BYU Cougars get NCAA tourney bid
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BYU sophomore center Trent Plaisted scores two of his seven points against UNLV March 10 in Las Vegas, Nev. UNLV beat the Cougars 78-70 to win the Mountain West Conference tournament.
The BYU men’s basketball team fell just short of a double championship in the Mountain West Conference, losing to UNLV in the conference tournament’s final game, 78-70.
BYU won the regular-season conference championship with a 13-3 conference record. Winning the regular season gave the Cougars the top seed in the conference tournament, where they beat TCU and Wyoming in the first two rounds.
BYU beat TCU 77-64 on March 8 behind sophomore center Trent Plaisted’s 22 points and nine rebounds. The Cougars then beat Wyoming 96-84, with Plaisted scoring 27 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
The Cougars started strong against UNLV, holding the Rebels to 26 first-half points to grab an 11-point lead at the break. But the Rebels came out strong in the second half, scoring 52 points to close the gap and win the game.
Plaisted failed to equal his previous two games’ outputs, scoring just seven points and getting just three rebounds.
Where Plaisted struggled, senior forward Keena Young picked up the slack. Young scored 34 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help the Cougars stay competitive, but it wasn’t enough.
You face the challenges that are put in front of you; that’s what we talk about all the time with our team,
said head coach Dave Rose. I thought we were up to it. We played really well, we just didn’t play well enough to win.
The poor free-throw shooting that plagued BYU all season was a factor in the game, as the Cougars shot just 53 percent from the the stripe.
Despite the loss three Cougars made the all-tournament team: Plaisted, Young, and sophomore guard Lee Cummard.
The Cougars finished the season 25-8, good enough for a berth in the NCAA Tournament. BYU is seeded as an 8-seed in the tournament, with a first-round game against Xavier (24-8) in Lexington, Ky.
We embrace the opportunity to continue playing basketball, especially in the NCAA Tournament,
Rose said. Our players deserve to be there.
If BYU beats Xavier, the Cougars’ second-round game will most likely be against the top-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes, which face 16-seed Central Connecticut State in the first round. A 16-seed has never beaten a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. 
