BYU basketball: Cummard bails out cold Cougars

PROVO — When a basketball team has eight players shoot a combined 3-of-21 in the first half and 13-of-44 for the game, a pace of 29 percent, it's chances of winning are pretty slim.

Fortunately for the BYU Cougars on Friday night, senior guard Lee Cummard's career-best game trumped the off shooting night that most of the other Cougars had as BYU overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to edge Long Beach State 75-65 at the Marriott Center for the Cougars' 48th straight home win.

"When I say my prayers tonight, I'm going to give thanks for Lee," junior forward Jonathan Tavernari said. "I mean, goodness gracious, he didn't miss."

Cummard connected on 13-of-16 shots, 3-of-3 from 3-point range and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line in scoring a career-high 36 points. He also dished out five assists, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked four shots.

"I was just fortunate enough tonight to make shots," Cummard said. "It was weird, because a few of them I didn't think were going to go, but I'm just glad they did."

Twenty-two of Cummard's points came in the first half when no one else could make much of anything, which is the main reason why the 49ers were able to take a 38-31 halftime lead.

"I'm really glad that Lee was on our team tonight," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "It could have been a lot worse at halftime, but instead it was a manageable number."

Tavernari finished with 19 points on 8-of-21 shooting, but only made 2-of-9 from 3-point distance. However, he did finish with seven rebounds and five assists, and 11 of his points came in the final nine minutes.

"For as frustrated as he was in the way he played, he actually really helped this team win and that's a real step forward for (Tavernari)," Rose said. "He got into a situation where he didn't play well and he still helped our team, and that's a sign of maturing."

Junior center Chris Miles added nine points and six rebounds, but hit only 3-of-11 free throws.

After BYU, despite missing its first five shots, took an early 7-2 lead, the 49ers went on a 13-2 run and controlled the rest of the opening half. The Cougars did trim the margin down to one twice, but Long Beach State fought off every rally the Cougars — mainly behind Cummard — tried to mount.

"We weren't executing the game plan and we weren't getting any kind of stops, and that kind of took us out of our groove," Cummard said.