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MWC SEMIFINALS: BYU holds on for win over Cowboys |
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JaredLloyd | Saturday, March 10, 2007, 12:53 am
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Jason Franchuk
DAILY HERALD
LAS VEGAS — The old building rocked again, just like old times.
The Thomas & Mack Center had Friday night what the Mountain West Conference yearned for the past three annual parties — two teams’ fan bases with great animosity toward each other and UNLV fans walking in after halftime to cheer for the upset.
It may have happened, 25-7 BYU knows, if not for those first 10 minutes of basketball that were the kind which could win a league title tonight after a 96-84 win against Wyoming.
A 20-point lead eight minutes into the semifinal didn’t totally knock out the Cowboys, but sure gave the night a touch of a different feel. What would’ve happened had the margin never swelled so wide that quickly and No. 23-ranked BYU was forced to duke it out in a more even game that never closed within six
points?
“In the first half, we pretty much felt like we had it under control,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “But we knew in the second half it would be a different story.”
Well, sort of.
The Cowboys, a No. 5 seed playing on all sorts of belief after beating Air Force the previous night, never gave up. Not their style, not with swashbuckling rowdy-man Steve McClain roaming the sidelines, every bit the same free spirit and maniac whether the game was out of control or within reach.
BYU, meanwhile, let the bloated advantage slip away. It’s the human-nature peril of getting ahead so early.
It was a six-point game with 3:05 left after Brad Jones had a streaking, uncontested layup that sent two-thirds of the crowd into a frenzy. Like a prize fighter connected with a sharp jab, the Cougars appeared a little shaken.
But not deterred.
“You know what, I was never that nervous,” said Austin Ainge, who had 16 points. “I think we just knew we had to stay patient, get our shots or make free throws.”
There were plenty of opportunities for those. BYU attempted 45, making 29. Trent Plaisted, who tied his career high with 27 points and 10 rebounds, hit just 7-of-16. He also went 10-for-13 from the field.
Lee Cummard added a career-best 21 points, seven rebounds and made 7-of-8 from the stripe.
A rebound and a long-range shot finally prodded the Pokes into submission.
Cummard took a missed 3-pointer from Mike Rose and turned it into a fingertip putback. That was just after Wyoming was charged by the lead being cut to 11 points with 5:20 left.
About three minutes later, Rose, who finished with nine points, took an Ainge pass at the top of the key — maybe his favorite spot — and swished a trey. He laughed by the locker room afterward with teammate Jimmy Balderson about how he had changed his brief celebration upon draining a bomb.
A little glitz in Vegas never hurt, right? But the fact remains that the Cougars were gritty. Rose’s shot, however, also offered relief to a confident team.
“I’ve said this all year long, it’s hard to win games,” coach Rose said. “Guys have to really compete. Ours wanted to.”
They had to. Wyoming’s tandem guard line, Brandon Ewing and Jones, kept challenging. Jones created 15 free throw opportunities, making 10. Ewing had 22 shots from the field, making 10. Each had 23 points for a team that finished 17-15.
Ainge was dismayed that the Cowboy guards drew so many fouls.
“A lot of the time we’re backpedaling, hands straight up and they’re forcing the contact,” Ainge said. “But give them credit, they never quit.”
Wyoming sure could have. BYU played what several players called the best opening 10 minutes of any game this season. It was worth putting on video and selling for instructional purposes, right away. By the team’s locker room, Ainge took a call from his dad and tried explaining the start. He was way too modest.
Cummard opened with a couple 3s, Plaisted had a stretch of 11 consecutive points in which he was spectacularly ambidextrous.
McClain barked at the refs and his players, but he could do no more than ride out the storm. BYU shot 60 percent from the field and made 6-of-8 3-pointers. It scored a season-best 54 points by halftime and led by 19.
“They’re coming down just pulling up from 3 and shooting 3s on the break, and they’re burying them,” McClain said.
Thinking about it got Ainge tingly.
A similar performance tonight against UNLV in the 5 p.m. MT title game would make for scintillating hoops.
“We hit open shots, we were constantly attacking and moving the ball,” Ainge said, smiling with a shake of his head. “We were doing everything. We played so well.”
Wyoming finally made it a game by lengthening it, making shots and forcing free throws to stop the clock. With so many Cowboy fans in attendance, quitting wasn’t a choice.
Jones’ driving score cut it to eight points with 3:40 left.
That’s when the crowd started to sound like MWC tournaments of old. Denver the past three years never felt an equal buzz in the sterile, desolate Pepsi Center.
It could’ve been louder and stronger Friday night. Wyoming pleaded for one more spurt.
The Cougars, while pleased with their overall effort, were appreciative that their nerves and stamina didn’t have to be tested further.
“We’re real fortunate we played as well as we did in the first half,” coach Rose said.
∫ Rough night for the Wyoming cheerleaders: Keena Young was probably the only Cougar who couldn’t catch a break in the opening eight minutes. But he did manage to accidentally cause one, leaving a Cowboy cheerleader in a cast after he stepped on her hand while chasing a loose ball on the baseline.
Young’s big feet also knocked another petite Poke in the knee, and the whole squad seemed stunned as one was bruised and other other taken off the floor for treatment.
To add insult to two injuries, their team trailed, 26-6, at the time. Young did turn around and apologize before play continued. He was chasing an offensive rebound and hustled around a defender to knock the ball off him. BYU kept possession as Young sailed out of bounds. He finished with 12 points but hit just two of his first seven shots.
The Wyoming cheerleaders were threatened a couple of more times by hustle. With 25 seconds left, Cowboy Brad Jones stumbled with the ball on a fast break and slid back-first into the front stair leading into the stands behind the baseline. After a few nervous minutes, he walked off the floor.
∫ Bring on the Rebels: BYU stayed wary of dissing Colorado State, but there’s little doubt the team was not averse to playing UNLV on its home floor, and that is just what will happen after the Rebels defeated the Rams 88-72 in the other MWC semifinal.
Playing the Rebels at home, however, does offer some big risks — possibly, the loss of a MWC tournament title, which BYU hasn’t won since 2001, and a chance at a higher seed in next week’s NCAA tournament. Winning the tournament title is obvious the best thing for the higher seeding, and there was an obvious, if unspoken, feeling that playing the No. 6-seeded Rams, who BYU also split with this season, offered a better chance of the win.
But BYU, a sure thing for the NCAA tournament, also knew it could play loose against the second-seeded Rebels, who would be feeling the pressure of winning at home.
“And it’d be a great environment,” Mike Rose said. “Two big crowds and two really good teams going at it.” |
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