TCU
13-19
BYU
29-4
Second Half Run Leads Cougars Past Frogs, 95-85
3/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2010
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LAS VEGAS - Jimmer Fredette scored 45 points en route to leading the second-seeded BYU Cougars to a 95-85 victory over the second-seeded Horned Frogs in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Thursday evening at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The BYU junior connected on 10-of-23 field goal attempts, but did the majority of his damage at the free throw line where he connected on 23-of-24 charity stripe attempts, including 20-of-20 in the second half of action. In addition, he also added six assists and four rebounds in 38 minutes of action.
In the first half of action, the Cougars were able to come out strong and take a 7-0 advantage after the first two minutes of the game and increased their lead to eight points, 28-20, at the 9:17 mark following a three-pointer by Fredette.
The Frogs responded with an 11-3 run over the next five minutes and held a 31-29 at the 6:12 mark following a lay-in by sophomore Ronnie Moss. The Frogs and Cougars traded basket for basket over the final six minutes of the first half, and TCU took a one-point advantage into intermission after Moss connected on a jumper with four seconds left on the clock.
The second half of action began much the same way that the first half ended with each team trading buckets and neither one allowing the other to make a big run. After taking a one-point lead, 59-58, with 12:26 left in the game, the Cougars made their run and used a 12-2 run to take an 11-point lead at 71-60 with 10:07 left in the game.
The Frogs were able to get with six points, 71-65, following a lay-in by Moss at the 9:24 mark, but BYU responded with an 8-0 run to take a 79-65 lead with 7:17 remaining. The Cougars were able to maintain a double-digit lead over the final seven minutes en route to securing the victory.
Moss finished with a team-high 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go along with five rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes of action while Greg Hill notched 15 points - all in the second half of action - in addition to three assists in 27 minutes.
Edvinas Ruzgas and Nikola Cerina both finished with 12 points to pace the Frogs while Kevin Butler added 10 points and four rebounds in 24 minutes of court time.
As a team, the Frogs connected on 51.9 percent (27-of-52) of his field goal attempts, including 52.9 percent (10-of-19) of their three-point field goal attempts. BYU connected on 48.1 percent (26-of-54) of their field goal attempts in the game.
Jackson Emery finished with 15 points, including four three-pointers, to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in 39 minutes of action while Jonathan Tavernari notched nine points on the evening.
With the victory, the Cougars - who are ranked 14th in the country - improved to 29-4 overall while the Frogs concluded the 2009-10 campaign with a 13-19 overall record.
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