BYU men's basketball: Lobos end Cougars' streak

ALBUQUERQUE — The late-game magic that the BYU Cougars have possessed most of the season disappeared Wednesday night in the Pit.

After battling through 37 minutes of poor shooting to take a 64-62 lead with three minutes remaining on a 3-pointer by Jimmer Fredette, the No. 12 Cougars quickly gave up that lead and were never on top again. The No. 23 New Mexico Lobos snapped BYU's 15-game winning streak with a 76-72 victory.

"It was a really competitive game," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "Two teams playing really hard. They just made a few more plays down the stretch."

The loss drops BYU to 20-2 on the year, which still equals the best record after 22 games in school history. The Cougars are 5-1 in the Mountain West Conference and still have a one-game lead in the standings heading into Saturday's rival game at home against Utah.

"Sometimes streaks come to an end," said Cougar guard Jimmer Fredette, who scored a game-high 27 points. "We had a good one going, and we're still a very, very good team. We're confident and we're still on top of the conference … we're still the ones being chased. We just have to keep our heads up and continue to win."

After Fredette's late trey gave BYU its first lead since going up 9-7 early, New Mexico's Phillip McDonald tried to penetrate on the left side but was shut down by BYU's defenders. Instead of getting to the rim, he settled for a tough fall-away baseline jumper. The line-drive shot hit the front of the rim, bounced high and settled into the net. Fredette was also called for a late foul on the play and McDonald hit the free throw to put the Lobos back on top 65-64.

"He made a heck of a shot. A tough shot," Rose said.

On the other end, Fredette missed a contested jumper from the right wing, and the Lobos scored again when A.J. Hardeman grabbed an offensive rebound, the Lobos' 16th of the game, and put it back in to stretch the margin to three.

After Noah Hartsock hit one of two free throws, New Mexico point guard Dairese Gary blew right past BYU's defenders uncontested to the hoop for an easy layup to make it a 69-65 game.

Fredette missed another running jumper in the paint, and Gary responded with two free throws at the other end with 1:12 on the clock to put BYU in a 6-point hole.

With 26 seconds on the clock Fredette hit another 3-pointer from up top to make the score 73-70, but Gary hit one of two free throws to make it a two-possession game once more. Overall, he kept the Cougars at bay by sinking 7-of-8 free throws in the final 72 seconds, and 12-of-17 for the game.