By Tyler Webb
The Cougars won the battle of the big cats in the Marriott Center on Dec. 5, beating the Weber State Wildcats 65-47.
Eric Nielsen and Mark Bigelow combined to score 28 points in leading the Cougars to victory.
BYU used tough defense to hold Weber State to 29 points at halftime and 35 percent shooting for the game.
“We took some bad shots, and we weren”t able to execute what we wanted to on offense because their defense wouldn”t give us anything,” said WSU head coach Joe Cravens.
Matt Montague played especially tough on defense. He held the Wildcats” leading scorer, Jermaine Boyette, to 12 points on 6 for 15 shooting from the floor.
Coach Cleveland said he would pick Montague as his player of the game, because he kept Boyette from penetrating into the lane the whole night. Montague also has had 17 assists, while committing only two turnovers, in the last two games.
Cravens said Montague is a “tough nut,” and is one of the smartest players he has seen.
The Cougars struggled at the beginning of the game to get much going on offense.
Leading scorers Mark Bigelow and Travis Hansen both got into early foul trouble, and the team had to go to the bench.
The Cougar backups, Daniel Bobik and freshmen Jimmy Balderson, played well, scoring nine points and six points, respectively.
“When I got into foul trouble, I got really passive on offense and defense,” Bigelow said. “I just had to sit back and let the game come to me.”
Fortunately for the Cougars, the game did come to them in the second half. The team was able to build a 20-point lead early in the second half, and never looked back.
The Cougars shot almost 90 percent from the free-throw line, compared to 55 percent for the Wildcats for the game.
Coach Cravens said the Wildcats were simply outplayed in every aspect of the game.
The Cougars have now won 22 consecutive home games in a row, proving there is no place like home. The Cougars” two losses this season have come on the road.
BYU will play three more home games before traveling to Las Vegas on Dec. 22, to play PAC-10 powerhouse Stanford.
BYU”s next opponent is Creighton on Saturday night, Dec. 8.
Coach Cleveland said Creighton would be one of the toughest games the team would play. He said a key to the Cougars” success is to not let themselves get too down after a loss, or too high after a big win.
“Right now we just need to keep our perspective and keep getting better.” Cleveland said.
