MWC: Fredette fuels BYU past Colorado State

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- There were plenty of boos raining down on Jimmer Fredette from the first sellout crowd in seven years at Colorado State's Moby Arena. Brigham Young's star guard answered the Rams' fans point by point.

Fredette finished with 42 points, his second 40-plus point performance in a week, and No. 9 BYU beat Colorado State 94-85 on Saturday for its ninth straight victory.

"That doesn't affect me," Fredette said of the booing from the crowd of 8,745. "It is fun to make a shot and hopefully the crowd will quiet down. It comes with the territory. I'm expecting it."

The nation's leading scorer, Fredette had a season-high 47 points in a win over Utah on Tuesday. This time, facing constant double teams and the howling of the crowd, Fredette made 16 of 17 free throws and shot 11 of 24 from the field. He was 4 of 9 from 3-point range in leading the Cougars (19-1, 5-0 Mountain West) in scoring for the 18th time in 20 games, scoring in double figures in all 20 outings.

There was just no rattling Fredette.

"He's tough to guard, and he changes pace well and shoots the ball so well that he keeps you honest," Colorado State's Dorian Green said.

Kyle Collinsworth and Jackson Emery added 16 points apiece for BYU, which beat Colorado State (13-6, 3-2) for the ninth straight time.

Wes Eikmeier led Colorado State with a career-high 25 points. Travis Franklin added 21 and Andy Ogide 18.

"They did a good job on their offense," Fredette said. "They were playing well and the crowd was getting into it, but we did a good job of staying poised and knowing that we would get a bucket."

The Rams trailed 70-54 after Brandon Davies' putback for Brigham Young before going on a 9-1 spurt to pull to 71-63 on Eikmeier's 3-pointer with 9:15 remaining.

Dwight Smith's 3-pointer cut it to 75-69 with 7:27 left, but Fredette answered with a 3-pointer. When the Rams got within 79-73 on two Ogide free throws with 5:15 remaining, Fredette promptly scored on a driving layup.

BYU went on a 7-1 run from there to go in front 88-76 with 2:14 left. Still, the Rams wouldn't go away. They scored the next five points, including a 3 by Eikmeier, before Fredette broke up the spurt again with two free throws for a 90-81 lead. The Rams didn't get closer than six points in the last minute and a half.

■ Utah 75, Texas Christian 62 -- At Fort Worth, Texas, Will Clyburn had 22 points and nine rebounds, both game highs, to lead the Utes over the Horned Frogs.

Josh Watkins scored 14 points and Shawn Glover 11 for the Utes (10-10, 3-3).

Former Valley High School standout Hank Thorns had 18 points, six rebounds and six assists for TCU (10-11, 1-5).

■ Air Force 72, Wyoming 51 -- At Air Force Academy, Colo., Michael Lyons scored all of his game-high 17 points in the first half as the Falcons snapped a three-game losing skid by routing the Cowboys.

Tom Fow added 14 points for the Falcons (11-7, 2-3 Mountain West), who hit 11 of 19 3-pointers and had 22 assists.

Amath M'Baye led the Cowboys (8-11, 1-4) with 13 points, and Francisco Cruz scored 10. Wyoming went 4 of 23 from 3-point range.