January 15, 1999
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Mark Bigelow scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Brigham Young to its first road victory of the season, an 83-76 triumph over San Diego State on Thursday night.
Michael Vranes and Brian Dignan scored on consecutive layups to give BYU a 78-72 lead with 26 seconds left after the Aztecs had gotten within two points on four straight free throws.
The Cougars (6-8, 1-1 WAC), who entered the game with an 0-6 road record, extended the poorest start for San Diego State (2-13, 0-3) since the Aztecs went 2-23 to open the 1985-86 season.
Matt Watts, who led San Diego State with 22 points, gave the Aztecs their last lead at 53-49 with 9:55 left after making a 3-point shot and a layup following a steal.
BYU responded with a 14-4 run for a 63-57 advantage with 5:48 to go. In that stretch, Danny Bower sank two 3-pointers for his only points of the game.
Silester Rivers and Vranes each added 14 points for the Cougars. Marcelo Correa had 13 points and nine rebounds for San Diego State.
Correa and Myron Epps each made two free throws to cut BYU's lead to 74-72 with 1:35 left. After Vranes' layup with 1:15 go, the Aztecs lost the ball on a traveling call.
Rivers scored the last six points over the final 1:20 of the first half to lift BYU to a 40-36 lead. Bigelow scored 13 points in the first half to help the Cougars account for their highest first-half total of the season.
San Diego State jumped to a 13-6 edge in the first 5:50, but the Cougars rallied to tie the score 20-20 with 9:07 before halftime, led by Bigelow with six points in the 14-7 run.
Nathan Copper gave BYU its first lead 31-29 when he got open underneath the basket to convert a layup with 4:10 left in the half.