LAS -- On a night that the Cougars were held to their lowest point total of the season, BYU dropped its first Mountain West Conference game of the year at UNLV, 70-41. The Cougars (12-5, 1-1 MWC) fell for the fourth straight time against the Rebels (13-4, 2-1 MWC) at the Thomas & Mack Center.
"We just got outplayed tonight," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "We got outrebounded. We turned the ball over more and allowed them to score off our miscues. We had a few consecutive defensive stops in the second half, but we were unable to hit the shots on the offensive end to get us back in the game."
The Cougars came into their first MWC road game averaging 79.5 points per game, but they left with connecting on just 33 percent of their shots for only 41 points. BYU also shot a season low from the free-throw line, connecting on 8-of-20 (.400) attempts.
BYU was led by junior guard Lee Cummard as he finished as the only Cougar in double-digit scoring with 11. Chris Miles and Chris Collinsworth came off the bench to give a boost to the Cougars. Miles finished second in scoring with a season-high nine points, and Collinsworth pulled down a career- and game-high 11 rebounds.
UNLV got out to a hot start as the Rebels started the game with a 9-3 run over the first 4:20 of the contest. The Rebels eventually built the lead to 11 points at the 12:17 mark with a 16-5 advantage. UNLV senior Curtis Terry got going early for the Rebels as he hit on his first three attempts from beyond the arc. The Rebels continued to connect from beyond the arc, connecting on 7-of-12 three-pointers in the first half.
Terry went on to lead the Rebels in first-half scoring as he finished with 14 before the break. UNLV went into the locker room up 39-21, holding BYU to its lowest first-half total of the season. The Cougars' previous low in scoring was 31 against No. 1 North Carolina. BYU's first-half difficulties came in part due to 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
The second half proved to be much of the same for the Cougars as their offensive woes continued. BYU never got within 13 points of the Rebels and was only able to notch 20 more points in the game.
Another offensive category that BYU struggled in was its three-point shooting. Coming into the game against the Rebels, the Cougars were averaging 37 percent from beyond the arc but were only able to hit on 3-of-21 (.143) attempts.
Both teams went through long second-half scoring droughts. BYU stiffened its defense as the Cougars held UNLV without a field goal for more than six minutes. However, the Cougars were unable to capitalize on the Rebels' lack of scoring as BYU did not connect on a shot of its own from the field from the 12:15 mark to the 4:30 point of the second half.
UNLV was led by Terry, who finished the game with 21 points. Rene Rougeau also chipped in 15 points for the Rebels along with seven rebounds. Matt Shaw paced the Rebels on the boards with eight.
The Cougars will next be in action against in-state rival Utah at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City. The game will be televised nationally on Versus.
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Official Basketball Box Score
BYU vs UNLV
01/15/08 8:00 p.m. at Tarkanian Court, Thomas & Mack Center
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VISITORS: BYU 12-5, 1-1 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. f 1-9 1-5 0-0 1 2 3 2 3 0 3 1 2 26
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... c 2-3 0-0 1-10 1 5 6 1 5 0 1 1 0 23
20 BURGESS, Sam........ g 0-5 0-5 2-2 0 4 4 5 2 2 1 0 0 25
24 MURDOCK, Ben........ g 2-5 0-3 2-2 0 1 1 2 6 2 3 0 1 32
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ g 4-9 1-4 2-2 2 3 5 3 11 0 4 0 0 33
01 LOYD, JR., Michael.. 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 8
05 ROSE, Archie........ 1-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 3
14 MARTINEAU, Nick..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 0 0 10
41 COLLINSWORTH, Chris. 0-3 0-2 0-0 1 10 11 0 0 0 2 0 0 18
54 MILES, Chris........ 4-7 0-0 1-4 0 1 1 1 9 0 1 0 0 17
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 15-45 3-21 8-20 6 29 35 20 41 5 19 2 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-20 35.0% 2nd Half: 8-25 32.0% Game: 33.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-10 20.0% 2nd Half: 1-11 9.1% Game: 14.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-12 41.7% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 40.0% 6
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HOME TEAM: UNLV 13-4, 2-1 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 BAILEY, Corey....... f 2-6 0-1 0-0 1 3 4 3 4 2 1 0 1 17
45 DARGER, Joe......... f 1-7 1-5 2-3 1 3 4 4 5 2 0 0 0 27
01 ADAMS, Wink......... g 0-5 0-2 5-7 0 3 3 2 5 1 0 0 2 28
24 ROUGEAU, Rene....... g 7-11 0-0 1-2 1 6 7 3 15 2 1 3 3 35
31 TERRY, Curtis....... g 7-12 5-8 2-2 1 3 4 1 21 3 2 0 0 33
00 RUTLEDGE, Mareceo... 1-3 0-1 2-3 1 1 2 1 4 1 1 0 2 16
05 WALLACE, Kendall.... 2-4 1-3 0-0 1 0 1 0 5 1 0 0 0 12
12 CAGE, Troy.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
20 LAWRENCE, Marcus.... 1-2 1-1 1-2 0 3 3 0 4 1 1 0 0 15
34 SHAW, Matt.......... 2-7 2-4 1-2 2 6 8 5 7 3 2 0 1 17
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 23-57 10-25 14-21 8 30 38 19 70 16 8 3 9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-28 42.9% 2nd Half: 11-29 37.9% Game: 40.4% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 7-12 58.3% 2nd Half: 3-13 23.1% Game: 40.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 8-13 61.5% 2nd Half: 6-8 75.0% Game: 66.7% 4
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Officials: Scott Thornley, Randy McCall, Tom O'Neill
Technical fouls: BYU-None. UNLV-None.
Attendance: 13074
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 21 20 - 41
UNLV.......................... 39 31 - 70
Points in the paint-BY 18,LV 22. Points off turnovers-BY 6,LV 24.
2nd chance points-BY 2,LV 6. Fast break points-BY 2,LV 2.
Bench points-BY 14,LV 20. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-BY 2nd-01:07, LV 2nd-00:43.
Largest lead-BY by 3 1st-18:16, LV by 30 2nd-00:43.