Jan 12, 2002
PROVO, Utah (AP) - Travis Hansen had a team-high 19 points and Jared Jensen scored a career-high 17 to lead BYU 75-64 Saturday over San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams.
BYU (11-3, 1-0) held off a late charge by San Diego State (10-5, 0-1), which cut a 17-point second-half deficit to four points down the stretch.
But the BYU defense was too strong late in the game. The Cougars forced a couple of late turnovers and with 33 seconds left, Hansen stole the ball and fed Mark Bigelow for a dunk that gave BYU a 71-61 lead. San Diego State managed only one field goal in the final 4:18.
BYU improved its home court winning streak - second longest in the nation - to 29 games. Detroit has the longest streak, at 37 games and counting, after Michigan State's 53-game streak was snapped Saturday against Wisconsin.
Randy Holcomb scored 13 of his game-high 21 in the second half and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead San Diego State. But Tony Bland - the third-leading scorer on the Aztecs at 17.8 points per game - went 0-for-10 from the field and scored a season-low 2 points.
San Diego State has now lost 10 of its last 12 conference openers and five in a row. BYU improved to 4-1 in conference openers under head coach Steve Cleveland.
The announced crowd of 19,411 was the largest at BYU since Jan. 15, 2000 when 22,580 turned out for a game against the University of Utah.
In the win, Bigelow tied the BYU record for most consecutive games with a 3-pointer at 21, dating back to his freshman year. Terrell Lyday set the record during the 1999-2000 season.