Cougars Fall at UNLV

LAS -- The Cougars could not mount the second-half comeback they needed Wednesday night at UNLV, losing 82-72 to fall to 9-5 on the season and 1-2 in the Mountain West Conference. UNLV is the lone unbeaten team in MWC play, improving to 2-0 and 8-6 overall.

"I thought the pressure caused us problems," said BYU Coach Dave Rose. "We never really got into a flow where we could go possession after possession after possession and execute our offense the way we wanted to."

The loss marks BYU's third straight road loss of the year as the Cougars are now 1-4 on the road and 7-1 at home.

"Any coach is concerned anytime his team gets beat anywhere," said Rose. It's important for us to stay positive and believe that we're a good team. That's been our focus from day one. We have a lot of confidence in certain things. Right now, securing the road win in conference play is something we have to figure out how to do.

Both teams came out slow to start the game as each squad made just one shot in the first 4:48 of the first half. UNLV scored first on the opening possession 21 seconds into the game while BYU did not make its first basket until the 17:22 mark when Fernando Malaman found the hoop. Neither team scored again from the field until the 16:12 mark when a Rebel three-pointer followed by a steal and a layin gave UNLV an early 8-2 lead.

The Cougars put together a 7-2 spurt of their own from there as Rashaun Broadus hit a big three-pointer and Derek Dawes and Brock Reichner both contributed on the offensive end of the court. BYU had difficulty finding an effective combination in the first half as Coach Rose used 10 of his 11 available players in the first eight minutes of the game.

The two teams battled it out throughout the next several minutes until a long ball from Austin Ainge gave BYU its first lead of the game, 14-12, at the 9:42 mark. The Cougars continued fighting off the Rebels until, trailing 22-21, UNLV put together a 10-0 run, holding BYU scoreless for 3:53 until two free throws by Derek Dawes ended the drought. The remainder of the half was more of the same as the Rebels took a 37-30 lead into the locker room at halftime.

BYU came into the second half ready to mount a comeback as the Cougars have outscored their opponents in the second half in every game since the season opener against Loyola Marymount. BYU was able to keep the Rebel lead at seven points in the opening minutes of the half until a 10-0 UNLV run left the Cougars reeling.

Rashaun Broadus hit a three-pointer to end the drought. A no-call on a UNLV drive to the bucket that knocked a stationary Cougar to the floor prompted a protest from Coach Rose that resulted in a technical foul, the first of Rose's head-coaching career. UNLV hit both free throws and a three-pointer on the ensuing offensive possession to take its largest lead of the game at 56-28.

Perhaps inspired by Rose's passion, the Cougars caught fire from behind the arc, hitting back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to nine points. After four straight points from the Rebels, BYU scored five of its own on a three-point play by Balderson and a jumper from Fernando Malaman to cut the lead to eight points at 60-52. The two teams battled it out for the next several minutes until another UNLV run, 10-1, pushed the lead to 74-57 and dashed any hopes of a BYU comeback, leaving the Cougars with the 82-72 loss.

Only two Cougars managed to score in double digits as Fernando Malaman recorded 13 points and Brock Reichner added 10. Lee Cummard tied his career-high with nine points while Rashaun Broadus also contributed nine. Malaman was also BYU's high rebounder, pulling down a career-high seven boards. The Cougars shot 43 percent (23-for-54) from the field, 38 percent from three-point range (8-for-21) and 78 percent (18-for-23) from the free throw line while tying UNLV with 34 rebounds.

UNLV's Jo'Van Adams, who came into the game averaging 8.7 points per contest, led the Rebels with 23 points while Louis Amundson recorded 21 points and 10 rebounds. At 2-0 in MWC play, UNLV is now the only undefeated team in the league.

The Cougars now have a week-long layoff before hosting Wyoming next Wednesday at 7 p.m.

"This is a setback for us, but we're halfway through the season, and everything we want to do as a basketball team is still right in front of us," said Rose. "We're going to get back home, work harder, get better and see what we can do the next time out."

Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICS
BYU vs UNLV
01/11/06  7:00 PM at Tarkanian Court, Thomas & Mack Center
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VISITORS: BYU 9-5, 1-2 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
15 MALAMAN, Fernando... f  6-11   0-2    1-3    5  2  7   3  13  1  3  0  0  20
30 CUMMARD, Lee........ f  3-4    0-0    3-4    1  1  2   1   9  2  0  0  0  19
44 PLAISTED, Trent..... f  1-4    0-0    1-1    0  4  4   5   3  0  3  0  0  21
01 BROADUS, Rashaun.... g  3-7    3-5    0-0    0  1  1   0   9  1  1  0  1  23
11 REICHNER, Brock..... g  2-6    1-4    5-6    2  2  4   3  10  1  2  0  0  26
02 ROSE, Mike..........    1-2    1-2    0-0    0  1  1   0   3  1  1  0  0  13
03 YOUNG, Keena........    2-5    0-0    0-0    0  3  3   4   4  2  4  0  0  24
04 EMERY, Jackson......    1-4    0-2    0-0    1  0  1   1   2  1  0  0  2   9
13 AINGE, Austin.......    2-4    2-3    0-0    0  3  3   1   6  2  3  0  0  21
23 BALDERSON, Jimmy....    2-4    1-3    1-1    0  0  0   2   6  0  0  0  0  10
43 DAWES, Derek........    0-3    0-0    7-8    2  2  4   0   7  0  1  0  0  14
   TEAM................                         2  2  4
   Totals..............   23-54   8-21  18-23  13 21 34  20  72 11 18  0  3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-22 45.5%   2nd Half: 13-32 40.6%   Game: 42.6%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  4-8  50.0%   2nd Half:  4-13 30.8%   Game: 38.1%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-8  75.0%   2nd Half: 12-15 80.0%   Game: 78.3%    1
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HOME TEAM: UNLV 8-6, 2-0 MWC
                          TOT-FG  3-PT         REBOUNDS
## Player Name            FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
22 AMUNDSON, Louis..... f  7-12   0-0    7-9    4  6 10   2  21  3  4  0  2  29
31 TERRY, Curtis....... f  3-7    1-4    0-0    0  2  2   3   7  5  0  0  1  36
41 VILLEPIGUE, Dustin.. f  4-8    0-0    3-4    1  7  8   2  11  1  0  0  0  30
01 ADAMS, Jo'Van....... g  9-11   2-4    3-4    0  1  1   3  23  4  3  0  5  34
13 PETRIMOULX, Jason... g  2-7    0-4    3-4    0  2  2   2   7  6  2  0  1  27
05 WHITE, Wendell......    3-7    0-0    3-3    3  1  4   1   9  1  1  0  0  12
11 MORGAN, Ricky.......    1-3    1-1    1-1    1  0  1   2   4  1  0  0  0  13
33 JOHNSON, Jerome.....    0-0    0-0    0-0    0  0  0   0   0  0  0  0  0   2
45 DARGER, Joe.........    0-3    0-2    0-0    1  1  2   2   0  0  0  0  0  10
52 ESSENGUE, Gaston....    0-1    0-0    0-0    0  2  2   3   0  0  1  0  0   7
   TEAM................                         2     2             1
   Totals..............   29-59   4-15  20-25  12 22 34  20  82 21 12  0  9 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-29 48.3%   2nd Half: 15-30 50.0%   Game: 49.2%  DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half:  3-9  33.3%   2nd Half:  1-6  16.7%   Game: 26.7%   REBS
F Throw % 1st Half:  6-10 60.0%   2nd Half: 14-15 93.3%   Game: 80.0%    2
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Officials: Verne Harris, Tom O'Neill, Mark Whitehead
Technical fouls: BYU-TEAM. UNLV-None.
Attendance: 9130
Score by Periods                1st  2nd   Total
BYU...........................   30   42  -   72
UNLV..........................   37   45  -   82
ID-352125
Points in the paint-BY 28,LV 44. Points off turnovers-BY 7,LV 19.
2nd chance points-BY 19,LV 15. Fast break points-BY 6,LV 16.
Bench points-BY 28,LV 13. Score tied-3 times. Lead changes-4 times.