Cougs hold off Nelson, Rams

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — BYU overcame a broken-down Ram center Matt Nelson outscoring Rafael Araujo on his home court to defeat Colorado State 79-73 late Monday night before a half-filled Moby Arena.

Araujo scored 21 points and Mike Hall added another 14 to pace the Cougars. Nelson led all scorers with 24.

The win lifted BYU to 16-7 overall and 6-4 in the Mountain West, while CSU dropped to 11-12 and 3-7 in league play.

The Cougars busted open a tie game on a late 10-3 run led by Luiz Lemes and Jake Shoff. With the CSU crowd chanting "Dirty Mormons," Shoff completed an old-fashioned three-point play and Lemes converted a pair to drives to put the Cougars in position for the win 66-57 with five minutes to play.

Kevin Woodberry's bomb with just over four minutes to play gave the Cougars the margin they needed.

The Rams took advantage of a dry Cougar spell half way through the second half and posted a 9-2 run to tie the game at 54 after BYU led 54-47. A key call on BYU's Hall under the Cougar basket took place on the other end. Hall got called for holding a Ram defender, nullifying a Garner Meads basket.

Officials could not determine who Hall fouled and had to review a replay to put a CSU player at the line with eight minutes to play. Shelton Johnson missed the front end of the bonus but the tie game placed the pressure on the Cougars, who'd blown a nine-point lead and had Mark Bigelow and Araujo in foul trouble.

An All-MWC Ram center, Nelson made his first appearance in the game mid-way through the first half. Nelson did not suit up against Utah and did not practice this past week. Upon Nelson's entry into the game, the Cougars didn't take advantage of his immobility for five minutes. Even before, with 6-foot-5 Ram Matt Williams guarding Araujo in the post, the Cougars went 4 for 15 in the opening nine minutes. That included 0 for 5 from the 3-point line.

The Rams whittled a 19-8 lead before the Cougars found any rhythm in the first half. The Cougars ripped off a 20-2 run, led by Araujo buckets and a pair of 3-pointers by Bigelow and Woodberry. When Araujo got loose for an easy cripple, the Cougars took a 28-21 advantage with six minutes to go before intermission.

At the 6:33 mark in the first half, the Cougars had taken 26 shots to 16 for CSU and led by just five.