Men's Basketball Recap - March 5
BYU ties Utah with fourth MWC regular-season crown
March 5, 2008
BYU clinched its second consecutive and fourth overall Mountain West men's basketball regular-season title with a 78-61 win against Wyoming on Wednesday. In other mid-week league tilts, New Mexico beat UNLV (59-45), Utah topped Colorado State (82-61) and Air Force dispatched TCU (57-36).
| New Mexico 59, UNLV 45 |
| Albuquerque, N.M. |
Tues., March 4, 2008 |
- At 23-7, Steve Alford has surpassed Dave Bliss for most wins by a New Mexico head coach in his rookie season, topping Bliss' mark of 22-11 in 1988-89.
- New Mexico's 10-5 record vs. MWC opponents is a six-game improvement from its 4-12 record in league play a year ago, marking the program's biggest one-year turnaround of the modern era.
- The Lobos are 20-0 this year when holding opponents to less than 70 points.
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| Utah 82, Colorado State 61 |
| Salt Lake City, Utah |
Tues., March 4, 2008 |
- At 16-12, Utah is assured of its first winning season in three years. The Utes were 14-15 in 2005-06 and 11-19 in 2006-07.
- Utah head coach Jim Boylen becomes the ninth head coach (out of 14) to lead the Runnin' Utes to a winning season in his first year on the bench.
- With 75 three-point field goals made so far in 2007-08, Johnnie Bryant has the fourth-best total of three-pointers in a single season at Utah. He is currently No. 2 at Utah in career 3-point field goals made with 232.
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| BYU 78, Wyoming 61 |
| Provo, Utah |
Wed., March 5, 2008 |
- BYU extends its school- and MWC-record home win streak to 47 games. The Cougars have won 24 consecutive games at home vs. MWC opponents, also a league record.
- The Cougars become the first team in MWC history to win back-to-back outright regular-season titles. With four total MWC titles, BYU is tied with Utah for the most MWC crowns.
- With a 24-6 overall record, this year's Cougars have tied the BYU record for regular-season victories (24 in 1987-88, 1979-80, 1950-51).
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| Air Force 57, TCU 36 |
| USAFA, Colo. |
Wed., March 5, 2008 |
- Air Force's win over TCU completes a season-series sweep for the Falcons, who won the earlier meeting 56-46 in Fort Worth.
- Falcon junior Andrew Henke converted 6-of-8 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 21 points.
- Air Force shot 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from the field in the second half, finishing with a 54.5 overall shooting percentage, including 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from 3-point range.
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