Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO, Utah (AP) -- Matthew Knight's 22 points and 10 rebounds helped give Loyola Marymount the edge over BYU 83-71 Friday night in both team's season opener.
The game was also the NCAA Division-I debut for both coaches.
The Cougars (0-1) led from the opening tip until five minutes remaining in the first half when Knight led Loyola (1-0) on a 15-0 run to capture a 41-30 halftime lead. Chris Ayer's lay up with 4:21 in the first gave Loyola its first lead at 31-30. Knight scored seven points in the stretch and Loyola never trailed after that.
Despite trailing by 11 at half, the Cougars wouldn't go away.
BYU cut the lead to five twice in the opening minutes of the second half as Jimmy Balderson took charge and scored seven of the Cougars first 12 points. But Loyola always had an answer -- usually in the form of Knight or Wes Wardrop, who had 19 points on the night.
With 12:11 remaining in the game a Daryl Pegram jumper pushed Loyola Marymount's lead to a game high 12 points. BYU answered again with an 8-0 run to pull within four, but Wardrop hit a 3-pointer and Brandon Worthy hit a shot and a free throw to stretch the lead back to 10.
Ayer had 15 points and Worthy added 11. Ayer also had 10 rebounds to help the Lions to a 40-34 rebounding advantage over the Cougars.
Balderson led the Cougars in scoring with 18 points, 15 in the second half. Freshman center Trent Plaisted added 17 and Mike Rose 12.
Turnovers and poor shooting plagued the Cougars, especially in the opening half. BYU had 13 turnovers to the Lions' six in the first half and finished with 19 to Loyola Marymount's 15.
The Lions also outshot BYU 48 percent to 42 percent.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
