Weber State, BYU basketball: Cougars turn back Wildcats' upset bid

PROVO — The energy and leadership that Jackson Emery and Jimmer Fredette bring to the BYU Cougars is hard not to notice.

When Emery left the game after picking up his third foul with just under four minutes remaining in the first half against Weber State on Friday night at the Marriott Center, the Cougars were leading by three points. When he returned to the court with just over 14 minutes left in the game, the Cougars were trailing by three.

Once back on the court, Emery drilled three 3-pointers over the next five minutes and the Cougars were suddenly back ahead by seven. And after Emery provided the spark to turn back Weber State's impressive rally from an early 14-point deficit, Fredette put the finishing touches on BYU's 87-70 victory by hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 13 points over the final seven minutes.

"They gave us all we want," BYU coach Dave Rose said of the Wildcats. "It was a hard-fought game. But I'm proud of our players because we got in a real tough situation in the middle of the second half and responded."

Fredette finished with 23 points after 1-for-6 shooting in the first half.

"Jimmer did a really nice job of adjusting to how they were playing him, and that's one of Jimmer's real strengths. He gets better as the game goes along," Rose said.

Emery, by hitting 4-of-6 from downtown, scored 15 and Jonathan Tavernari added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Freshman Brandon Davies came off the bench to score 10, with all 10 coming before halftime.

Damian Lillard tied Fredette for game-high honors with 23 points for Weber State. Lindsey Hughey added 16 for the Wildcats.

The Cougars (5-0) looked like they were going to run the Wildcats out of the gym with a 13-0 burst to take an 18-4 lead five minutes into the game. But when Weber State coach Randy Rahe went to a smaller, quicker and more athletic three-guard lineup, the Wildcats (1-4) shut down BYU's open looks from outside and seemed to rush the Cougars offensively.

"They did a great job of taking us out of things," Rose said of the Wildcats' adjustments.

Weber State also began to get the best of BYU on the boards, finishing the first half winning the rebounding battle 24-16, with nine of those 24 coming on the offensive glass.

Matt Washington kick-started Weber State's comeback with two put-back baskets. Two jumpers by Trevor Morris, a jumper by Hughey, and a steal and dunk by Franklin Sessions had the Wildcats hot on BYU's tail and trailing by only seven.

"They came out fighting and they had us back on our heels a little bit," Fredette said.

However, the Cougars, by hitting 14-of-18 first-half free throws, never relinquished the lead in the first half. But behind Lillard's nine-point run late in the first half, the Wildcats closed to 34-30 at the break.