Plaisted not shy at line

Trailing by a point, five seconds left, shooting two free throws with the game and the conference lead at stake.

Who would Brigham Young want standing at the foul line?

Statistically speaking, definitely not Trent Plaisted, who has made only 54.2 percent of his free throws this season.

But that's exactly how the Cougars' game at New Mexico played out last Tuesday, and Plaisted came through. The junior center sank both free throws to give BYU a crucial 70-69 overtime victory over the Lobos at The Pit.

The dramatic win kept BYU (23-6, 12-2) all alone in the Mountain West Conference lead, a game ahead of UNLV (22-6, 11-3), now with two games to play for each team.

The Cougars' remaining games are Wednesday at home against Wyoming and Saturday at Texas Christian. Both games can be seen locally on The Mtn. (Cable 334). BYU beat both teams by double digits in their first meetings.

After Plaisted sank the first free throw at New Mexico, the Lobos called timeout to try to ice him, but it didn't work. In the huddle, he assured his teammates he would make the second one as well.

"It's a real credit to him," BYU coach Dave Rose said during Monday's MWC teleconference. "We were talking about different options and (Plaisted) said, 'I will make it, so let's just plan on that.' "

Plaisted, tied with Lee Cummard for the team scoring lead at 15.9 points per game, finished with 23 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots. He also led BYU with 20 points in a 76-57 home win over Air Force on Saturday and has at least 20 points in five of his last seven games.

"Trent's playing with a lot of confidence right now," Rose said, and the same can be said of his entire squad.

"They're a group of players with a lot of individual self-confidence, but now they have confidence in each other. When they get in tough spots, they rely on the group more than individuals."

• SAFE AT HOME -- The Cougars, No. 24 in this week's ESPN/USA Today poll, pushed the nation's longest home winning streak to 46 games by beating Air Force.

"To put a string like that together, you have to win two or three games every year that come right down to the wire. You have to make one or two more plays. We've been fortunate to do that," Rose said.

• SO LONG, SENIORS -- Seniors Ben Murdock, Sam Burgess and Vuk Ivanovic will be playing their final home game Wednesday.

"We'll try to approach it as business as usual, but that's difficult. They'll have a lot of things running through their minds," Rose said. "We've talked about the importance of this last week, and the players have earned the right for these games to mean a lot."

• DRIVE FOR 25 -- The Cougars can set a school record of 25 regular-season victories if they sweep Wyoming and TCU this week. One more win will match the record set by three other BYU teams.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0354.