BYU basketball: Cougars start slow, finish strong

PROVO — Even the best-running engines sometimes take a while to get warmed up.

The BYU Cougars are hoping they fall into that category.

In Thursday's basketball exhibition against Trinity Western, the Cougars were sluggish off the block and didn't really get clicking until almost 10 minutes into the game. But once they were firing on all cylinders and had their transition game in tune, the Cougars cruised to a 74-56 victory at the Marriott Center.

"We needed to guard a little bit better. And offensively, we got good shots but we missed a lot of easy shots to start the game ... but I thought we settled down and did a better job," said Cougar coach Dave Rose.

The Spartans, with hot long-range shooting to start the game, especially from forward Jacob Doerksen, jumped out to an 8-0 lead before BYU finally got on the board on a layup by Charles Abouo. But Trinity Western still maintained a three-basket lead at the 12-minute mark.

The Cougars closed the gap to 15-14 on three straight baskets by Brandon Davies, Jackson Emery and Tyler Haws. A trey by Tyrell Mara put the Spartans back ahead by four before back-to-back bombs by Lamont Morgan and Jimmer Fredette gave the Cougars their first lead at 20-18 with 8:32 left in the half.

The next few minutes saw the game tied three times and the lead change hands three times until the Cougars took the lead for good on a layup by Fredette. Over the next four minutes, the Cougars — mainly because of points scored off of turnovers — outscored the Spartans 16-2 to lead 40-26 before Doerksen closed the half with five straight to make it a 40-31 game at the break.

"We needed to defend a little bit better, and finally we got going a little bit," Fredette said.

When Jonathan Tavernari opened up the second half with five quick points, the Cougars were back up by 14 and the Spartans never got closer than 10 again. Rose said the Spartans were exactly the kind of opponent the Cougars needed to face.

"We knew they were good shooters. But they were big, physical, strong, really well coached, and we've got a lot of sore guys in our locker room. They beat us up pretty good, which is a good thing," he said.

Fredette led the Cougars with 24 points and four steals. Tavernari added 18 points. Haws, Morgan and Davies scored six each. Tavernari led the Cougars with eight rebounds. The Cougars shot 39 percent for the game, but only 24 percent from 3-point range. BYU also made only 11-of-20 free throws.

However, the Cougars held Trinity Western to 38 percent shooting, and had seven more boards and nine more steals than the Spartans. Doerksen led all scorers with 28.

NOTES: Sophomore forward Noah Hartsock, who sprained an ankle in practice on Monday, did not dress for Thursday's exhibition game. However, Hartsock is going to resume practicing this week. ... Thursday night's attendance was 7,533. ... The Cougars' final exhibition game is Tuesday at the Marriott Center against Central Washington. ... BYU announced Thursday that its Dec. 12 game with Fresno State, originally scheduled to be held at the Galen Center on the campus of USC, is being moved to Fresno because of problems encountered by the game's promoter. With the change, the Cougars and Bulldogs have also negotiated a home-and-home series, with Fresno State, coached by former BYU coach Steve Cleveland, playing a return game early next season at the Marriott Center.

e-mail: jimr@desnews.com