Las Vegas, NV - Trent Plaisted tied his career-high with 27 points and also cleared 10 boards, and No. 23 BYU held off Wyoming, 96-84, in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament at Thomas & Mack Center.
Lee Cummard scored 21 points and had seven rebounds for the top-seeded Cougars (25-7), who have won 20 of their last 23 games overall, including 12 of the last 13, and will play for the conference championship for the first time since 2001. The team will face UNLV in the final on Saturday.
Austin Ainge chipped in with 16 points, and conference player of the year Keena Young had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards for BYU.
Brad Jones had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the fifth-seeded Cowboys (17-15), who came in winners of three of their last four games in the MWC Tournament. Brandon Ewing also donated 23 points , and Eric Platt finished with 13 for Wyoming.
It was all BYU in the first half, as the Cougars opened a 12-2 lead on Cummard's dunk at 16:42, then held a 24-6 cushion on Plaisted's jumper at 12:39.
Wyoming attempted to chip away at its deficit, and trailed 39-18 following a Jones free throw at 7:15. The Cougars continued their balanced scoring attack, however, and went up 52-30 on Ainge's trey at 1:20.
Ewing's jumper with just six seconds remaining in the half sent the Cowboys into the break trailing 54-35.
Wyoming looked to make it interesting in the second half, as Platt's three- pointer at 10:57 made it a 65-50 contest. The Cowboys then continued to battle, and a pair of free throws by Ewing kept it a 15-point game with 8:14 to play, and it was a six-point contest, 77-71, on Jones' layup with 3:07 remaining.
Platt's three-pointer off the glass pulled Wyoming to 87-80 with 1:05 left, but BYU converted on 9-of-12 free throws down the stretch to pull away.
Game Notes
BYU won its first outright league title since 1987-88 with a 13-3 MWC record this season...The Cougars lead the all-time series, 97-69, after sweeping the season series... The two teams were meeting for only the third time in a conference tournament, despite playing in the same tourney over 24 consecutive seasons...Wyoming was a semifinal participant in the league tournament for the second consecutive season and for the fifth time in the last eight years...The Cougars were just 29-of-45 from the charity stripe, and the Cowboys were 15-of-28.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes
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Ron RobertsMar 10th, 2007 - 09:50:19
While I was at a concer on Friday, March 9th a BYU, I heard the score was 38 to 13 during the 1st half! Wow, what a blow out!! Wyoming was catching up during the 2nd half, but, the final score was 96 to 84!!! That was amazing to all of the fans at BYU!
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