After Losing Lead, Cougars Lose Overtime Showdown

LAS -- In a game of contrasting halves, BYU had the game in hand after a strong first half, but went cold in the second half as it was upset 86-80 in overtime by Colorado State in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament Friday night. The loss dropped the Cougars to 23-8, while the Rams advance to the tournament final by improving to 18-13.

"We really wanted to win this game," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "Our goal was to come down here and win this tournament. We really haven't lost this year when we've had the lead so it's disappointing, but we've got a lot more basketball to play."

The loss to the Rams marks the first time this season the Cougars have lost when leading at the half.

CSU jumped out the an early lead, but more importantly Rafael Araujo picked up two quick fouls and Jake Shoff left in the fourth minute of the game with a recurring back injury. With the two big men on the bench, Dan Howard entered the lineup, but BYU didn't miss a beat, as it proceeded to take the lead.

Mark Bigelow hit a 3-pointer at the 14:12 mark to give BYU a 12-9 lead and the Cougars would lead throughout the rest of the half.

BYU would stretch its lead in the frenetic final ten minutes of the opening half and enjoyed its largest lead of 14 after a Bigelow lay-up. CSU would close the gap, but the Cougars headed into the break with a 39-29 lead.

As the second half started, the Rams slowly chipped into the Cougar lead and parlayed their confident play into a 16-0 run to take a 45-39 lead, before Travis Hansen ended BYU's 0-for-13 drought with a field goal at the 11:10 mark.

Although the Rams carried play for most of the second half, the Cougars staged a rally behind Bigelow as he had a basket and a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions, the latter coming with 6:11 to play and giving BYU a 55-53 lead.

The two teams would stay close to the end of regulation in a foul-filled second half. With CSU up by a bucket, Bigelow made a slashing move to the basket to tie the game at 67-67, sending it to overtime.

Play in overtime remained close, but Michael Morris made a deep 3-pointer as the shot clock was expiring to give the Rams a 76-73 lead, after which CSU held off BYU for the win.

Matt Nelson took advantage of Shoff's absence to score a game-high 28 points. The Rams also shot a game-high 55 percent, taking advantage of easy baskets with 15 offensive rebounds.

"We couldn't stop Nelson tonight," Cleveland said. "It was one of those situations where obviously we could've done better, but not having Shoff was critical because he is the one guy that can truly cover him. They also shot 55 percent from the field and we have been a team that hasn't given that up this season."

Hansen and Bigelow, each averaging over 20 points per game against CSU this season, had 22 and 21 points, respectively. Araujo scored 14 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds.

"Now we've got to bounce back and focus on the NCAA Tournament," Cleveland said. "We've earned the right to be there, we've earned the right to get a good seed. This loss shouldn't affect our seed at all."

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
Colorado State vs BYU
g3/14/03 6:00 PM at Las Vegas, Nevada
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VISITORS: Colorado State 18-13, 5-9
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
33 GREENE, Brian....... f  5-12   0-1   10-10   1  4  5   3  20  3  0  0  1  37
42 WILLIAMS, Matt...... f  3-6    0-0    0-0    1  2  3   2   6  3  4  1  0  33
34 BURKE, Darian....... c  1-1    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   1   2  0  0  1  0   3
11 BIRLEY, Andy........ g  4-7    3-6    4-4    0  2  2   4  15  7  2  0  1  33
22 JOHNSON, Shelton.... g  2-2    0-0    3-6    2  2  4   3   7  1  0  1  1  24
01 STEVENS, Derrick....    0-2    0-2    0-0    0  2  2   1   0  3  0  0  0  15
20 CLARK, Ronnie.......    1-3    0-0    0-0    2  3  5   4   2  1  1  0  0  12
32 MORRIS, Michael.....    2-4    2-3    0-1    1  4  5   4   6  5  5  1  0  30
54 NELSON, Matt........   10-14   0-0    8-12   1  3  4   3  28  1  1  1  0  38
   TEAM................                         1  2  3
   Totals..............   28-51   5-12  25-33   9 24 33  25  86 24 13  5  3 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-24 41.7%   2nd Half: 15-24 62.5%   OT:  3-3  100 %   Game: 54.9%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  2-8  25.0%   2nd Half:  2-3  66.7%   OT:  1-1  100 %   Game: 41.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  7-11 63.6%   2nd Half:  6-8  75.0%   OT: 12-14 85.7%   Game: 75.8%    3
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HOME TEAM: BYU 23-8, 11-3
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
03 BIGELOW, Mark....... f  7-14   2-6    5-7    1  1  2   3  21  5  1  1  1  41
52 JENSEN, Jared....... f  0-3    0-0    1-2    0  3  3   2   1  0  0  1  0  19
55 ARAUJO, Rafael...... c  4-9    1-1    5-7    5  5 10   4  14  3  1  1  2  30
02 HANSEN, Travis...... g  7-18   0-2    8-10   3  3  6   5  22  2  2  1  1  42
24 WOODBERRY, Kevin.... g  3-10   1-6    0-1    0  1  1   1   7  4  4  0  0  36
04 LEMES, Luiz.........    3-4    1-1    2-2    0  1  1   4   9  0  0  0  1  25
05 SHOFF, Jake.........    1-1    0-0    0-0    1  1  2   1   2  0  0  0  0   9
10 NASHIF, Terry.......    0-1    0-1    0-0    0  0  0   1   0  0  0  0  1   9
14 BOWER, Ricky........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   5
32 JEPSEN, Bart........    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0  0+
40 HOWARD, Dan.........    2-2    0-0    0-0    1  4  5   5   4  0  0  1  0   9
   TEAM................                         4     4
   Totals..............   27-62   5-17  21-29  15 19 34  26  80 14  8  5  6 225
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 17-32 53.1%   2nd Half:  7-22 31.8%   OT:  3-8  37.5%   Game: 43.5%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-9  33.3%   2nd Half:  1-3  33.3%   OT:  1-5  20.0%   Game: 29.4%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  2-5  40.0%   2nd Half: 13-16 81.3%   OT:  6-8  75.0%   Game: 72.4%    4
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Officials: David Hall, Bill Gracey, Bob Staffen
Technical fouls: Colorado State-None. BYU-HANSEN, Travis.
Attendance:
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   OT   Total
Colorado State................   29   38   19  -   86
BYU...........................   39   28   13  -   80
Statistics provided by Jim Shaffer & crew (702) 896-5677 statman@winning.com
Points in the paint-CS 36,BY 38. Points off turnovers-CS 13,BY 8.
2nd chance points-CS 6,BY 11. Fast break points-CS 0,BY 2.
Bench points-CS 36,BY 15. Score tied-10 times. Lead changes-12 times.