By David Hawks
The BYU men”s basketball team shot their way to a season-high point performance Wednesday night, defeating Boise State 90-77 in the Marriott Center.
Both teams exchanged 3-pointers in what turned out to be a duel of field goal percentages. BYU and Boise were tied at 44.8 percent after the first half, but BYU outdid the Broncos in the second.
After a series of agonizing defeats, BYU can sigh in relief after the team”s first Division I win this year.
“This game was big for us,” guard Mike Hall said. “We really wanted this win. We wanted to come out and compete for 40 minutes.”
Head coach Steve Cleveland attributed the win to a strong defensive effort, as well as accurate shooting.
“We got off to a good start,” Cleveland said. “We had good execution. We executed defensively the first 10 minutes and we were able to take them out of the things they were most comfortable scoring in, and we were able to score on the other end.”
Mike Rose and Austin Ainge showed off their range Wednesday night as the two players made a combined eight 3-pointers. Rose went 6-for-9 and Ainge 2-for-4.
“This game was big for me,” Rose said. “Obviously I got off to a slow start this year, but I have been working on my shot in practice and now that it is falling, I feel confident again.”
The two players” quick points came at a critical time for the Cougars, giving the team a needed boost.
“Austin and Mike Rose gave us a big spark in the first half making threes,” Cleveland said.
The win puts the Cougars at 2-5 for the season, and gives the team a chance to wipe the slate clean.
“The win is big for this team,” Cleveland said. “After we”ve been through what we”ve been through, there is a lot of self-doubt that creeps in. We have to keep believing, but eventually somebody has to make the plays to actually win the game.”
That somebody was Mike Hall, who had a game-high 21 points, and led the team with nine rebounds and five assists. Other contributions came from Keena Young, who had 11 points, five assists and a swat that had fans on their feet.
Overall, the team shot well but there were several errors that Cleveland pointed out to the players after the game.
“Both of them (Ainge and Rose) took very poor threes,” Cleveland said. “Those are the game management things that we need to be better at. They jacked up a couple shots they had no business shooting and we have to learn from that. When we have a 10 or 12-point lead and we come down and shoot contested threes in transition, there is something wrong. I realize I am the one that has to teach them that. I assumed we would make better decisions with our possessions.”
Some of the team”s frustrations came from excellent performances by the point guards of Boise State. McNeal Thompson scored 19 points with four 3-pointers and Franco Harris matched Thompson with four threes of his own and 12 points total.
“We knew Thompson was a good shooter, but not that good of a shooter,” Cleveland said.
BYU was able to contain the Broncos on defense enough to allow the Cougars to score in transition.
“We did make plays tonight,” Cleveland said. “We did what we needed to do to win the game against a team that is playing pretty well. They came in here with a lot of confidence.”
BYU now looks forward to their upcoming game in the Delta Center against Washington State on Saturday.
“We”re going to have a completely different experience on Saturday,” Cleveland said. “N.C. State and Washington State are the two best defensive teams we are going to play all year. We will have to sprint to catches. We”ll have to be strong. There won”t be a lot of open looks in transition against Washington State.”
