BOISE -- After a fight to the finish, the No. 20 BYU men's basketball team could not come up with enough to knock off Boise State on the Broncos' home floor, falling 73-70 Saturday night after an 11-point halftime lead. The loss drops the Cougars to 10-3 on the year and marks their first loss of the year to an unranked team while the Broncos improve to 9-3.
"There's so many different things that happen in a game, but when it came down to making big plays, they did it and we struggled," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "We battled and competed but came up short."
Lee Cummard was the bright spot for the Cougars as he scored 26 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 shooting from the free-throw line, marking the sixth time this season he has tallied at least 20 points. Trent Plaisted continued his double-digit scoring run with 12 points while leading BYU with nine rebounds. Sam Burgess and Jimmer Fredette also scored in double figures with 11 points apiece. Reggie Larry led the Broncos with 19 points.
The game was a battle from the start as Boise State struck first with a three-pointer from Matt Bauscher only to see Cummard answer on the other end for the Cougars. The Broncos led early, but Cummard continued to pressure the home team, scoring nine of BYU's first 12 points to keep the Cougars close at 13-12. After Boise State drained another one from long range, Burgess responded with his second triple of the night to once again cut the lead to one point at 16-15 with 12:38 left to play in the first half.
The scoring frenzy came to a halt for the next three minutes as turnovers and misses plagued both teams. Finally Ben Murdock made it to the free-throw line and gave the Cougars their first lead of the game at 17-16 with 9:06 left before halftime. The Broncos ended the 5-0 BYU spurt with a three-pointer to regain the advantage, but the Cougars weren't done as they scored the next 13 points, including two three-pointers from Fredette and a throwdown by Plaisted, to go up 30-19.
After the 18-3 BYU run, the two teams played even, resulting in a 38-27 Cougar advantage going into the break as BYU posted its 10th double-digit halftime lead of the year. The Cougars have held opponents under 30 points in the first half of nine games while scoring over 30 first-half points in every contest this season.
Boise State scored the first four points of the second half on two free throws and a jumper off a Cougar miscue to cut the lead to seven points and force an early BYU timeout. However, the break benefited the Broncos more than the Cougars as a Boise State basket made it a 6-0 Bronco run. Back-to-back makes from Plaisted pushed the lead back up to nine points at 42-33, but Boise State quickly responded with two buckets from long range to cut the lead to just three points.
After seeing their lead dwindle to just three points at 46-43, things got worse for BYU as Jonathan Tavernari went into the stands trying to save a ball and went to the bench limping with 14:32 left to play. Tavernari returned to the game later, but the Broncos made the most of the moment with an easy layin on the next possession to cut the lead to just one point. Cummard kept Boise State at bay as he nailed two free throws, but the battle was on with 13 minutes to play in the game.
Moments later, the Broncos completed the comeback bid after a goal-tending call tied the game at 50-50. After a Cougar turnover, Boise State had a chance to take the lead but couldn't capitalize, instead seeing Fredette drain his third from three-point range on the other end. However, after a Bronco layin, BYU mishandled the in-bounds pass and Boise State nailed a three-pointer to take its first lead since 19-17 at 55-53 with 8:45 left to play.
The lead grew to 60-54 before Cummard made another pair of free throws and then Burgess reversed and scored. A fall-away jumper went for Boise State, but Cummard drained a three-pointer to cut the lead to one point at 62-61 with 5:25 left to play. However, an 8-1 run for the Broncos soon made it an eight-point game at 70-62 with just under three minutes to play.
Just when the game looked out of reach for the Cougars, two of the team's captains stepped up as Burgess hit from long range and then stole the ball and found Cummard, who laid it in to cut the lead to three points. Cummard capped the 7-0 BYU run with two free-throw makes at the 1:03 mark to make it a one-point game at 70-69. However. The Cougars couldn't come up with enough at the end as they fell, 73-70.
The Cougars return home to face Loyola Marymount on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center. The game will be televised on The Mtn. The LMU Lions were the last team to defeat BYU at home before the Cougars' current 38-game home victory streak.
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Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs BOISE STATE
12/29/07 7:07 pm at Taco Bell Arena (Boise, ID)
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VISITORS: BYU 10-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f 9-14 2-7 6-6 3 3 6 4 26 2 2 2 0 32
41 COLLINSWORTH, Chris. f 1-4 0-1 0-0 0 4 4 1 2 0 0 1 0 17
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c 4-11 0-0 4-9 2 7 9 3 12 2 2 0 0 32
20 BURGESS, Sam........ g 4-4 3-3 0-0 1 1 2 3 11 3 1 0 1 28
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ g 0-5 0-2 4-4 0 2 2 5 4 2 3 0 1 29
01 LOYD, JR., Michael.. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 6
05 ROSE, Archie........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2
10 IVANOVIC, Vuk....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 7
14 MARTINEAU, Nick..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... 4-9 3-8 0-0 0 1 1 0 11 0 1 0 2 21
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. 1-8 0-6 2-2 1 5 6 1 4 1 2 1 0 21
54 MILES, Chris........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 23-57 8-27 16-21 8 26 34 19 70 14 14 6 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-30 46.7% 2nd Half: 9-27 33.3% Game: 40.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-12 41.7% 2nd Half: 3-15 20.0% Game: 29.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-7 71.4% 2nd Half: 11-14 78.6% Game: 76.2% 3
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HOME TEAM: BOISE STATE 9-3
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
20 Tiedeman, Tyler..... f 2-9 1-4 0-2 2 2 4 2 5 4 3 0 0 33
24 Larry, Reggie....... f 7-15 0-4 5-6 2 5 7 1 19 2 3 0 0 35
22 Nelson, Matt........ c 7-7 0-0 4-7 4 7 11 3 18 5 0 1 0 34
11 Thomas, Anthony..... g 2-7 1-4 4-4 0 2 2 5 9 5 3 0 1 33
15 Bauscher, Matt...... g 4-8 3-6 0-0 1 4 5 2 11 0 1 0 2 23
04 Greene, Jamar....... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 9
25 Noonan, Paul........ 3-6 2-4 0-0 0 1 1 1 8 2 0 0 1 22
43 Sanchez, Mark....... 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
50 Cunningham, Kurt.... 1-1 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 1 3 1 2 1 0 8
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 26-57 7-24 14-21 10 26 36 15 73 19 14 2 4 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-26 38.5% 2nd Half: 16-31 51.6% Game: 45.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-11 27.3% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 29.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-8 50.0% 2nd Half: 10-13 76.9% Game: 66.7% 2,2
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Officials: Bob Staffen, Stanley Reynolds, Ronnie Hernandez
Technical fouls: BYU-None. BOISE STATE-None.
Attendance: 8779
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 38 32 - 70
BOISE STATE................... 27 46 - 73
Points in the paint-BY 22,BOISE-ST 26. Points off turnovers-BY 14,BOISE-ST 13.
2nd chance points-BY 7,BOISE-ST 12. Fast break points-BY 5,BOISE-ST 4.
Bench points-BY 15,BOISE-ST 11. Score tied-3 times. Lead changed-4 times.
Last FG-BY 2nd-01:58, BOISE-ST 2nd-00:32.
Largest lead-BY by 12 1st-05:04, BOISE-ST by 8 2nd-02:56.