BYU basketball: Cougs cruise to exhibition victory

PROVO — After two exhibition blow-out wins by BYU, the question marks surrounding the Cougars are quickly being answered.

Already, after Tuesday's 80-53 pounding of Georgetown College — a team that took the No. 3-ranked Louisville Cardinals right down to the wire last week — and last week's thumping of Concordia, it's clear that BYU does have some guards who can score.

Last week, it was Jimmer Fredette leading the way with 26 points. With Fredette sidelined with an ankle sprain, sophomore Jackson Emery saw his first action of the season and turned in a dandy performance with 16 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals. He was especially sharp from long range, hitting 4-of-6 shots from 3-point range.

"People are always asking 'Who's going to start — Jimmer or Jackson?' Really, it doesn't matter," Emery said. "Jimmer or I. We're both team players and you know when we come in we're going to contribute. And you saw, we're deep in the guard spot."

As a freshman, Emery played mainly a defensive role. Clearly, he'll be asked to do more this season.

"This year the coaches feel like I can contribute a little of both," he said. "We have a lot of offensive weapons again, but I still feel like I can be a lot more aggressive offensively. ... I know I can score. I have that confidence. So it's good to have that green light."

Adding to that depth is point guard Lamont Morgan, who did a solid job at quarterback with six assists and a perfect 2-of-2 on 3-pointers. Off the bench, freshman Charles Abouo was strong on both ends of the floor and scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

In the post, Chris Miles had another solid outing with six rebounds (four on the offensive glass) and six points and four blocked shots.

"Those are guys that I think are really important to develop," Cougar coach Dave Rose said. "(Jonathan Tavernari) and (Lee Cummard) were both solid, but you kind of expect that."

In a game that was close for the first 12 minutes, Tavernari finished with 15 and Cummard tossed in 10. The Cougars, leading 19-17, broke the game open with a 14-1 run late in the second half and consistently widened the gap from there.

Rose said the game was tight early because the Cougars gave up eight offensive boards to the Tigers in the first 12 minutes. For the rest of the first half, however, BYU allowed only one offensive rebound and contested every shot the Tigers took.