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BYU Bench Plays Big in Win Over South Carolina State 

           1st HALF       2nd HALF

          BYU    39            37              
          SCS    20            23                


                                      FINAL
                          COUGARS    76
                          BULLDOGS   43        


 HIGH SCORERS:  SO CAROLINA ST - MIKE WIATRE 11, DUANE JOHNSON
                9, OMAR VANDERHORST 6
                BYU - SILESTER RIVERS 17, TODD CHRISTENSEN 16,
                MICHAEL VRANES 10

 HIGH REBOUND:  SO CAROLINA ST - DEXTER HALL 10, ANTONIO
                WILLIAMS 6
                BYU - MEKELI WESLEY 7, MICHAEL VRANES 6

 HIGH ASSISTS:  SO CAROLINA ST - OMAR VANDERHORST 2, EDMUND
                ALSTON 2
                BYU - MICHAEL VRANES 7, NATHAN COOPER 4

          ATT:  7,584
PROVO, Utah (Dec. 18, 1999) – Todd Christensen and Silester Rivers came off the bench to lead BYU to a 76-43 win over South Carolina State Saturday at the Marriott Center.

With South Carolina State starting the game in a triangle-and-two defense, BYU coach Steve Cleveland quickly substituted Christensen into the game at point guard for starter Matt Montague. The move paid dividends for Cleveland as the sharp-shooting Christensen made two consecutive three-pointers and went on to score 10 of BYU’s first 13 points to give the Cougars an early 13-4 advantage.

"Todd is to be commended for knocking down some shots when we needed them," Cleveland said. "This was the third game of their (South Carolina State) road trip and that gave us an advantage."

The Cougar advantage on the scoreboard grew to 19 points (39-20) by half time and swelled to as many as 39 points when Rivers made a jumper to give BYU a 74-35 lead with 4:16 left in the game. Rivers played 20 minutes off the bench and contributed a game- and season-high 17 points while Christensen added a season-high 16 points on 5-8 three-point shooting and a free throw.

"We were trying to take (Mekeli) Wesley, (Michael) Vranes and (Terrell) Lyday out of the game early and we did that," South Carolina State coach Cy Alexander said. "They brought Christensen in the game and he got them going. We just couldn’t hit any shots in the second half and I attribute that to the defense of BYU."

Eleven players scored for BYU and 13 saw playing time in the game. BYU’s bench put 43 points through the net compared to 33 points contributed by BYU’s starters. Michael Vranes led the starters with 10 points while BYU’s top two scorers on the season, Wesley and Lyday, added seven and nine points respectively.

Guard Mike Wiatre’s 11 points led South Carolina State. Center Duane Johnson added nine points while forward Dexter Hall pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs out rebounded BYU 45-41 on the night but shot only 22 percent from the floor while BYU made nearly 52 percent and dished out a season-best 23 assists to only 11 turnovers.

The win gives BYU its first five-game win streak since the 1994-95 season and a 7-1 start for the first time since 1992-93. The 33-point margin of victory was the Cougars’ largest since a 32-point win over Morgan State in 1995. South Carolina falls to 2-7 on the year.
Source: BYU Athletic Department 

SO CAROLINA ST (43)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Hall            21   1-3   0-0  4-10  1  2    2
Radford         23   0-8   0-0   1-4  1  4    0
Johnson         26  3-10   3-4   2-4  0  3    9
Wiatre          25  4-12   2-2   2-2  1  1   11
Jones           25   1-7   3-5   0-4  0  0    5
Vanderhorst     29   2-9   2-2   0-2  2  0    6
Davis            1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  1    0
Harris           3   1-2   0-0   0-0  0  0    2
Shivers         14   0-4   0-0   0-2  0  3    0
Williams        13   2-6   0-0   3-6  0  4    4
Alston           7   0-2   0-0   0-0  2  0    0
Carlisle        13   1-5   2-4   3-4  0  0    4
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 15-68 12-17 15-38  7 18   43
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.221, FT-.706. 3-Point Goals:
1-13, .077 (Radford 0-1, Wiatre 1-4, Jones 0-3,
Vanderhorst 0-2, Shivers 0-2, Carlisle 0-1). Team
rebounds: 52. Blocked shots: 3 (Hall,
Vanderhorst, Williams). Turnovers: 13
(Vanderhorst 3, Wiatre 3, Alston, Carlisle, Hall,
Harris, Radford, Williams). Steals: 3 (Alston,
Hall, Wiatre).

BYU (76)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Wesley          22   3-4   1-2   1-7  1  3    7
E Nielsen       20   1-2   0-0   0-4  1  1    2
Lyday           27  4-10   0-0   0-3  3  1    9
Montague        17   2-3   0-0   1-4  3  1    5
Vranes          24  5-10   0-0   2-6  7  2   10
Rivers          20   6-8   5-8   2-4  2  3   17
Christensen     18   5-8   1-2   0-0  2  2   16
Roberts         10   0-0   1-2   0-1  0  1    1
Allen            8   1-1   0-1   0-2  0  1    2
Smith            7   0-3   0-0   0-2  0  0    0
Ellsworth        4   1-2   0-0   0-1  0  0    2
Cooper          15   1-3   2-2   0-2  4  1    5
D Nielsen        8   0-2   0-1   0-0  0  1    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 29-56 10-18  6-36 23 17   76
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.518, FT-.556. 3-Point Goals:
8-17, .471 (Lyday 1-3, Montague 1-1, Vranes 0-2,
Rivers 0-1, Christensen 5-8, Cooper 1-2). Team
rebounds: 46. Blocked shots: 4 (Rivers 2, Lyday,
Roberts). Turnovers: 11 (Roberts 3, Cooper, D
Nielsen, E Nielsen, Lyday, Montague, Rivers,
Smith, Wesley). Steals: 4 (Vranes 2, D Nielsen,
Lyday).
__________________________________
So Carolina St     20   23  -   43
Byu                39   37  -   76
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 7,584. Officials: Mike
Stuart, David Dangleis, Jeff Wilkerson.