt Lake City).
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Colorado State University vs BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars
03/08/03 7:00pm at Brigham Young University
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VISITORS: Colorado State University 16-13, 5-9
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
33 GREENE, Brian....... f 7-12 1-2 3-4 4 4 8 4 18 1 1 0 1 29
42 WILLIAMS, Matt...... f 0-1 0-0 5-6 0 1 1 5 5 2 2 0 2 17
34 BURKE, Darian....... c 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5
11 BIRLEY, Andy........ g 1-6 1-6 0-0 0 1 1 1 3 2 3 0 3 33
22 JOHNSON, Shelton.... g 0-3 0-1 0-0 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 22
01 STEVENS, Derrick.... 0-4 0-3 0-0 0 4 4 4 0 0 1 0 0 21
20 CLARK, Ronnie....... 3-5 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 2 7 1 1 0 0 24
32 MORRIS, Micheal..... 1-2 1-2 2-2 2 0 2 0 5 0 2 0 0 20
54 NELSON, Matt........ 6-13 0-0 5-9 0 3 3 1 17 1 0 1 0 29
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 18-47 3-14 16-23 8 19 27 17 55 7 10 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-21 42.9% 2nd Half: 9-26 34.6% Game: 38.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-6 16.7% 2nd Half: 2-8 25.0% Game: 21.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-7 57.1% 2nd Half: 12-16 75.0% Game: 69.6% 4
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HOME TEAM: BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars 22-7, 11-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f 7-11 1-3 5-5 0 2 2 2 20 2 3 0 0 31
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 0 2 29
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c 7-12 0-0 0-0 4 4 8 5 14 0 1 0 2 21
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g 6-14 1-2 2-6 1 1 2 2 15 1 1 0 1 29
24 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g 2-6 2-3 4-4 1 2 3 0 10 2 0 0 0 27
04 LEMES, Luiz......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
05 SHOFF, Jake......... 1-3 0-0 1-2 4 6 10 3 3 1 2 0 0 20
10 NASHIF, Terry....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 1 0 3 1 0 0 14
12 ROBERTS, Marc....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
14 BOWER, Ricky........ 1-1 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 14
15 ALLEN, John......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
32 JEPSEN, Bart........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
40 HOWARD, Dan......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 25-55 5-10 12-17 14 24 38 18 67 10 10 0 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 13-28 46.4% 2nd Half: 12-27 44.4% Game: 45.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 2-3 66.7% Game: 50.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-6 83.3% 2nd Half: 7-11 63.6% Game: 70.6% 2
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Officials: Greg Burks, Jim Danner, Larry Spaulding
Technical fouls: Colorado State University-None. BRIGHAM YOUNG
Cougars-ARAUJO, Rafael.
Attendance: 22702
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Colorado State University..... 23 32 - 55
BRIGHAM YOUNG Cougars......... 34 33 - 67
Points in the paint-CS 18,BY 26. Points off turnovers-CS 11,BY 13.
2nd chance points-CS 8,BY 14. Fast break points-CS 0,BY 2.
Bench points-CS 29,BY 6. Score tied-2 times. Lead changes-3 times.