BYU basketball: Cougars feed off Emery's career night

PROVO — Jackson Emery's athleticism became a ring buoy on a lifeline for BYU in the Cougars' hard-fought 73-62 win over New Mexico Tuesday night in the Marriott Center.

Emery scored a career-high 19 points after leading the Cougars with 11 in the first half He was perfect from beyond the arc with three bombs. The win lifted BYU to its fifth-straight win and fourth 20-win season as the Cougars climbed to 20-5 overall and 8-3 in the Mountain West.

The former Deseret News Mr. Basketball at Lone Peak High simply lifted the Cougars when the rest of his big-gun teammates struggled.

"The second time around in league play is different," said Emery. "Defenses know who the scorers are. When they're doubling up Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Jimmer Fredette, that leaves Chris (Miles) and I open and it's time to hit those shots when you're open."

In a physical game in which the Lobos successfully muscled around the Cougars on their home court, Emery matched that intensity. The rest of his teammates appeared to feed off Emery's play after the nation's best-shooting team struggled with a paltry 33 percent shooting effort in the first half.

BYU rebounded with a 53 percent second-half effort and finished at 42 percent, 10 percentage points behind its top-ranked stat.

It was the lowest opening-half shooting of the year as Dave Rose watches his team fall behind 9-2 early.

That's when Emery started his engine.

The sophomore shooting guard knocked down a 3-pointer four minutes into the game to ignite BYU, which struggled to find the range not only to start the game but the entire first half. His old-fashioned 3-point play on an acrobatic drive and foul was critical in an 11-2 run that lifted the Cougars to a 16-13 lead, a lead they never relinquished.

After producing another spectacular finish on a drive, and a made free throw with 5:41 to play in the first half, Emery knocked down a big trey for BYU's first score of the second half, that after the Cougars missed three shots out of the locker room.

Emery's 11 points in the first half was a career high. It enabled Tavernari to get lost in the Lobos' defense several times in the second half and explode for 15 second-half points. He finished with a game-high 22. Emery finished with 6 rebounds and 2 steals and was 7 for 9 from the field.

Of the physical nature of the game, Emery said the Cougars expected nothing less from the Lobos. "They played UNLV, Utah and San Diego State and all those games went right down to the wire and they played them all tough."

With three minutes to play, Lobo guard Dairese Gary and Emery locked up for a loose ball and it looked like pro wrestling. "Gary got me in an alligator roll there. I kind of hurt my shoulder but nothing serious," said Emery.

Answering for BYU's poor shooting percentage in the first half, Emery said UNM's defense deserves credit. "We had shots, but a lot of times we were shooting off one foot or trying floaters."

e-mail: dharmon@desnews.com