By Nicholas Goodfellow
Albuquerque, N.M. - BYU continued its road dominance Monday March 3 in New Mexico, pounding the Lobos 91-81.
With the win, the Cougars move to 9-3 on the year in the Mountain West Conference, and 22-7 on the year.
'There was no time throughout the game where we thought we had it won,' sophomore Jared Jensen said. 'These two wins were big for us as a team.'
BYU shot 55 percent from the field and 93 percent from the free throw line. The team also had a season-low eight turnovers.
BYU held Ruben Douglas, the nation''s leading scorer, (28.9 ppg) to just 12 first-half points. He finished the game with 27, but 12 of those came from the free-throw line.
The Cougars were led by senior Travis Hansen, who finished the game with 26 points and made a case for MVP in the MWC. Jensen added 19, and junior Rafael Araujo had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
'Jared and Hafa (Araujo) did a wonderful job,' coach Steve Cleveland said. 'Travis is definitely the most valuable player on our team.'
New Mexico started the game in a zone defense that threw the Cougars off their game a little bit, as BYU scored only six points in the first five minutes.
The Lobos countered with good distribution of the ball as four different players scored their first four baskets.
At one point, UNM went on a 10-2 run that resulted in a 17-8 lead, but the Cougars knew how important it was not to get down early, countering with a 11-2 run of their own, making the score 19-17.
The Lobos and Cougars traded baskets over the next few minutes as BYU learned that the key to breaking New Mexico''s zone was to attack the basket. The Cougars did so by getting the ball into Araujo, and letting him either shoot or find the open man.
By doing this, they were able to go on an 11-4 run that gave them their first lead of the game at 25-23.
Three straight baskets by the Lobos'' Jamaal Williams gave the lobos the lead back, but the Cougars quickly changed that as Araujo hit a reverse lay-up to give BYU a one-point lead at 30-29.
The Cougars outscored the Lobos 8-6 over the last three-and-a-half minutes and took a 38-35 lead into the locker room.
The Cougars dominated the second half. In the first six-and-a-half minutes, BYU outscored UNM 16-4 and opened up its biggest lead of the game at 54-39.
BYU continued to keep the Lobos in check as they confused them on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
With ten-and-a-half minutes left in the game, the Cougars held a 17-point lead.
The Lobos went on a 7-0 run to bring them back to within 10, but the Cougars were too much for the Lobos to handle down the stretch, as six is the closest they would get.
The Cougars now look to rest up, as they finish off their regular season with two home games against Wyoming and Colorado State.
Wyoming visits Provo Thursday March 6, seeking revenge for its 74-66 loss to the Cougars February 8 in Laramie.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on WB channel 15. It can also be heard on KSL Radio 1160.