BYU heads for Vegas after clobbering Hartford

PROVO — BYU is headed to Las Vegas where they'll play No. 6 Louisville Friday and discover something about themselves they may not have learned in mercy poundings of out-matched Hartford, Idaho State, Jackson State and Long Beach State.

On Tuesday the Cougars gobbled up its latest victim, Hartford, 97-73 in the Marriott Center to climb to 4-0 heading to Vegas for the semifinals of the Las Vegas Invitational. Freshman Jimmer Fredette came off the bench to lead the Cougars with a career high 19 points and 4 steals. Veterans Lee Cummard and Jonathan Tavernari each scored 18. Trent Plaisted added 16 and Sam Burgess added 13.

"I was pleased with the way we started the game and shot against their zone," said BYU coach Dave Rose.

The Cougars raced to a 24-point half-time lead on the Hawks early by riding a blistering 3-point shot attack that saw four players (Cummard, Tavernari, Burgess and Ben Murdock) knock down eight bombs. The Cougars finished with 13 treys and shot 59 percent from that range.

"I think we're a better outside shooting team than a year ago," said Cummard. "We have guys one through four who can hit 3-pointers. Last year Keena could go outside, but he was primarily an inside scorer."

It helps to have Fredette coming off the bench with a gun.

"He's a good shooter," said Rose.

"What we've learned so far," said Burgess, "is we've got six or seven new guys who have never played Division I ball. In these games so far, they proved they can come in an make plays."

While the game was never in doubt, Hartford switched up defenses and pulled out a trap press to open the second half. Committing seven fouls in six minutes, that flurry caught the Cougars off guard.

The Hawks outscored the Cougars 24-12 to cut the lead to 58-46 with 11 minutes to play.

That doubled all of Hartford's first half points in half the time. The Cougars answered with a pair of treys by Cummard and Tavernari and two buckets by Plaisted to go up 69-47 with just under eight minutes to play.

"I like the way our guys responded. This is a competitive bunch," said Rose.

Morgan Sabia, a 6-8 forward, managed 19 points on the Cougars by knocking down 6 of 8 from beyond the arc. Michael Turner and Joe Zeglinski each had 13.