TCU
11-6, 1-1MWC
BYU
14-2, 2-0MWC
Frogs Suffer First Mountain West Setback at BYU, 73-61
1/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2009
PROVO, Utah -- The TCU men's basketball team dropped its first game in Mountain West Conference action as the Horned Frogs suffered a 73-61 setback to BYU at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday evening.
With the setback - the Frogs fell to 11-6 overall and 2-1 in Mountain West Conference action while the Cougars improved to 14-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
The Cougars came out strong in the first half and held a 29-18 lead at the 3:52 mark following a pair of free throws by senior Lee Cummard. The remainder of the half proved to be the downfall for the Frogs as the Cougars rallied off a 13-3 run to close out the first 20 minutes of action and went into the locker rooms with a 42-21 lead.
The Frogs were a much different team in the second half of action where TCU out-scored the home team by a 40-31 margin over the final 20 minutes, but could never get within 12 points of the lead.
The Frogs connected on 50.0 percent (14-of-28) of their field goal attempts in the second half of action, but only managed to connect on 30.8 percent (8-of-26) of their field goal tries in the first half. For the game - TCU connected on 40.7 percent (22-of-54) of their field goal tries, but struggled from behind both the three-point line (28.6 percent | 6-of-21) and free throw line (52.4 percent | 11-of-21).
The Cougars converted on 48.3 percent (28-of-58) of their field goal attempts and held an 18-9 advantage over TCU in assists and 14-3 margin in fast break points.
Lee Cummard led the winners with 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with seven rebounds in 36 minutes of action while Jonathan Tavernari connected on 14 points for the Cougars.
Kevin Langford (Fort Worth, Texas | University of California) led the Frogs with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go along with six boards in 31 minutes of action.
Zvonko Buljan (Split, Croatia | Vincennes University) collected his second straight double-double as the TCU forward notched 10 points to go along with 12 rebounds in 32 minutes of action.
Edvinas Ruzgas (Vilnius, Lithuania | Weatherford College) collected 10 points while Jason Ebie (Houston, Texas | Alief Elsik H.S.) notched nine points to go along with three assists and two rebounds in 35 minutes of court time.
The Frogs will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 17) when TCU travels to USAFA, Colo., for a showdown against the Air Force Academy. Tip-off is slated for 4:00 p.m. Central Time.
TCU Athletics Media Relations
