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Top-seeded BYU takes on Colorado State in MWC action

Thu 13th, March 2008

Las Vegas, NV (Sports Network) - It is mismatch on paper in the quarterfinals of the ninth-annual Mountain West Conference Tournament, as the BYU Cougars try to maul the Colorado State Rams at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Top-seed BYU made it to the top of the heap rather easily this season as it ran the table at the Marriott Center yet again and now possesses the longest home win streak in the nation at 47 straight games. The squad closed out the regular season with four straight wins and 13 in the last 14 attempts.

As for the ninth-seeded Rams, who needed to take out Wyoming in the opening round of the tournament on Wednesday (68-63), they were one of the most disappointing teams in college basketball this season. The squad had lost 17 straight games and failed to beat even one opponent from the Mountain West Conference along the way, which is why the victory over the Cowboys yesterday was such a surprise.

With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, BYU is ahead by an 83-46 margin after crushing the Rams at home by 19 points and on the road in Fort Collins by 14 points this season. The winner of this game will suit up and challenge the winner of the Air Force/San Diego State affair in the semifinals on Friday.

Lucky for the Rams that the league invited every team to the conference tournament this year, or else the school's longest losing streak would have carried on until the 2008-09 campaign. As it stands, CSU has still dropped 17 regular-season games, but at least the team can celebrate their win over Wyoming on Wednesday afternoon. Marcus Walker finished with 22 points, despite shooting only 1-of-7 behind the three-point line, and was flanked by Andre McFarland and Adam Nigon with 18 and 10 points, respectively. Nigon filled the spot in the lineup vacated by Stuart Creason who is now out with a fractured foot, which means the team has only Walker as a double-digit scorer with his 17.4 ppg. The loss of Creason yet again creates a hole in the painted area because that's generally where he took care of business as the leafing rebounder with close to six boards per game. During conference games this season the Rams were crushed on the glass by an average of almost seven rebounds per game, leading to the team being outscored by more than 13 ppg as well.

BYU, which lost to UNLV in the title game of this tournament in both 2000 and 2007, at least has one championship thanks to a four-point win over New Mexico in the 2001 edition. Although one would have expected Trent Plaisted to be the leader of this squad in 2007-08, it turns out that honor goes to Lee Cummard who was named the MWC Co-Player of the Year and earned a spot on the All-MWC First Team as he became the only player in the conference to rank among the top-10 in nine of the 12 MWC statistical categories. More to the point, Cummard was second on the team in scoring with 15.8 ppg and second in both rebounding (6.6 rpg) and assists (106), all while shooting 56.7 percent from the field and 44.8 percent beyond the arc. Plaisted, another All-MWC First Team choice, paces the squad with his 15.9 ppg and 8.1 rpg, but his 53.8 percent shooting at the free-throw line leaves a lot to be desired. But the fact that the unit is making only 65.5 percent at the stripe doesn't seem to be upsetting the 11.4 ppg scoring margin.

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