PROVO — It hasn't taken the BYU Cougars very long to reap the rewards of their Lone Peak High connection.
Behind a strong first half finish Tuesday night, keyed by the defense, rebounding and shooting of former Lone Peak stars Jackson Emery and Tyler Haws, the Cougars took a comfortable lead into intermission and then widened the gap in the second half, thanks to another spark from Emery, en route to an 87-53 win over Idaho State at the Marriott Center.
The win improves BYU's record to 2-0 on the young season, with the Cougars now heading over to Hawaii for a late Friday night battle with the Rainbow Warriors.
"We got better tonight, and that's a good sign," Cougars coach Dave Rose said.
Once again, Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars in scoring with a game-high 22 points, but Emery was close behind with 19. And an individual 8-0 run by Emery in the first half and his back-to-back 3-pointers to end a Bengals' rally in the second half were the two key stretches in BYU's win. Emery also had a team-high seven rebounds, dished out three assists and had his usual three steals.
"That's the way we've always been taught and that's our background as far as coming from Lone Peak. That's kind of how (Lone Peak coach Quincy Lewis) taught us," Emery said. "A lot of energy and just create things, and we've just kind of carried that over to this program."
Emery, who made only 3-of-18 shots in BYU's two exhibition games and last week's win over Bradley, also lit it up from outside - making 5-of-8 from 3-point range.
"You've got to let it come to you, and when it's your turn to take the shot you've got to step up and hit it," Emery said.
In the early going the Bengals matched BYU punch-for-punch, and actually led 14-11 seven minutes into the game. But when Haws came off the bench and scored seven first-half points, grabbed four first-half rebounds, dished out three first-half assists, blocked two shots and added a steal, the Cougars quickly pulled away and finished the first half on a 32-10 run to lead 43-24 at the break.
"One thing we learned growing up was just to play hard and to bring some energy when you get in the game, and to make plays and make good things happen, and I felt like we were able to do that in the first half," Haws said.
Rose also felt that the energy provided by Haws and Emery, and also by Michael Loyd off the bench, was contagious in how the Cougars attacked on both offense and defense.
"I think Tyler has a good feel for how we like to play," Rose said. "He pushes the ball well, he shares the ball, he can finish at the rim and he's a good shooter. And I think he's proven that he's a very good rebounder as far as tracking balls down."
The Cougars' defense, which held the Bengals scoreless for a six-minute stretch in the first half, was also critical in BYU pulling away. In the first 20 minutes BYU had seven steals, four blocks and forced the Bengals into 10 turnovers. Rose said the Cougar post players defended the screens well and stopped penetration, and made it difficult for the Bengals to get the looks they wanted.
"We did a good job of getting in gaps, cutting down lanes and not allowing them to make it all the way to the rim and score," Rose said.
In the first half the Cougars got to the foul line 15 times, and converted on 14 of those attempts. Early in the second half, however, the Bengals were the ones getting to the charity stripe. When Rolando Little dropped in a layup and Amorrow Morgan banked in a put-back shot at the 11-minute mark of the second half, Idaho State had clawed back to within 14 at 56-42.
But Emery then hit two straight threes, then stole the ball and dished to Fredette for an old-fashioned 2-and-1 to ignite a 13-0 run. From there, the Cougars slowly pulled away further.
"In those situations, sometimes you just have to give the team a spark, and once we get a spark we're hard to stop," Emery said.
Rose said BYU's depth was a big reason the Bengals wore down as the game progressed. All 13 Cougar players saw action, and 12 scored.
"I hope this is a game that maybe kind of starts to define the personality of our team, that we can really race the ball up in the first half and use a lot of guys, and get teams in a situation where they are chasing us and getting them back on their heels a little bit. We just love to attack."
The Bengals were playing the final game of a three-game road trip.
"The lopsided score was really influenced by the level of intensity that BYU played with throughout the entire game," Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien said.
Notes: If BYU wins on Friday at Hawaii, Rose will reach the 100-win mark faster than any coach in BYU history. Right now Rose's record is 99-34. Roger Reid is currently the fastest Cougar coach to get to 100 wins, doing it in 143 games. Stan Watts did it in 144 games. Rose can do it in 134 games . . . Jonathan Tavernari failed to make a 3-point shot Tuesday, which is only the fifth game in the past three season in which he's failed to cash in from long range . . . attendance was 8,637.
