By Robert Weiler
Coming close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not in free throws and 50-point games.
And coming close hurts even more when it occurs as frequently as it has during the BYU men?s basketball season.
With an 0-4 record in games decided by three points or less, the Cougars made it 0-for-5 on Saturday in a discouraging 59-58 loss to Wyoming.
?Sometimes life doesn?t seem real fair,? BYU head coach Steve Cleveland said. ?I?ve just never experienced anything quite like this to be honest with you.?
Although there were a number of factors that left the Cougars (8-16,2-7) trailing in the final two minutes of a game, they had mostly controlled the Cowboys (14-8,6-3), but the final miscue came in one area BYU has excelled in this year: foul shots.
Down by three, Mike Hall stole the inbounds pass and got the ball to Austin Ainge, who ball faked his way into three shots from the foul line with 1.3 seconds remaining. With father Danny watching from press row at the other end of the court, Ainge, cleanly sank the first two before the third rimmed out.
?It felt just like the other ones,? Ainge, an 84 percent free-throw shooter, said. ?I let the team down. I feel horrible, but I want them next game, and I?ll make them next time.?
Ainge?s final shot was just one of 51 shots the Cougars missed on Saturday. The Cougars were 14-of-23 from the charity stripe, well below their season average of 73.7 percent, and shot a season-low 30 percent from the field.
Compared to Wyoming?s 21-for-44 shooting performance (47.7 percent), it?s a micro miracle BYU was in the game and leading for all but about three minutes of the game.
?There was just so many times in the course of this game where we had a chance to distance ourselves,? Cleveland said. ?We missed so many wide open shots in the first half. I don?t have an answer for it. We?re just having a tough time scoring.?
Hall, who burned San Diego State last Monday for 24 points, went 0-for-8 shooting in the first half with five of those misses coming from behind the arc. Hall finished with nine points while Jimmy Balderson led BYU in scoring with 11 points, all coming in the second half. Balderson, who fouled out in the final minute of the game, also tied a career-high with seven rebounds.
Wyoming point guard Jay Straight, who Cleveland said is arguably the best guard in the conference, played all 40 minutes and guided his team with 23 point and five assists, including seven of the Pokes? last 10 points in the end of the game.
?He tires you out,? said Mike Hall, who guarded Straight for most of the game. ?He never stops moving.?
Part of Hall?s weariness may have had been partially due to a flu bug he and some of his teammates have been battling with this week. That list includes Ainge, who played the entire second half, and Derek Dawes, who struggled with five points and five rebounds.
The Cougars will go for win No. 9 again on Monday versus Colorado State, who lost to Utah 64-50 on Saturday and are last place in the conference, one game behind seventh-place BYU.
COUGAR TRACKS: Balderson?s 11 points is the fourth consecutive game he has scored in double-figures … Garner Meads did not suit up for Saturday?s game due to his lingering injuries … The Cougars haave not lost to Wyoming twice in a season since the 1996-1997 season … BYU is 0-10 when scoring less than 60 points and 1-15 when scoring less than 70 points.
