Rose then started Plaisted and he made a pair of shots before running out of gas.

"I hit those two and thought I'd get 40, but it wasn't an M.J. kind of night at all," Plaisted said.

Rose subbed Plaisted out four times in the first 20 minutes and played him sparingly the second half. Chris Miles and Chris Collinsworth playing the post in his absence.

Cummard carried the Cougars in the first 20 minutes. He knocked down 4-of-7 shots, including a steal he took the length of the court for a layin as the Cougars built up a 29-24 halftime lead.

BYU ripped off a 15-7 run to lead 56-48 with just under seven minutes to play.

The run came on the backs of Cummard and Tavernari 3-point shooting. Plaisted, who sat most of the second half, entered the game with 6:40 to play and the Falcon zone lost him twice and he spun and put down two buckets in single coverage to put the Cougars up 60-49.

"Those buckets by Trent were huge. He played. That showed how tough he is. We had just hit some outside shots and then he came in and got those and really gave us a lift," Cummard said.

When Tavernari pulled up for a quick jumper after a steal at the other end, the Cougars led 62-49 with just over five to play.

The Falcons got a pair of free throws from Adam Hood, but Jimmer Fredette answered that with a wide open trey at the other end to put the Cougars up 65-50 with four and a half minutes left and a 12-3 Cougar run.

COUGAR NOTES: Keith Maren had a career-high 15 points for the Falcons — 14 in the first half ... Cummard gave Tavernari the business in the locker room for finally getting a career-high four assists. "He let me have it, but this was a team effort. Everyone always says credit the players, credit the players, but I gotta tell you our coaches came in with a great game plan that worked," Tavernari said ... At 5-1, the Cougars are off to their best MWC start since the 2002-03 season ... BYU's win gave the Cougars their first back-to-back wins at Clune Arena since 1995-96, something the Travis Hansen/Rafael Araujo teams did not do.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com