PROVO, UT ? The University of Hartford men's basketball team fell 97-73 at Brigham Young University on Tuesday night at the Marriott Center in the second round of the 2007 Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational.
Freshman Morgan Sabia led Hartford (1-4 overall) with 19 points, all of which came in the second half. He also shot 6-for-8 from three-point range in the game. Junior Michael Turner and sophomore Joe Zeglinski also added 13 points apiece. Junior Warren McLendon played only six minutes and finished with six points before fouling out.
Hartford led 7-5 in the early going before BYU took command behind a 22-4 run. The Cougars connected on four three-pointers and Jimmer Fredette scored eight of his team-high 19 points during the stretch.
BYU (4-0 overall) led 46-22 at the half and shot 57 percent in the stanza. The Hawks, though, held the Cougars to just one field goal in the first nine minutes of the second half and trimmed the deficit to 12 at 58-46 on a four-point play by sophomore Joe Zeglinski with 13:07 remaining.
The Cougars responded quickly, scoring nine straight points on the next three possessions to pump the lead back to 21. BYU hit a pair of three-pointers in the run and finished with a bucket and foul from Trent Plaisted, who finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.
“BYU is a very good team,” said head coach Dan Leibovitz. “They have a lot of weapons, they push the tempo, they're big, and they shoot very well. It's hard to find a weakness. We were effective in our press at times in the second half and got it down to 12, but they were able to make the shots they needed to win the game. I expect they'll be ranked at some point during the season.”
BYU shot 61 percent from the floor for the game and held a 37-19 edge on the boards. The Cougars, who were in the bonus with over 15 minutes to play in the second half, also went to the line 32 times and made 26 free throws. Hartford made 10 of 18 attempts from the charity stripe.
Hartford will next face Jackon State University in the third round of the Las Vegas Invitational on Friday, November 23 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST.
