Cummard helps BYU beat Utah, pick up key MWC win

SALT LAKE CITY -- Dave Rose went against his own style, wearing jewelry during the important game at Utah on Saturday -- and also calling a questionable timeout with about three seconds left.

Yes, these two points co-exist.

Without stopping the game, the BYU head coach risked having 80 percent of his players on the floor unsure of themselves for the wild afternoon's final play.

But he was able to freeze his own free-throw shooter with no fear because of who he had taking the one-and-one -- in a one-point game.

It's in large part because of a cold-blooded junior named Lee Cummard that Rose has one Mountain West Conference championship memento from last season that he opted to pull from his desk at work, and sport on his left ring finger.

And, of course, it's because of the 6-foot-6 Mr. Everything that the Cougars defeated their rival 55-52 in a crucial game that has them back on pace to size themselves for another one.

"I told my assistants, that's not me -- I don't normally do that," Rose said of asking for his final timeout before Cummard shot the front end of his bonus. "But in this situation I had four players looking over at me, wanting to know if they should get on the line, should they get off the line? Where should they be? It just seemed like everything was a little bit unsettled.

"And I have all the confidence in the world in Lee to hit shots, so if we could settle everybody down, it might help."

With solid defense on top of it, all Utah could muster trailing by three points was a desperate drive from its own baseline to just beyond the top of the key. Tyler Kepkay missed his running shot off the rim and the Cougars escaped with a couple of milestones:

Their first road win in the last four tries, and the first back-to-back success stories at the Huntsman Center since 1984-85.

"The numbers weren't there, but effort was there and that's all that matters," said center Trent Plaisted, who had about as happy of a 2-for-11 shooting day that's ever been created after his team improved to 13-5 overall (2-1 Mountain West). "We were keyed in from minute one to the last minute of the game. We were competing like crazy."

This was one of those days when bathroom breaks could be taken guiltlessly if the 14,224 fans in attendance were only there to see scoring.

Rather, this one was built on hustle, like the 6-foot-11 Plaisted sprawling out early in the game to tap a loose-ball rebound to his teammate and restart an offensive possession.

This was the kind of day when BYU's freshmen reserves -- point guard Mike Loyd, shooter Jimmer Fredette and power forward Chris Collinsworth -- played their best cumulative outing. (The latter two combined to make 6-of-11 shots for 14 points in 30 minutes.)

It was a time to see Cummard scrap and claw for 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting, along with nine rebounds -- and doing all those things that get overlooked by just about everything except coaches and scoreboards. His competitive glow was blinding and his aggression was pleaded for by Rose before the game.

It was the kind of day, for BYU anyway, when one starter (Jonathan Tavernari) could go scoreless and combine with Plaisted for a 2-for-17 performance. That's usually a sure sign BYU is going home a loser.

But while the Cougars shot 33 percent from the field (20-of-60) and started by making just one of their first 11 shots, BYU's saving grace besides Cummard was the kind of defense that didn't allow Utah to do any better. It was 26-23, BYU, at intermission.

The Utes (10-6, 1-2) made 38 percent of their shots but were also poor from 3-point territory (3-of-14, compared to BYU's 3-of-17) and missed their last good shot to win. They had two separate five-minute stretches in the first half when they went scoreless.

"One thing about this team to date, we've won games when we've played well offensively," Rose said. "Tonight we weren't the best and we were still able to find a way to win."

Ben Murdock missed both of his shot attempts, including a 3-pointer with about 35 seconds left that could've made it a four-point Cougar lead. But it was his staunch defense for 32 minutes that set the tone.

Sam Burgess scored 10 of his 12 points after halftime, including the crucial trey with 2:30 left off an inbounds pass along the baseline from Murdock.

Cummard served as a decoy, as the Utes saw him open and Murdock recognized that extra coverage swarmed that way.

With defender Luka Drca slipping, Burgess found himself open for as long as he wished to be in the corner opposite his team's bench. He drained the shot for a 53-50 lead.

Kepkay came right back for a tough jumper at 1:40 to cut Utah's deficit back to one point. Cummard suffered a rare lapse in judgement, getting the ball stolen from him, then committing a foul. Drca missed the front end of his bonus free throws.

Murdock's missed trey set up a final shot. But Kepkay shot an airball from nearly eight feet on the baseline with about three seconds left. The ball sailed over the rim, into Cummard's hands.

"That's a good guy to have on the line," Rose said, "when the other team needs to foul."

Cummard, who made his first five free throws, didn't let Rose's unorthodox timeout shake him. He calmly drained the final ones for the three-point margin. He's now made his last 21 attempts and is shooting 91.7 percent from the line (44-of-48) in 2007-08.

Perhaps most tellingly, Utah's fans had a sense of the odds stacked against a miss. They didn't seem to try too hard to distract him.

Did they know who they were dealing with?

"I think most of 'em left by the time I came through," Cummard said of Utah's rowdy student section.

He got the final rebound off Kepkay's long miss, on the game-tying 3-point shot, and sent the ball sailing into the Utah student section nearby.

As good as the Cougars had to feel to have Cummard on their side, he returned the sentiment after the team's roughest stretch since he's been a Cougar that included three consecutive tough road losses, the last two of which weren't even close games.

"We were reeling, I'm not going to lie," Cummard said. "We were probably down as low as we've been all season. To come up here and get a win says a lot about the heart of our guys. I wouldn't trade this team for anybody."