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Saturday, Mar. 10 10:00pm ET
BYU wins Mountain West title RECAP | BOX SCORE
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LAS VEGAS (AP) Mekeli Wesley was one of coach Steve
Cleveland's first recruits when he took the job of rebuilding a
Brigham Young program four years ago.
The senior forward scored 30 points, 21 in the second half, to
complete the rebuilding process as the Cougars beat New Mexico,
69-65. BYU won the Mountain West Conference tournament and advanced
to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995.
"It's a work in progress," said Wesley, who at one point
scored 15 straight points for the Cougars in the second half. "The
program has come a long way since going 1-25 (in 1997). It's hard
to imagine ..."
In the championship game, the Cougars (23-8) were led by seniors
Wesley, the tournament MVP, Trent Whiting (15 points) and Terrell
Lyday (11 points).
"This is a very unselfish team," Lyday said. "We have to get
the person the ball who's playing well. Whoever's playing well,
that's who we go to."
In the second half, that player was Wesley.
Wesley was 7-of-8 from the field in the second half, his only
miss on a 3-point attempt. He was 7-for-8 on free throws in the
half.
"Mekeli is the best player in the league and he obviously
showed it tonight," said New Mexico's Brian Smith. "We didn't
have an answer for him. We tried double-teams, single-teams,
everything."
Brigham Young didn't have much of an answer for the New Mexico
duo of Marlon Parmer and Ruben Douglas, who scored 14 points apiece
and helped keep the game close until the final seconds. Wayland
White added 11 points for the Lobos (19-12) before fouling out
midway through the second half.
The Cougars led 64-57 with 2:25 remaining, but Douglas hit a
3-pointer and Smith added two free throws to pull the Lobos to
64-62 with 58 seconds remaining.
Wesley answered with a layup, but Parmer cut the lead to 66-65
with a 3-pointer with 18.9 seconds remaining. Wesley was fouled and
hit one free throw to give the Cougars a two-point lead with 17.5
seconds remaining.
Parmer missed a 3-pointer and Whiting hit two free throws with
4.7 seconds left to seal the victory.
Brigham Young led by 11 points after outscoring the Lobos 9-4 to
start the second half. The Lobos came back and cut the lead to
42-37 on a 3-point play and a 3-point field goal by Parmer.
Brigham Young held the lead throughout the second half as
Wesley, playing the last eight minutes with four fouls, scored 15
straight points.
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ALSO SEE Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO BYU's Mekeli Wesley draws the foul as he scores on an off-balanced shot late in the game. avi: 890 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Marlon Parmer's 3-pointer puts New Mexico within one with 18.9 seconds left. avi: 958 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Terrell Lyday dumps the ball down to Mekeli Wesley for the hoop and harm. avi: 1040 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 BYU's Travis Hansen steals the ball and spins to the hoop for the bucket and foul. avi: 1150 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 |