FORT WORTH, Texas — BYU unloaded record-setting bombs on TCU in Saturday's 61-54 win over the Frogs.
The Cougars were hot, then cooled off and lost a 10-point lead only to rally and put down the hammer with the team's only successful long shot of the second half, a killer trey by Lee Cummard with just under four minutes to play.
"He hit a couple of big shots down the wire," said BYU coach Dave Rose. "That 3 and one off a curl."
"That's what MVP's do, he hit an MVP shot at an MVP time," said sophomore Jonathan Tavernari.
Sam Burgess, who converted BYU's first 3-point shot of the game, made it his 50th of the season and joined Lee Cummard (52) and Tavernari (78) with more than 50 on the season. Burgess now has 52. It marks the first time in school history three players registered 50 or more 3-point baskets in one season.
The Cougars knocked down six in the first half and could have had seven if they'd counted a corner shot by freshman Michael Loyd at the end of the first 20 minutes. With just over 6 seconds left in the half, BYU inbounded the ball under its own basket, and a Frog player immediately knocked it back out of bounds, but the TCU clock operator let 2 1/2 ticks slip off the game clock.
After officials asked the clock be rewound to 6 seconds, the operator made it .6 and, before it was corrected, Loyd received a corner pass and buried a trey. Of course, it didn't count, and after a failed attempt at a play, the Cougars took a 32-22 lead into the locker room.
The Cougars made 6-of-17 3-point shots in the first 20 minutes, with Tavernari (2) and Cummard (1) tracking the mark set by the three by Burgess. The Cougars finished 7-of-25.
COUGAR NOTES: BYU set several MWC records, including 14 MWC wins, 8 overall road wins (tie), 6 MWC road wins (tie) and 618 MWC rebounds. ... With a 25-6 overall record, this year's Cougars have set a school record for regular-season victories. ... BYU's record for overall wins in a season is 28 set by the 1950-51 team that finished the year 28-9. ... Only one team in BYU history has earned a better record through 31 games than this year's Cougars. The 1987-88 team was 26-5 through 31 contests before finishing the season 26-6. Two other Cougar squads were 25-6 through 31 games. ... BYU's 14 league wins sets a new league record for MWC wins in a season. Teams played a 14-game league schedule in the first six years of the conference before increasing to 16 games for the last three seasons. ...
The commercial airline flown by the Cougars on this trip lost Jimmer Fredette's baggage, so the freshman wore a jersey with the number 3, and he had to go out and buy some new Nikes. Minutes before tipoff, his bags arrived and he changed into his customary uniform. ... Former Cougar center John Fish attended the game as did former Cougar kicker Chris Germann, who now lives just five minutes from Ty Detmer in Austin. ... TCU's 22 points at halftime is the fewest against BYU in league play this season. ... Burgess' 12 first-half points gave him his fourth double-figure scoring effort in the last five games.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com